Migración: Betabeleros

This fall, we invite you to experience a gallery of memory, culture, and resilience. Migración: Betabeleros, an art installation organized by Wyoming artist Ismael Dominguez, will be on display from September 18 through November 2, transforming the library into a space where history and art intertwine. 

The exhibition chronicles the lives of the betabeleros, Mexican and Mexican-American migrant beet workers whose labor sustained northern Wyoming’s sugar beet industry in the early 20th century. Some of these families had long roots in the region, their presence predating shifting borders, while others traveled from Mexico, Texas, California, New Mexico, and beyond. Together, they carved out lives marked by resilience, community, and culture, even as their stories were often left untold. 

Through textile sculptures, historic photographs, and first-person auditory accounts, Dominguez’s installation invites library visitors to walk alongside the betabeleros. The voices and images in Migración: Betabeleros honor the contributions of these workers and ask us to reflect on the broader themes of migration, identity, and belonging that still resonate in our communities today. 

For Dominguez, who grew up in rural Wyoming and now makes his home in Laramie, this work is personal. A graduate of Northwest College and the University of Wyoming, he has shown his art in exhibitions across the state, including the Governor’s Capitol Art Exhibition in Cheyenne. His practice also extends beyond traditional gallery spaces—he has led free sculptural beading courses through the Albany County Public Library and Creative Aging, working to make the arts more accessible to all. 

By bringing Migración: Betabeleros to the library, Dominguez and Laramie County Library System invite our community to learn, connect, and reflect. Libraries are places where stories live, and this fall, the story of the betabeleros will be told not through words on a page, but through art that speaks across generations. 

We hope you’ll join us to experience this remarkable installation between September 18 and November 2. To explore more of the history behind the betabeleros, we encourage you to read this Wyoming Public Media conversation with Conxita Domenech and Chelsea Escalante, which provides additional context for the lives and legacies honored in the exhibit.