Kumba Was Here (2010) is a site specific installation in Seattle's former Immigration and Naturalization Services building.  In 2004, after 72 years of continuous use, the INS building was closed and sold to a developer. After getting input from Seattle’s immigrant community, the buyer turned it into artist studios. I moved in in 2010 and was one of the first artists in the building. Walking the halls, it was impossible to ignore the building’s grim past.  The courtyard served as a waiting area for detainees and the graffiti that remains on the walls often denotes names and places of origin.  
After working in the space for a few months, it became clear that I would need to make a piece that dealt directly with the history of the building.  While the building had witnessed some joyful moments (it was the place where new citizens were sworn in) it also served as a detention center and it was clear that much suffering had taken place here.  “Kumba Was Here,” is a meditation on the people that waited in that courtyard.  By following and enlarging their handwriting, I tried to amplify and pay tribute to their voices.