National Immigration Law Center Freedom to Thrive Podcast
Sep 3, 2026 · 38 min · 15 segments
Multidisciplinary artist Safwat Saleem joins host Hector Flores to discuss immigration, Pakistani American identity, belonging, fatherhood, and the role of art in preserving family history. Safwat…
Safwat SaleemGuestHector FloresHost
Jennifer Ibanez WhitlockGuestYou know, I would say, you know, I, as someone who has very close friends who have gone through the process, family who's gone through the process, I have an uncle who was born in Mexico, then came here as a baby and actually don't have documents on either side.
You know, but my friend, I remember in the pandemic, I had an artist friend tell me when, when we all thought, you know, things were, you know, everything went away, jobs went away.
And I want to say like, you know, can she, you share with people the kind of art that you make and how that it's that your heart, your art is also inspired by your journey.
And so just as these small moments of immigrant existence that I feel they don't always get recorded, they don't always get archived.
So I'm just trying to document the things around me and my thoughts in a way that that can form like a narrative that can be shared with the audience in a gallery setting, in a museum setting.
But essentially the goal is to build a family archive that, you know, I come from an immigrant family and maybe you have this experience too, but my parents are like, man, they're like closed books.
So I'm trying to kind of Undo that a little bit for my kids to the best of my ability that if I can document our experiences right now, at least hopefully by the time they're older, they can maybe look at my work and get a better understanding of our lives and their dad and my
You know, I would say, you know, I, as someone who has very close friends who have gone through the process, family who's gone through the process, I have an uncle who was born in Mexico, then came here as a baby and actually don't have documents on either side.
You know, but my friend, I remember in the pandemic, I had an artist friend tell me when, when we all thought, you know, things were, you know, everything went away, jobs went away.
And I want to say like, you know, can she, you share with people the kind of art that you make and how that it's that your heart, your art is also inspired by your journey.
And so just as these small moments of immigrant existence that I feel they don't always get recorded, they don't always get archived.
So I'm just trying to document the things around me and my thoughts in a way that that can form like a narrative that can be shared with the audience in a gallery setting, in a museum setting.
But essentially the goal is to build a family archive that, you know, I come from an immigrant family and maybe you have this experience too, but my parents are like, man, they're like closed books.
So I'm trying to kind of Undo that a little bit for my kids to the best of my ability that if I can document our experiences right now, at least hopefully by the time they're older, they can maybe look at my work and get a better understanding of our lives and their dad and my
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