we are here
stories from multilingual speakerS in north central florida
We Are Here: Stories from Multilingual Speakers in North Central Florida is a exhibit I designed for the Matheson History Museum in Gainesville, Florida. It was open to the public from May 2023 to February 2024.
North Central Florida is not usually perceived to be as linguistically diverse as other parts of the state such as Miami or Orlando. However, there is a significant population of migrants who speak languages other than English. In contexts of global migration, language barriers can increase when language diversity is not properly recognized, making it difficult for those not speaking the predominant language of a place to actively participate and feel included in their communities.
​
Through multilingual panels, audio recordings, a timeline and other interactive elements sharing multilingual stories, the goal was to raise awareness of the linguistic diversity in North Central Florida. In the panels, through collages, I visualize the meanings people assign to their languages and the obstacles caused by language barriers. The collages were designed based on interviews with multilingual community members, and include languages such as Haitian Creole, Arabic, Hindi, Odia, Punjabi, Kazakh, Vietnamese, Chinese, Akuapem Twi, Bengali, as well as Indigenous languages such as Q’anjobal and Aymara.
Language Justice • Museum Exhibit • Social Design
U.S.
Team: Valentina Sierra and Laura Gonzales
Language access stories
I designed the collage panels to be interactive. At first sight, visitors could only see the story in its original language alongside the collage. To read it in English and uncover the meaning behind the images, they had to engage physically with the piece by sliding the panels, an action that mirrored the effort often required to bridge linguistic barriers. These are some of the pieces that were part of the exhibit:
Exhibit at the matheson museum
process highlights
Interviews and Co-creation
My collaborator and I conducted interviews with multilingual community members, both online and at local events, to learn about the joys and challenges of speaking their heritage languages in the U.S. We later shared the collages representing their stories to gather feedback, refine interpretations, and deepen our understanding of their experiences.
Exhibit Launch event
The exhibit opened with an event attended by more than 200 people, featuring multilingual guest speakers who shared their perspectives on migration, language, and identity.
Sharing the Impact
We Are Here has been shared in both academic and community spaces. Publications about the project can be found in the journals Technical Communication and Technical Communication and Social Justice, as well as in the book Designing for Social Justice. I find it essential that my work moves fluidly between research spaces and more informal, participatory contexts, maintaining a close connection with the communities involved.