Overview:
- Julianna Sanromán, whose parents were deported when she was 7, created Altars for Collective Grief.
- Sanromán's altars seek to address the fear of separation felt in communities heavily impacted by immigration enforcement, while also honoring ancestors and cultural traditions.
- The project grew out of conversations with Theresa Beckley-Amaya, a hospice social worker, who initially suggested placing posters around the neighborhood for those impacted by immigration enforcement.
What happens when immigration enforcement separates a person from their loved ones? The question has shaped the life of artist Julianna Sanromán, an MFA candidate at the University of Michigan, since her parents were deported when she was 7.
“I’ve lived most of my life overwhelmed by grief because of my parents’ deportation,” Sanromán said. “It is such a lonely, scary feeling to process it by yourself.”
Grief is a driving force behind Sanromán’s art. Her latest project, Altars for Collective Grief, invited the Southwest Detroit community to submit photos of loved ones affected by immigration enforcement.
Residents, elected officials, and community leaders say there’s been an uptick of Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Southwest Detroit beginning in 2025.
Since President Donald Trump took office, federal agents arrested 1,432 undocumented immigrants in Michigan as of July 2025, 40% of whom had no criminal convictions, according to a Detroit Metro Times analysis of data from the Deportation Data Project. The arrest number is nearly triple that of the same period in 2024.
Sanromán’s altars seek to address the fear of separation felt in communities heavily impacted by enforcement, while also honoring ancestors and cultural traditions.
“With more deportations, how do we continue to create a network for them to not feel tremendously alone?” she said.
‘What our community is going through is grief’
Sanromán is still experimenting with the physical form of the altars, but she envisions wooden structures incorporating family photos rendered through mixed-media techniques such as cyanotype and wheat pasting, she told Planet Detroit.
The installations will be placed on walls of participating businesses and are designed to function as traditional altars where people can add candles or flowers.
The project grew out of conversations with Theresa Beckley-Amaya, a hospice social worker at Michigan Palliative and Hospice Care, who initially suggested placing posters around the neighborhood for those impacted by immigration enforcement, Sanromán said.
Since November 2025, at least four Detroit teens seeking asylum have been jailed in facilities operated by federal officials. All attend Western International High School in Southwest Detroit.
Beckley-Amaya, a six-year resident of the largely Latino neighborhood, attended a Detroit Public Schools Community District board meeting in support of the students.
“I was listening to all these stories, and it just really broke my heart,” Beckley-Amaya said. “What our community is going through is grief, and I was trying to figure out, how do I fit into that landscape?”
Beckley-Amaya said her initial idea was to place posters and candles all around Southwest that said “You are welcome here.” She became introduced to Sanromán’s work, who expanded the idea to both visual and ritual components, Beckley-Amaya said.
The posters include statements written by Sanromán such as, “We move the way our ancestors taught us. Migration is an inherited knowledge,” and “Movement is older than borders. We carry it in our bodies, in our blood, in our memory.”
As the idea evolved, Sanromán and Beckley-Amaya decided to make the project more participatory.
“I was like, we should put posters, but we should also make this really personal for individuals,” Sanromán said. “Once it actually reflects the people in the community, that’s where this project can interconnect communities through this shared experience.”
Submissions opened on Dec. 27 via Instagram and closed Jan. 9, and eight people contributed. Sanromán hopes to install the altars by April at locations including Vámonos Detroit and Garage Cultural.
Sanromán received $5,000 from the Visionary Resistance Fellowship from Petty Propolis, a Detroit-based organization supporting artists.
It’s the project’s first iteration, Sanromán said, adding that she won’t turn away anyone who wants to participate. Her hope is to expand the work to other immigrant communities, including Dearborn and other parts of Detroit, she told Planet Detroit.
Beckley-Amaya said that regardless of what elected officials are or are not saying, “our community sees each other, and we don’t stand for this.
“Everyone should be able to walk around the streets without fear of being separated from their families.”
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