A public art installation at Mill Pond Park is putting the faces and stories of immigrant New Yorkers on display as part of a citywide campaign celebrating the communities that have helped shape New York.
The New York Immigration Coalition opened the Bronx chapter of its annual New York Proud campaign on Sept. 15, bringing large-scale portraits and personal stories of immigrant New Yorkers to the South Bronx.
The installation at Mill Pond Park, near Exterior Street and East 150th Street along the Harlem River, will remain on view through Oct. 5. It is the second stop in this year’s citywide campaign, which launched in Times Square earlier this month.
The exhibition will move to Queens next, where it will be on display at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows Corona Park from Sept. 28 through Nov. 2. A Brooklyn installation at the Plaza at 300 Ashland will follow from Oct. 6 through Oct. 28.
“The Bronx and Queens tell the story of New York: communities built and sustained by immigrants from every corner of the world,” said Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition.
“At a moment when the federal government is working to divide and intimidate immigrant communities, New York Proud offers a powerful response. These portraits affirm that immigrant New Yorkers belong here, that their contributions matter, and that their stories deserve to be seen in the neighborhoods they call home.”
Now in its third year, New York Proud uses public art to highlight the experiences and contributions of immigrant New Yorkers. The campaign seeks to challenge narratives that reduce immigrants to political debates and instead portray them as neighbors, workers, artists, business owners and community leaders.
The portraits were created by Venezuelan artist and documentary photographer Oscar B. Castillo, who paired each image with a personal story from the immigrant New Yorker featured.
The Bronx is home to one of the city’s largest immigrant populations. The borough’s foreign-born population grew by 6% between 2010 and 2023, according to an analysis by the Center for Migration Studies of New York.
The city’s latest edition of The Newest New Yorkers counted 490,906 foreign-born residents in the Bronx in 2023, making it the borough with the third-largest immigrant population, with notable concentrations in the University Heights and Morris Heights neighborhoods.
The exhibition comes as immigrant New Yorkers face increased immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. New York City officials have documented an increase in federal immigration enforcement activity in the city.
A city audit released in May found that ICE arrested 5,567 people in the New York City area between Jan. 20, 2025, and March 10, 2026, a 71% increase compared with the same period at the end of the Biden administration. ICE agents have conducted numerous localized sweeps in the Bronx, but the number of arrested individuals from the borough are unknown.
Rather than focusing on immigration as a political issue, New York Immigration Coalition states that the exhibition is intended to show immigrants as neighbors, workers, artists, business owners and community leaders.
“In the middle of these troubled times, this project calls for more understanding and inclusion of these often marginalized sectors of our society, and to uplift the important contributions of millions of immigrants that make New York a unique place,” Castillo wrote in the project’s artist statement.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Castillo is a documentary photographer, multimedia artist, and educator whose work focuses on issues related to youth, identity, migration, cycles of political rupture and violence, in addition to projects that promote social inclusion and community empowerment.
“Photography has the power to challenge the narrow ways people are often seen, particularly immigrants, whose lives are too often flattened into headlines or political debates,” Castillo said.
“With these portraits, I wanted to capture each participant on their own terms and reflect the individuality, pride and complexity they bring to New York. Bringing the exhibition to the Bronx and Queens places those stories in the communities they help shape.”
The New York Immigration Coalition represents more than 200 immigrant and refugee rights organizations across New York. The coalition advocates for immigrant communities and works on issues including access to services, civic participation and immigrant rights.
The full portraits from this year’s New York Proud campaign can be viewed through the New York Immigration Coalition.
Reach Marina Samuel at msamuel@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
