UCLA

Omar Pimienta’s political art action Consulado M�vil simultaneously serves as an analogy, an allegory, a symbol, and an accusation that authenticates undocumented bodies, giving a voice to immigrant narratives while problematizing naturalization and citizenship. Citizenship is more complex than a dichotomous ideology that creates two groups of individuals who live in direct opposition, those with the legal privilege to partake in the social contract of a nation and those not allowed to do so legally. This analysis takes as a point of departure Mexican scholarship that has foregrounded and previously outlined arte acci�n. By migrating this scholarly concept from Mexico and juxtaposing it to U.S. mainstream society’s understanding of performance, this study conceptually mirrors the journeys of countless brown immigrants. This study methodologically braids autoethnography, critical race theory (C.R.T., LatCrit, and UndocuCrit), and curatorial dialogues that transcend testimonios and interviews as data gathering methodologies to best understand how Political Art Action outlines the aesthetics of undocumentedness. Pimienta’s work scrutinizes the legal process by which people naturalize issuing Pasaportes Libres. Analyzed in the following pages are Pimienta’s Colonia Libertad (which translates roughly to freedom colony), Ciudadan�a Libre, Consulado M�vil, Lady Liberty, and Pasaporte Libre, each an intricate fragment of a more extensive political art action that endures within a neoliberal state that cannibalizes the immigrant community for economic profit, By scrutinizing bureaucratic naturalization and citizenship as a social construct, Consulado M�vil allows each Ciudadano Libre to claim a conciencia hist�rica.