What compels individuals to embark on grueling journeys by foot? How can art and scholarship collaborate to convey a more comprehensive understanding of the migratory experience? Curator Fabiola R. Delgado will moderate a conversation between artists Ronald Pizzoferrato, Erick Moreno Superlano, Francisco Llinás and Dr. Irina Troconis about the intricate dynamics of migration and agency in documenting the current Venezuelan phenomenon of "Caminantes" (walkers) –people currently traversing neighboring and distant countries by foot. This dialogue highlights the urgency of capturing the essence of these events and delves into the significance of preserving the narratives among some of the most marginalized individuals that take part of this migratory process. Nearly 8 million Venezuelans have left their country in the last decade (over a quarter of its population) making it one of the largest contemporary migration crises in the world. According to 2023 reports, it is estimated that 6,000 people leave Venezuela by foot everyday.

 
Fabiola R. Delgado is an independent curator and creative producer. A former Human Rights lawyer and political asylum seeker from Venezuela, she strives for justice through projects that challenge narratives and recenter neglected perspectives. She’s a USRAO National Leaders of Color Fellow and has worked with the likes of the Hirshhorn Museum, National Museum of American History, Washington Project for the Arts, Times Square Arts, and artist Mel Chin’s Fundred Project.

 
Ronald Pizoferrato is a Venezuelan visual artist and photographer. His work emerges from design-ethnographic and netnographic research, highlighting marginalized realities. Pizzoferrato documents Venezuelan social phenomena while addressing global themes of identity, migration, violence, and decolonization. His work has been showcased across Europe, Latin America, and the U.S., earning accolades like the Globetrotter World Photo prize and Swiss Design Awards nomination.

 
Irina Troconis is Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies at Cornell University. She holds a PhD in Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures from New York University, and an MPhil Degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge (UK). Her areas of specialization include: Memory Studies, Venezuelan Studies, Politics and Performance, Affect Theory, Visual Culture, Material Culture, and Digital Humanities. She is the co-organizer of the online conversation series (Re)thinking Venezuela/(Re)pensando a Venezuela, currently in its fifth season.

 
Erick Moreno Superlano is a writer and scholar whose work examines how public and political discourses consolidate social categories that shape the experiences of (would-be) migrants across the Global South. He’s currently pursuing a doctorate of Migration Studies at Oxford University, focusing on how political actors employ immobility and temporality as statecraft tools to solidify their conceptions of a nation-state.

 
Francisco Llinás is an artist and researcher focused on the Venezuelan migration through an interdisciplinary lens, drawing on literature, aesthetics and digital culture to reveal transnational ties within the diaspora. He's currently a doctoral student at the University of Edinburgh and a fellow artist at University of Glasgow's UNESCO Chair Refugee Integration through Languages and the Arts.