An artist who designed, produced and distributed specialized sneakers for illegal immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border resurfaced in Denver on Tuesday after two years of avoiding public appearances.
“People should have the right to go where they want,” Judi Werthein said before opening a show at Museo de las Americas.
About 90 people turned out to hear her and check out a pair of her Brincos — Spanish for the “jump” migrants make from Mexico to the U.S.
These gray suede high-tops are equipped with a compass, a flashlight and a pouch to hide money. A removable insole doubles as a map of the border region. An image of migrants’ official patron saint adorns the back.
A 40-year-old Argentinian living in New York, Werthein had 1,000 pairs made at a factory in China — mimicking footware firms such as Nike. A red tag sewn inside the tongue reads, “This product was manufactured in China under a minimum wage of $42 a month working 12-hour days.”
In 2005, Werthein handed out 500 free pairs to migrants in Mexico before they entered the U.S. She sold others for $215 each as “objects of desire” at a boutique in San Diego and gave the money to borderland shelters.
Production of the shoes has ceased. Threats from anti-immigration groups forced Werthein to stop public appearances, she said.
Her lecture in Denver opened a “Space Invaders” show featuring artists devoted to what curator Patty Ortiz calls “interventions into the public realm.”
Werthein said critics who blame migrants for “taking U.S. jobs” are wrong. “It’s the American companies. U.S. workers are being betrayed by their own.”
Her purpose, she said, to develop a critique of a global economic system that spreads consumerism while ignoring human needs such as migrating for a better life.
Other Werthein work includes running a public Polaroid photo studio in Cuba for Cubans who posed with skis in fake snow and projecting a 100-foot-high image of an indigenous American virgin off the coast of Spain.
