Bihl Haus Arts (BHA) presents “Una Voz Desatada /A Voice Unbound,” an exhibition of works by Rocio Alvarado Lockwood (1961-2015), that opens with a reception. The exhibition, which runs through Oct. 26, features Rocio’s drawings, prints and text that reveal the trauma she experienced as a child immigrant trying to survive in a new culture.

At the age of 12 and a new immigrant in El Paso, Rocio is subjected to abuse—emotional, physical, educational—by a teacher who demands English only in the classroom and by a system that cannot address the needs of the individual. She fights back by withholding the one thing they cannot force from her with harsh words or harsher physical treatment: her voice.

Years later she recovers these buried memories in drawings, prints and a stream-of-consciousness journal shared here for the first time in this period of institutionalized trauma exacted on child immigrants at the Border. “Una Voz Desatada” is organized by curator Dean Lockwood, Rocio’s husband, with literary assistance from Dr. Carmen Tafolla. The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog with a foreword by Tafolla. The catalog features ten of Rocio’s prints and drawings. Each image is paired with a short text by an invited contributor. They are: Gloria Sánchez Hart, Celeste De Luna, Cary Clack, Gris Muñoz, Anthony the Poet (Anthony M. Flores), Dean Lockwood, Laura Varela, Ana De Luna, David Zamora Casas and Marisela Barrera.