Alison “Quito” Ziegler is a documentary photographer and the Program Manager of the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network, an organization she co-founded out of her belief in public art’s ability to have an impact on social justice.

Her exhibit, “Tenemos un Sueño: Latino Youth and the American Dream” (exhibited at Intermedia Arts in Spring 2005) documents a group of Latino teenagers in small-town Minnesota. The youth are advocates for the Dream Act, a policy that would enable them to attend college at in-state tuition rates, and the photos were linked to the Freedom Network’s civic engagement campaign.

“American Family: Stories behind the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride” (2004) told the stories of seven immigrants in Minnesota, all of whom participated in the 2003 Freedom Ride. The public art exhibit of these photos, the Minnesota Freedom Ride, played a pivotal role in statewide community organizing around immigration issues.

From 1999-2000, Ziegler coordinated Wing Young Huie’s massive public art project, “Lake Street USA,” which put 675 of his images of Lake Street residents back into the community – in store windows, bus shelters, the faces of public buildings, and the sides of public buses. In 2004, Ziegler participated as a fellow in Intermedia Arts’ Institute for Community Cultural Development leadership program. A New York native, Ziegler graduated from Macalester College in 1998.

Quito Ziegler
Program Manager, Photographer
Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network
(formerly the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride)
312 Central Ave #371
Minneapolis, MN 55414
o: 612-379-4311
aqziegler@gmail.com
www.mnfr.org