Nunca Olvides de Dónde Vienes / Never Forget Where You Come From
The mural incorporates an array of styles, imagery and motifs that pull from each of the artists’ individual practices building to an ecstatic celebration of cultural variety, shared histories, and collective memory. Imagery in the mural includes:
Doña Patria: Belleza Dominicana Series
Angurria celebrates Dominican culture and the everyday beauty of womanhood. His series of murals, an honoring of his mother, feature Dominican women with their hair in rollers. Hair care and styling is an important tradition in Dominican culture with hair rollers typically being used in the privacy of one’s own home. Angurria’s use of them are meant to reflect an intimate moment, with his subjects in their most natural state.
Taína Sisters
Vanessa Vega incorporates a female figure, with Taíno face paint on one side of her face, within the Philadelphia skyline and a waterscape. The split portrait suggests a deep and personal connection to the world of Philadelphia and the Taíno history of Puerto Rico.
El Campesino
Both Celso González and Calo Rosa incorporate the image of the campesino (or rural farmer) into their portion of the mural, a common image in their practice. The campesino, depicted in various stages of child & adulthood points, to the long and complicated history of Latin American and Caribbean people’s connection to the land and labor. It also operates as a subtle nod to the continued agricultural and cultural work of the Norris Square Neighborhood Projects as they gaze west into the direction of the gardens.
Graffiti & Graphics
Each artist incorporates a variety of graphic & floral motifs into their work that will create both a visual unity within the whole of the mural as well as point to the specific history of art production in the neighborhood. Dan One, an artist of lasting legacy within the graffiti communities of New York and Philadelphia will offer several moments that point directly to this connection.
“ROOTS”
A text concept generated by the Taína Sisters which will be executed in collaboration with famed style-writer DanOne. Roots are what connect us to our past, to our homeland, to others inside and outside of our communities and ecosystems.
CAICU es una serie de arte público socialmente comprometida que entrelaza jardines centrados en una temática puertorriqueña y de importancia cultural e histórica en el vecindario de Norris Square, creado por organizadoras comunitarias en los 1980s. El proyecto construye un puente cultural entre Norris Square, Philadelphia y Loíza, Puerto Rico, a través de la gestión cultural, el arte público e intercambios culturales.
CAICU is a socially engaged public art series weaving together culturally and historically significant Puerto Rican-themed gardens in the Norris Square neighborhood, created by community organizers in the 1980s. The project builds a cultural bridge between Norris Square, Philadelphia, and Loíza, Puerto Rico, through cultural organizing, public art, and cultural exchanges.
