Winners of the “Misioner@s de Esperanza” Art Contest: Collage – Digital Art

Last August, we celebrated the “Misioner@s de Esperanza” Art Contest, an initiative that sought to inspire creativity and the missionary spirit through different forms of artistic expression. Today, we joyfully share the winners in the Collage – Digital Art category, whose works reflect the talent and hope that bring life to our mission.

1st Place: Mirari Lara – “Constelación Migrante: Esperanza sin Fronteras”

Explanation of the work:

“Constelación Migrante: Esperanza sin Fronteras” is a collage that reinterprets migration not as a wound, but as a firmament full of light. The work is based on the metaphor that each migrant is a star who, even amid darkness, shines with faith and resilience, illuminating their own path and that of those around them.

The background depicts a rough desert, symbolizing the challenges faced by migrants: borders, exhaustion, solitude. Yet, above this hostile landscape emerges a starry sky filled with human silhouettes, families, women, youth, and children. These figures are not isolated; they are connected by golden threads forming constellations, evoking the idea that every journey is part of a collective story. At the center, a golden sun represents Hope, that sustaining force which, as Pope Leo XIV says, makes migrants “privileged witnesses of hope lived in daily life.” Around it, words such as love, family, culture, resilience, dreams, future, and God orbit like guiding stars, illuminating the journey toward dignity and integral human development.

The collage plays with the duality of earth and sky: below, the obstacles; above, the fullness of a borderless universe. This contrast moves the viewer, reminding us that although pain is real, hope is stronger. The work seeks to move and provoke reflection, showing that migration is not only a physical journey but also a spiritual and human one, a transformation for both the travelers and the communities that welcome them.

By turning migrant journeys into constellations, the piece dignifies their stories, portraying them as “misioner@s de esperanza,” capable of transforming pain into resilience, uncertainty into dreams, and the road into a future.
“Constelación Migrante: Esperanza sin Fronteras” is a tribute to the dignity and light of migrants, and an invitation to recognize that we all share the same sky, where hope knows no borders.

2nd Place: Jesús Antonio Chaya Guerra

Explanation of the work:

The image reflects the journey of migrants. It shows how they leave behind a sad and difficult place, carrying their belongings, to cross into another land where they hope to find peace and a better life. It portrays the harsh reality of the journey, but also the hope for a different future.

3rd Place: Nayeli Anahí Lemus Raygoza

Honorable Mention: Moisés Villalpando Europa – “El espíritu y la novia dicen ven”

Explanation of the work:

This piece portrays migrants walking toward their new homeland, guided by Our Lord Jesus Christ, Priest and King of the Nations. It expresses the closeness these people share with God, for in their abandonment and lack of material possessions, nothing binds them to the world but love for their families. It also recalls that Gospel passage where, paradoxically, Jesus says: “The last will be first.” These people are often seen as “the last,” yet we fail to perceive the abundance of grace God grants them.

Jesus is not depicted here in His usual way, but rather in His majesty and power over all evils, to highlight His magnificence, to show who He truly is, and how even in His grandeur, He humbles Himself to guide His children to the Promised Land, to Heaven.

Finally, the title of the piece reminds me of two passages: one, the parable of the brides waiting awake for the bridegroom, and the other, from Revelation: “The Spirit and the Bride (the Church) say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come.”

God does not take away the cross from these people, but He carries His own alongside them — setting an example of how to offer all suffering for the forgiveness of sins and for the greater glory of God.