Yehimi Cambrón

Photo by Keenan Hadley

Yehimi Cambrón is a DACAmented artist and activist based in Atlanta and born in San Antonio Villalongín, Michoacán, México. She became undocumented at seven years old when she immigrated to Georgia, where she grew up on Buford Hwy—the multicultural heart of Atlanta.

Cambrón’s work centers immigrants and predominantly reflects the experiences of Undocumented Americans. Her landmark murals in Atlanta historically assert the presence and humanity of immigrants, depict the intersectionality and complexity of their stories, and challenge the white male-centered history that dictates who is worthy of a public, monumental celebration.

In 2019, Cambrón was nationally selected for Off the Wall: Atlanta’s Civil Rights and Social Justice Journey, a public art project leading up to Super Bowl LIII, for which she painted Monuments: We Carry the Dreams and Freedom Fighters. That summer, she was awarded Living Walls’ Laura Patricia Calle Grant to paint Monuments: Our Immigrant Mothers, selected as the Best Mural in Atlanta by Creative Loafing critics. 2020 gave way for Cambrón’s largest murals: We Give Each Other the World, her tallest mural to date at over one hundred feet, co-funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the City of Hapeville, and Monuments: Atlanta’s Immigrants, now part of The Art Collection at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Although she initially became known for her murals, Cambrón’s art and activism found their place in museums. She became the first known Undocumented artist to show work at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art in 2019 with Family Portrait, a series of individual portraits depicting her mixed-status family. Most recently, she created #ChingaLaMigra, a site-specific installation that consists of audio and one thousand, nine hundred and sixty-six Monarch butterflies that overpower the confining Sliver Space at the Atlanta Contemporary. #ChingaLaMigra invites the viewer to pause and hear the voices of those who have been harmed by Georgia’s Stewart Detention Center (SDC)—one of the largest and deadliest immigration detention centers in the country.

Cambrón earned a full-ride scholarship from the Goizueta Foundation to attend Agnes Scott College and graduated with a B.A. in Studio Art in 2014. In 2015, Cambrón was accepted into Teach for America (TFA) as a corps member, becoming the first of two DACAmented educators placed in Georgia by TFA, and serving on TFA’s DACA Advisory Board for two years. After completing her TFA commitment as an elementary school teacher, Cambrón returned to her alma mater, Cross Keys High School, to teach art from 2017-2019. She is currently a full-time artist, activist, and national public speaker.