August 2012

I had the honor of creating my first mural for the Los Muros Hablan festival in El Barrio NYC. The theme of the festival was the word "Diaspora".

The haloed child wearing a traditional Vejigante mask from Loiza Puerto Rico throwing Pan Am paper airplanes along 111th street, symbolizes the sanctification and innocence of the migrants that were lured into the U.S. to work as industrial and agricultural laborers under "Operation Bootstrap" in the 1940′s. Pan Am being the first commercial airline to transport Puerto Ricans from the island to New York City.

To create a more interactive and personal experience for the community, I asked longtime residents, elders, and children of El Barrio to assist me in making the mural and by making and designing paper airplanes that we would hang on the trees lining 111th street.