"De Sur a Norte"Front Cover of LOST Anthology

Painting: "De Norte A Sur" by Jose G. Cano Photo by Ileana Garcia-Spitz

Jose G. Cano is a painter, song-writer, and well-rounded artista from the Mexico-U.S. frontera/border región in Texas.

Contribution: "De Norte a Sur" painting above. I had a few talks with Mr. Cano in which we discussed possible ideas for what we envisioned our front cover to be. He came up with different versions of my suggestions. At the same time we were also viewing many other entries. But finally we, the editors, selected Mr. Cano's work above, which is representative of the several themes involved in the refugee's experience.

One of those themes is the "beast" as the trains are called on which the immigrants climb and travel. Sometimes they fall off and end up being ravaged by the steel wheels of this beast, which makes its name appropriate. There is also the river representing the border division between the U.S. and Mexico. And above in the sky flies an American eagle representing salvation and seemingly about to strike a blow at the snake-like beast below, like a reenactment of the eagle devouring a snake of the Aztec story of the founding of Tenochtitlan. We see a woman grieving lost loved ones who could not escape the dangers of their homeland, and a man who cannot accompany his family on their journey to freedom. 

(These observations are strictly the subjective musings of this author and are not representative of the painter's views, nor are they meant to be the final analysis. Viewers and readers are free to interpret this image as they wish.)

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