For four hours, Weinberg sophomore Beatriz Sturn stood in front of The Rock, withstanding near-freezing temperatures for an endurance performance titled “I promise I am here legally” Wednesday afternoon.  

During the performance, Sturn, an international student from Brazil, recited information seen on a typical student visa. While she used her real name, country of origin and visa type as listed on her own visa, the specific identification numbers of the document were falsified, she said. 

For the entirety of the four-hour performance, Sturn repeated the visa information over and over again, only broken up by the phrase, “I promise I’m here legally” after each repetition. She paused briefly to take sips of water and tea. Sturn said she only broke character once to ask a friend for a thicker coat. 

Sturn organized this performance art as a final project for her class “Durational Performance: Blood, Sweat, Tears,” she said. 

“(In our class), we study any performance piece that lasts longer than you would expect that action to last,” Sturn said. “So if you are thinking about reciting your document information, you think someone will do that like once or twice in life, but then I did it for four hours.”

Other performers — international students, green-card holders and even a professor — joined Sturn and participated for anywhere between 20 and 90 minutes, she said. 

Participants used fabricated visa information and were given the option to use real details including their names and countries of origin, Sturn said. She added that in addition to reciting visa information, performers also taped control numbers or U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services numbers that matched the visa information they were reading to the front and back of their shirts. 

“I think the word ‘control number’ — because it’s what they use to track the visas — really showcases how it’s like we’re counted as numbers at the end of day,” Sturn said. “I just wanted to call attention to that while I was doing the rest of the (performance).”

Weinberg freshman and performer Ainée Wittayathawornwong said she joined the performance after reading about it on social media.

For her, the performance brought “a moment of reflection” on the Northwestern “bubble.” Wittayathawornwong said she does not typically think about her identity as an international student while at school, but the performance made her think of “a bigger context.” 

“I just kind of realized a little bit of my origins, and also, ‘Why am I here?’” Wittayathawornwong said. “And that there are limitations to what I can do here and what I cannot do, and some things that (are) different, compared to me being an international student, to someone who’s a citizen.”

Wittayathawornwong added that the performance serves as a reminder that there are others at Northwestern in similar situations. 

Communication sophomore Cessa Lewis heard about her classmate Sturn’s performance in the performance studies class and attended to see Sturn’s idea brought to life. 

“I think now seeing it, I’m realizing how taxing it is to repeat that again and again — like on your voice — and then to just stand here in the cold,” Lewis said. “It’s so much more visceral, obviously, seeing it than when I heard it in class.”

Even though Sturn had the option of doing a non-public performance for her class, she wanted  this performance not to just be something for herself nor her “own growth.” 

Sturn hopes the performance causes people to reflect on how much endurance being an immigrant requires, she said. 

“Especially in the U.S., if you want to stay here for long, legally, you have to perform to be here,” Sturn said. “I (am) only able to have a visa because I performed enough academically that the University took me in. Then, they were sponsoring my visa, and then I have to perform again to get a good enough of a job that they will sponsor my next visa. It’s this constant thing that you can never let the ball drop.”

Email: marissafernandez2028@u.northwestern.edu

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