Artist statement

Inspired by Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit, this installation for Upstate Art Weekend 2026 at Goshen Green Farm from June 25-June 29 considers how public memory is shaped by the deaths of people on society's margins. The work asks what becomes visible when names replace numbers, and whether the trees that witnessed past injustices are witnessing new ones today."

Learn More

This installation was inspired by Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit, a song that transformed statistics into human stories and asked viewers and listeners to bear witness.

In 1939, Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit forced Americans to confront violence that many preferred not to see. This project asks what we may be failing to see today.

The work does not suggest that historical events are identical. Rather, it invites reflection on recurring questions:

• Who is seen as fully human?

• Whose suffering is visible?

• Whose deaths are counted, and whose are forgotten?

• What happens when people are reduced to numbers?

The information below is provided to encourage further research and discussion.

ICE Detention Deaths

According to publicly reported data, approximately 50 people have died in ICE custody since January 2025, the highest number recorded in such a short period in modern ICE history.

In addition, at least four people have been publicly identified as killed by federal immigration agents during enforcement operations, bringing the documented minimum total to approximately 54 deaths.

Source: The Guardian, ICE Deaths Timeline https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/04/ice-2025-deaths-timeline

Deaths Continue to Rise

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports that deaths inside immigration detention facilities have continued to increase.

According to the ACLU:

• 17 people had died in ICE custody during the first months of 2026.

• Deaths were occurring at a rate of approximately one every six days.

• More than 40 people had died in immigration detention since the start of the administration's mass deportation campaign.

Source: ACLU, Deaths in Detention, https://www.aclu.org/news/immigrants-rights/deaths-in-detention-ice-is-rapidly-expanding-detention-camps-into-warehouses-despite-record-deaths

Who Is Being Detained?

Recent ICE detention data indicate that approximately 70% of detainees have no criminal convictions.

At the same time, President Donald Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York State court in 2024.

Sources:
Manhattan District Attorney: https://manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-announces-34-count-felony-trial-conviction-of-donald-j-trump/

TRAC Immigration Data: https://tracreports.org

Reported Conditions Inside ICE Detention Facilities

Human rights organizations, attorneys, journalists, medical professionals, inspectors, and detainees have documented concerns at various ICE detention facilities, including:

• Overcrowding

• Delays in medical treatment

• Inadequate access to health care

• Shortages of medical staff

• Record numbers of deaths in custody

• Rising numbers of suicides

• Use of solitary confinement

• Reports of excessive force and physical abuse

• Unsanitary conditions

• Concerns about food quality and quantity

• Insufficient beds, toilets, and basic resources during population surges

• Exposure to communicable diseases, including tuberculosis, measles, and COVID-19

• Frequent transfers that interrupt medical care and legal representation

• Extremely cold temperatures and inadequate living conditions in some facilities

• Limited access for inspectors, journalists, advocates, and family members

• Reports of degrading and dehumanizing treatment

• Reduced oversight despite growing detention populations

These conditions have been documented in reports from organizations including the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights, Reuters, the Associated Press, The Guardian, PBS, and other investigative and medical sources.

Remembering Names

Statistics describe systems. Names remind us that every statistic represents a human life.

Killed During Federal Immigration Enforcement Operations

• Renée Nicole Macklin Good

• Alex Jeffrey Pretti

• Ruben Ray Martinez

• Silverio Villegas González

Died in ICE Custody

• Abelardo Avellaneda-Delgado

• Brayan Rayo-Garzon

• Chaofeng Ge

• Delvin Francisco Rodriguez

• Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir

• Francisco Gaspar-Andres

• Gabriel Garcia-Aviles

• Genry Ruiz Guillen

• Geraldo Lunas Campos

• Hasan Ali Moh'D Saleh

• Heber Sánchez Domínguez

• Huabing Xie

• Isidro Perez

• Ismael Ayala Uribe

• Jean Wilson Brutus

• Jesus Molina-Veya

• Johnny Noviello

• Jose Guadalupe Ramos

• Juan Alexis Tineo-Martinez

• Kai Yin Wong

• Leo Cruz-Silva

• Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas

• Luis Beltrán Yáñez-Cruz

• Luis Gustavo Núñez Cáceres

• Maksym Chernyak

• Marie Ange Blaise

• Miguel Ángel Garcia-Hernandez

• Nenko Stanev Gantchev

• Nhon Ngoc Nguyen

• Norlan Guzman-Fuentes

• Oscar Duarte Rascon

• Parady La

• Pete Sumalo Montejo

• Santos Reyes-Banegas

• Serawit Gezahegn Dejene

• Shiraz Fatehali Sachwani

• Tien Xuan Phan

• Víctor Manuel Díaz

The purpose of this list is not to settle political debates. It is to acknowledge lives that were lived and deaths that occurred.

This list reflects publicly identified individuals reported in ICE custody deaths and immigration enforcement fatalities through 2025–2026. Because reporting and investigations are ongoing, the list may not be complete.

Democracy and Civic Responsibility

This project asks not only who is remembered, but how societies change when the suffering of some people becomes easier to ignore.

Several organizations that monitor democratic governance have documented declines in democratic indicators in the United States in recent years.

Democracy Indicators

• The United States has been classified as a "Flawed Democracy" by the Economist Intelligence Unit since 2016.

• In the 2025 Democracy Index, the United States ranked 34th in the world, receiving its lowest score since the index began.

• Freedom House, a nonpartisan organization that tracks political rights and civil liberties worldwide, gave the United States a score of 81 out of 100 in its 2026 report, the country's lowest score under its current methodology.

• Freedom House cited concerns including threats to free expression, political polarization, and pressures on democratic institutions.

Sources:
Economist Intelligence Unit, Democracy Index 2025
https://www.economistgroup.com/press-centre/economist-enterprise/eiu-democracy-index-2025-democracy-stabilises-after-eight-years-of-decline

Freedom House, Freedom in the World 2026
https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-states/freedom-world/2026

Warning Signs Historians and Political Scientists Watch For

When evaluating the health of democracies, scholars often monitor:

• Expansion of executive power

• Weakening of independent oversight

• Attacks on journalists and media organizations

• Punishment of political opponents

• Restrictions on protest or dissent

• Erosion of due process protections

• Reduced transparency and accountability

• The portrayal of minority groups as threats to national identity or public safety

These indicators are used by researchers around the world to assess democratic resilience and democratic decline.

Questions for Reflection

• Whose stories are remembered?

• Whose suffering becomes invisible?

• What responsibilities do citizens have when confronted with injustice?

• At what point does indifference become participation?

• What does it mean to bear witness?

As Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit reminds us, history is not only about the past. It is also about what we choose to see in the present.

Sources and Further Reading

Sources include government records, court documents, journalists, human rights organizations, medical professionals, and advocacy groups. Readers are encouraged to review original sources and draw their own conclusions.

The goal of this project is not to provide definitive answers, but to encourage inquiry, reflection, and remembrance.