Photo by Omar López Thismón
Yehimi Cambrón Álvarez is a public speaker who has been invited to participate in panels, keynotes, lectures, and artist talks throughout the United States and has curated and guided multiple bus tours of her murals in Atlanta.
Cambrón intertwines her experience with undocumentedness pre and post DACA with the larger sociopolitical landscape, demonstrating how activism is intricately woven into her artistic practice. She showcases how her monumental murals carve out space for immigrants in Atlanta and assert the presence of undocumented people, and how her most recent work seeks to reject any single narrative of what it means to be undocumented. Sharing her evolution from an undocumented student to a DACAmented educator and, finally, to a full-time artist, she outlines the development of her voice and the resistance embedded in her work, using her personal story as a link to broader movements for collective liberation.
Photo by Julia Tulke, Mural Tour, Activism, and Undocumentedness: Asserting Our Presence, Complicating the Narrative, and Collective Liberation, IDEAS Week, The Interdisciplinary Exploration and Scholarship Fellowship, Institute for the Liberal Arts, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, Feb. 13-14, 2025
“Yehimi Cambrón’s visit to our campus was absolutely inspiring.
In her talk to our students, faculty, and staff, she carefully weaved her family’s deeply personal immigration story from Mexico with the larger socio-political context that has shaped U.S. immigration policies in the last 30 years.
With grace and passion, she shared her art with us, her nonstop work on behalf of her community, and the spaces where she finds hope in the struggle. Throughout her visit, Yehimi challenged each of us to find our voice, to make our art, and to share it with the world. Months later, our students are still talking about the time that Yehimi Cambrón visited Texas A&M University”
“Yehimi came to speak to our entire upper school student population about her experience as an activist and artist. She later gave an art workshop to several classes following the assembly. Her presence, story, and delivery connected with our students in a way I wasn’t expecting. She gave voice to an experience among our students that often lives in the shadows. Having those students connect and see themselves represented in her was inspiring. Also, for students that didn’t relate to the experience, it gave them a new lens, new perspective about activism, art, Latinos and undocumented people. Her talk and workshop sparked so many conversations among our students that were fruitful and necessary.”
“Yehimi does not disappoint! A powerful and very personal message, through her art and words, that provides an opportunity for those, whose knowledge of immigration reform is limited, to increase their understanding of its impact in the community, our families, and economy. Her personal journey allows the audience to see a different image of what an undocumented person looks like. It is an image of a very relatable, young, passionate, and committed human being, that won’t stop in her quest until injustice stops.”
SELECTED ENGAGEMENTS
2025
Keynote and Mural Tour, Activism, and Undocumentedness: Asserting Our Presence, Complicating the Narrative, and Collective Liberation, IDEAS Week, The Interdisciplinary Exploration and Scholarship Fellowship, Institute for the Liberal Arts, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, Feb. 13-14
Curator Talk with Yehimi Cambrón and Panel Discussion with Tatiana Bell and Lucero “Pato” Muñoz Vázquez, Contemporary Talks, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, GA, January 12, 2025
2024
Undocumented In/visibility in Multidimension: Mourning, Healing, and Possibility in Yehimi Cambrón’s Mixed Media Art, Roundtable with Dr. Guisela Latorre and Dr. Kristen Kolenz, Latinx Studies Association Conference: “Placing Justice and Joy in Latinx Studies,” Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
Keynote, National Hispanic Heritage Month, Unidos Hispanic NRG, Humana, National
2023
Printmedia 1st Year Grad Student Talk, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
In Conversation with Yehimi Cambrón: Documenting the Undocumented in the South, Artist Talk, Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, GA
Keynote, The Ethics of Birthright Citizenship: Latinx Perspectives Symposium, Penn State University, State College, PA, April 21-22
Keynote, Atlanta Global Studies Symposium, Atlanta Global Studies Center, Atlanta, GA, April 13-15
The Invisible Made Visible: Using Art to Humanize Immigrants, Conversation with Veronica Hogan (Director, Atlanta Contemporary Art Center), Night of Ideas: More Justice! Defending Rights, Realizing Dreams, Villa Albertine, Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlanta, GA
Define American Takes ATL, Moderator, Panel with José Ibarra Rizo and Daniela Cintron, Atlanta, GA
2022
Mural Tour, Latinx Heritage Month, Agnes Scott College, Atlanta, GA
Mural Tour, Immigration Justice Pilgrimage, Furman University, Atlanta, GA
Keynote, Coalition and Community Building: Supporting GA’s Undocumented Students in Higher Education, Atlanta Global Research & Education Collaborative, Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, GA
Artist Talk, Portfolio I & II taught by professor Jiha Moon, Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
Keynote, Latinx Excellence Week: Proud to be First, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL
Keynote, Hispanic Heritage Month, The Lovett School, Atlanta, GA
Now We Thrive, Artist Talk for Solo Exhibition, USC Upstate Art Gallery, University of South Carolina Upstate, Spartanburg, SC
Global Dialogues: A Conversation with Yehimi Cambrón, Artist Talk, Department of Global Languages and Cultures, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA
Artist Talk with Yehimi Cambrón, Immigrant Heritage Month, Latin American Association, Atlanta, GA
Keynote, Golden Door Scholars Summit, Golden Door Scholars, Charlotte, NC
Artist Talk, Center on Forced Displacement, Boston University, Boston, MA
2021
Artist Talk, Day of Learning: Continuing Education Unit Series, International Interior Design Association, WI
Immigration, Art, & Activism, Artist Talk, Undocumented Student Action Week: Change in Action, The Bakersfield College AB 540 & Undocumented Student Program, Bakersfield, CA
Art as Activism Speaker Series: Artist Talk with Yehimi Cambrón, Georgia Gwinnett College, Lawrenceville, GA
Yehimi Cambrón on Being #HereToStay, Office for Racial and Cultural Engagement, Centro Latinx, Emory University, Atlanta, GA
Fresh Talk: Yehimi Cambrón, Panel, Georgia Committee, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Atlanta, GA
Keynote, Dream Success Center, Fresno State University, Fresno, CA
Keynote, First Annual Undocumented Student Graduation, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Entrepreneurship Panel, Immigration & Education Convening, DACA Initiative, Teach for America, National
2020
Keynote, Incoming Corps Members Confirmation Ceremony, Teach for America, National
Art as Activism: Celebrating the Contributions and Resilience of Immigrants, Artist Talk, Immigration Initiative at Harvard, Winthrop House, Kennedy School Institute of Politics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Supporting Immigrant Students & Families: Creating a Collaborative for Action, Panel, Harvard Graduate School of Education Alumni of Color Conference, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
One Atlanta: Building a Bigger Table, Panel, Leadership Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Keynote, Gay Johnson McDougall Center for Global Diversity & Inclusion, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA
Keynote, Latino Youth Empowerment Conference, Alliance for Latino Empowerment, Teaneck, NJ
2019
Leathers Arts Lecture Series: Yehimi Cambrón, Artist Talk, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA
They Tried to Bury Us, They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds: Art and Activism with Yehimi Cambrón, Artist Talk, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA
Artist Talk with Yehimi Cambrón, Center for Diversity & Student Leadership, Amherst College, Amherst, MA
Art as a Form of Resistance and Activism, Artist Talk, Latinx Lecture Series, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX
Conversations with Contemporary Artists: Of Origins and Belonging, Drawn from Atlanta, Panel, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA
Cultivating Curiosity, Panel, Woodruff Arts Center Educator Conference, Atlanta, GA
Artist Talk, Hispanic Heritage Month, Pace Academy, Atlanta, GA
Artist Talk, Hispanic Heritage Month, Kaiser Permanente, Atlanta, GA
2018
Art as Resistance, Artist Talk, The Center for Hispanic Excellence: La Casa Latina, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
2016
Harnessing the Talent of DACA and Unauthorized Students at the K-12 Level, Panel, Center for American Progress, Washington, DC