Pacita Abad’s Immigrant Experience series depicts the realities of immigrants and diasporic populations, reflecting on the experiences of Abad, her friends, and people she met during her travels. Haitians Waiting at Guantanamo Bay (1994) addresses the 1991-94 Haitian Refugee crisis. In September 1991, the Haitian military overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the first democratically elected president of Haiti. Refugees from Haiti fled to the United States seeking political asylum, with over 30,000 sent by the Bush Administration to be held at camps in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. During the crisis, more than a hundred refugees tested as HIV-positive; these HIV-positive refugees suffered from human rights violations after being detained in a separate facility with inadequate medical conditions. After a 1992 executive order by President Bush forced thousands of migrants to return to war-torn Haiti, the crisis took center stage among humanitarians, inspiring Abad to begin this work. Abad’s painting depicts a group of Haitian refugees carrying out their everyday tasks behind a barbed wire fence, the shape of which has been stitched into the canvas. The trapunto-style canvas is embellished with other three-dimensional details, such as the wooden beaded necklaces sewn onto two of the figures and the pieces of fabric contained by a woman’s basket. In spite of its somber subject matter, the scene is painted in bright colors. The figures are set against a blue sea which separates them from a coastal town in the distance, highlighting the displacement of the Haitian refugees. Unable to return to their home country, the barbed wire in the foreground also denies their entry into a new one.