Miriam, a Mexican photographer and visual artist based in Iowa, creates art with the mission to build a more sustainable and inclusive world.

2024 Culture & Narrative Fellows Our Fellows

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Miriam Alarcón Avila, a Mexican photographer and visual artist based in Iowa, creates art with the mission to build a more sustainable and inclusive world. Her work highlights the lives and struggles of Latinos, Latinas, Latinx, immigrants, and minorities in the US, aiming to inspire, connect, educate, and support others in experiencing a borderless world. Beginning her artistic journey as a teenager inspired by vibrant Mexican culture, Miriam has evolved to create impactful public art installations and compelling photo documentaries. Her work reflects a deep commitment to storytelling and social impact, using her talents to amplify voices and bridge cultures. Miriam’s work has been exhibited and awarded by various organizations, universities, museums, and galleries across the Midwest, such as the Des Moines Art Center and the University of Iowa. A 2023 Tanne Award recipient, she is a member of Women Photograph and Photographers Without Borders.

Medium: Photography

Contact

@miriamalarconavila

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“Iowa NICE, Make Iowa Nice Again” is a poetic visual exploration of the conflicting emotions experienced by the Iowa community at a time when the cultural label “Iowa NICE” is fading.

“Iowa NICE, Make Iowa Nice Again” is an interactive photo and video documentary that uses the solid form of water—ICE—as a visual metaphor to experiment with new ways of narrating the experiences, feelings, and emotions of Iowa participants. By establishing an analogy between the words “NICE” and “ICE”—where omitting the N transforms “nice” into “ice”—the project seeks to reveal why Iowa, historically recognized as a tolerant, friendly, and welcoming state, especially toward newcomers, immigrants, and refugees, is becoming an increasingly cold environment. This metaphorical coldness numbs the senses, emotions, and core values such as inclusion, solidarity, love, and kindness, leaving behind feelings of hatred, fear, and violence.

This growing coldness and loss of empathy has led Iowa lawmakers to propose, debate, and pass unconstitutional, anti-immigrant laws that force local police to act like ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), a function that, by law, should be carried out by the federal agency responsible for enforcing U.S. immigration laws.

In response, state and local organizations working with immigrants and refugees have been forced to constantly mobilize to counter the harmful effects of this coldness, its impact on the Iowa community, and its detrimental effects on the core values that once gave Iowa its reputation for kindness and friendliness.

Throughout this project, we will be interviewing Iowans through conversations, documenting their stories, and creating photographic and video footage of them and the events and activities organized by organizations dedicated to counteracting hate and fear. These organizations, along with members of the community, will be called “The Ice Breakers.”

With these interviews, we will learn about the emotions and feelings surrounding the meaning of “Iowa Nice” and discover whether it truly reflects the sentiment and actions in harmony with being Iowan. We will identify the core values that need to be reinforced to help break the ice, centering on the hope that, through the ice, we will find a fine line of light—strong enough to warm dormant hearts and start to melt and break the ice.

The collected footage, photographs, posters, and videos will be shared bilingually through an interactive website and social media. These will be presented as stories and short informational clips that convey the sentiment, values, and actions needed to “Make Iowa Nice Again.”