Situated on and around San Francisco’s controversial Pioneer Monument, kaleb Duarte’s (2019 Creative Capital Awardee) Embassy of the Refugee is a sculptural intervention and durational performance. The installation challenges a landmark that, since its dedication in 1894, has glorified conquest, westward expansion, and violence against Indigenous peoples. A rusted scaffold surrounds the site, while strips of gold Mylar wrap and “gild” the structure, evoking the emergency blankets carried and distributed among displaced people. A suspended mesh enclosure references temporary refugee shelters and other provisional forms of sanctuary.

Embassy of the Refugee is made possible through Duarte’s collaboration with Artist Ambassadors from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico, who have lived in the United States for periods ranging from two to fifteen years.

The public unveiling on July 25 will feature performances on the empty plinth by internationally acclaimed Guatemalan artists Regina José Galindo and Marilyn Boror Bor, performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña, and Duarte’s longtime collaborator Mia Eve Rollow.

Through Embassy of the Refugee, Duarte reimagines the monument as a living site of encounter. The project challenges inherited symbols of power while transforming the often-invisible labor of immigrants into visible, collective, and theatrical acts of care, resistance, and public memory.