“Mujer Migrante Memorial (MMM)” and Necro-Art

“Mujer Migrante Memorial (MMM)” is an urban art installation that honors the lives of female migrants who have died in the desert of Arizona since the 1990s. “MMM” is a guerrilla street-art-style memorializing effort that happened on June 19, 2021 as part of yet another ongoing intervention, “The Wall That Gives/El MURO QUE DA,” created by artist Filomena Cruz (Maite Zubiaurre’s alter ego) in 2015. In this case, “The Wall That Gives/El Muro Que Da,” which routinely gives away art for free, gave its surface to a migrant memorial that calls attention to the close to four hundred female migrants whose bodies have been recovered from the Sonoran Desert from 2000 to 2021. “MMM” seeks to raise awareness about violent death and the humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border, and to ignite reflection about the ethical implications of necro-art.