Iryna Gorb, the Ukrainian immigrant whose July arrest by ICE agents at SFO was caught on a viral video, is selling drawings she made in detention to help women she met inside, SFist reported, citing the San Francisco Chronicle.
Why it matters: The show offers a rare look at daily life inside the California City Immigration Processing Center, where many Bay Area detainees are held.
'Don't Forget About Us'
Gorb recently showed more than two dozen drawings at an art show on Nob Hill, her first exhibition about her time in detention, SFist reported. The show depicts the women she met and details of daily life, including pay phones, food trays, tablet checkouts and dingy showers.
Since her release, Gorb has been sending money to the commissary accounts and phone cards of women still detained, and raising funds to help cover their legal costs and bonds. She plans to take the exhibition to other locations around the Bay Area over the coming months, per the Chronicle.
Her case
Gorb was detained July 22 after returning to SFO from Portland, SFist reported in September. The Department of Homeland Security said she entered the U.S. legally in 2010 but overstayed her visa, and alleged she tried to flee and resisted arrest. She has no criminal record, according to SFist.
She was held at the California City facility in the Mojave Desert. After seven weeks she was reportedly released on an $8,000 bond, SFist reported. Her immigration case is ongoing.
Gorb said advice from another detainee changed how she approached detention: "The only thing we can control is our mind."