Dozens of clothespins painted with black-and-white skull faces hang inside a bird cage.

To the untrained eye, this untitled piece might look like little more than a piece of folk art.

But the students who created the piece will tell you it holds a deeper meaning.

For the past six weeks, seven conversational Spanish students at Lincoln Public Schools Arts and Humanities Focus Program have delved into the issue of illegal immigration.

They’ve watched documentaries and read news articles, said teacher Amy Rauch. And they’ve translated into Spanish a list of  terms that are key to understanding the issue, she said.

The culmination of their studies is the three-dimensional art piece, Rauch said.

Listen to the students and their teacher as they describe what the project means to them.

“I think the idea was just this sort of entrapment,” said Gretchen Larsen, a junior at Lincoln Northeast High School.

She’s talking about the feeling of entrapment immigrants who leave Mexico for America must feel.

That explains the cage. What about the clothespins decorated with skull faces?

Those are calaveras, traditional Mexican ornaments used on the annual Day of the Dead, Larsen said.

The calaveras symbolize what all human beings share: death. They depict its transitory nature, the idea that it is only a passageway, Rauch said.

“There’s a certain commonality that emerges from that concept,” she said.

The calaveras play a role in the piece of art, she said, because risk of death does not prevent Mexicans from attempting the perilous trek to America, in part perhaps, because of this idea that death is only a passageway.

Even the wood frame from which the cage hangs hold meaning — it represents the United States, a goal for so many immigrants, said Larsen.

“Even if they do escape, what are they getting to?” she asked.

Michela Coniglio, a junior at Lincoln High School, said working on the project helped her gain empathy for the plight of illegal immigrants and taught her how lucky she is to live in America.

“We don’t have to try to get across,” she said. “We’re already here.”

The project is unfinished; students are still trying to decide what else it should address.

“With every layer they add to this piece, they add another perspective from which to see this issue,” Rauch said. “I think they get that there’s no easy answer.”

Whatever they come up with, of course, will be open to interpretation by the artwork’s viewers.

And that’s OK with the students.

Said Larsen: “I just think that it’s important to contemplate this.”

Reach Kevin Abourezk at 473-7225 or kabourezk@journalstar.com.