英语访谈节目:移民风景画照亮了波士顿

Sreenivasan: A Bostonian photographer is highlighting the contributions of immigrants. NewsHour Weekend's Mori Rothman reports.

Mori Rothman: You turn the corner, and all of a sudden you see a three-story face on a, on a tree or on a building. It's unexpected.

Reporter: Walk around Boston and you may run into the work of photographer Erik Jacobs on iconic buildings, bridges and parks. Last summer, Jacobs grew frustrated with the negative tone of the debate on immigration and started a public art project called "Boston stands with immigrants." It will show 18 projections in public spaces around the city. This project is an attempt to shine a light on immigrants and their... and their contributions. Jacobs uses a 60-pound cinema quality projector at each site. So far, they've shown famous immigrants like Dominican Red Sox slugger David Ortiz at Fenway Park; and Boston's first Muslim police captain, Haseeb Hosein. There are immigrants from all walks of life.
 Mori Rothman:We wanted to represent a wider section of immigrants than just the most well known and the most recognizable.
 Reporter: Cuban immigrant Dennis Perez was overwhelmed when she saw her picture projected on the Massachusetts state house.

Dennis Perez: I think I will cry, maybe.

Reporter: Perez immigrated to the U.S. two years ago, seeking an escape from the meager circumstances of her family's life in Cuba.

Dennis Perez: One day, I wake up. I think I need give better life for my daughter.

Reporter: After a six-month journey, Perez made it to Boston with nothing. She's taking English classes and has a job cleaning a co-working space, and hopes to make enough to bring her seven-year-old daughter to the U.S..

Mori Rothman:I think that appealing to the humanity of our subjects, like, that is the most unassailable story we can tell. And to every degree people who may not agree that immigrants are great for our society can see these people as human beings, I feel like we've succeeded.

Reporter:Pictures of all 18 planned projections will be shown in Boston's Edward M. Kennedy Institute later this year.