For his Refugees: Welcome Signs installation Ontiveros collected different types of signs from thrift stores, garage sales and estate sales that contained the word welcome. Interested in issues of value raised by the discarded objects, with this piece Ontiveros questions the meaning and ambiguity of the word welcome in relationship to immigration issues in the US, as well as in Europe with the recent crises of the Syrian refugees.
43 Welcome Signs Installation at Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, 2016
Installation for Denmark Triennial , 2017
Installation for Denmark Triennial, 2017
Photo by Leonard Nadel, Texas, 1956. Braceros being fumigated