Two weeks after Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s killing by ICE agents in Houston, local South Side artist Brian Herrera responded the way he knows best: through his art.
At the corner of 18th and Wood Streets in Pilsen, Herrera wheat-pasted a portrait of Salgado Araujo alongside a list of people killed in detention and encounters with immigration authorities since the start of the second Trump administration.
“Remember Their Names” is Herrera’s latest public art installation. He posted his process online, receiving more than 1.5 million views and 35,000 shares across Instagram and TikTok. Set to Chicago hardcore punk band Los Crudos’ 1997 song “Asesinos,” the video pairs the installation with lyrics condemning attacks on immigrant communities. In one line, the band declares, “Quieren que nos vayamos, pues de aquí somos,” which translates to “They want us to leave, but we’re from here.”
The Weekly spoke to Herrera about “Remember Their Names.”
The following interview has been edited slightly for clarity.
Jocelyn Martinez-Rosales: What story were you trying to tell with “Remember Their Names”?
Brian Herrera: A memorial dedicated to people that have passed away due to ICE activity in general, whether it’s in detention or throughout the period of time since the start of 2025.
It’s sort of me trying to navigate this climate, and me trying to respond to it, and trying to translate all this information that we’ve been bombarded with, whether through the media or social media, and trying to summarize, or as a graphic designer, come up with an infographic to have that impact visually.
What has been the response that you’ve received from the installation?
It’s been taken really well with people. I wasn’t expecting it to get that much attention. Honestly, the reason for it was to bring awareness. The names were a last minute idea because when I was doing the Lorenzo illustration, I thought “well, there’s more names, there’s more people,” unfortunately. So I was like, it would be good to remember their names, and that’s why I literally wrote on top, or typed on top, of the infographic, “Remember Their Names.”
If I had all the time in the world, I would illustrate each and every person on that list. Which, by the way, I forgot some names on there.
What are some emotions that come up for you? I saw a comment from Salgado Araujo’s son, Ronaldo, thanking you.
I love it and I hate it, the way that I made such a connection and impact with people through my art. And when I say that, it really did feel so strange to me that someone that was directly connected to this person that passed away thanked me.
I don’t want to be thanked by anyone, [as if] I did the art for the family that died. I don’t want to be praised for doing work that has to be done. I feel, in a way, responsible for translating this information—inform folks through my set of skills.
Did you expect “Remember Their Names” to resonate beyond Chicago? What has it been like to see people want to recreate it elsewhere?
That was the coolest part about this whole thing. That not only did it get a lot of interaction, but it engaged a lot of people to partake in their own individual action, and it’s just allowing folks to have, once again, a tool, an accessible, free, downloadable tool.
People from all over the states—a lot of people in California, New York, Texas, actually, too—were reaching out, and I guess people from France and Brazil, too, were showing their support.
I was doing a lot of this political work back in 2022, and then I stopped because it took a lot out of me. I was talking a lot about the immigration movement, supporting this movement and creating art for it, and it burned me out. I kind of did a little comeback with this one. I was like, one, no one’s doing this. What the hell? And then two, I don’t see me doing any change being at a protest, or reposting. I’d rather volunteer or do something with my art.
Where can people download the installation files if they want to replicate the action?
They can download it through the National Day Labor Network website at ndlon.org. It’ll be there for people to access.
Jocelyn Martinez-Rosales is a Mexican American independent journalist from Belmont Cragin covering music and culture. She is also a senior editor at the Weekly.