Broken ANgels
“Broken Angels” (as part of “We Will Never Die” series) is about the gentrification of Harlem, particularly “El Barrio”, a neighborhood known for being a pillar of the New York Latino culture ( where many artists come from ). IT IS ALSO known for being a cultural crossroad between the Black American and Latino community
Work of art focusing on highlighting the historic heritage, influence and need to preserve Latinos and Black neighborhoods like East Harlem. The work has for purpose to awaken people within these neighborhoods and communities to the importance of owning their neighborhoods, fighting for them and preserving them, pouring into them, in order to prevent pain emerging from displacement, violence, and disappearance of the creative cultural expression.
“ Broken Angels” also touches on the necessity for the African diaspora as a whole, Latinos and Blacks, to stop the conflicts between one another and unite in order to survive.
The work consists of statues of poems, Black angels, photos of El Barrio during the coldest month of the year (February) as a way to reflect the hardships of the community (it is always worse on a cold day). Cotton and sugar cane stems to emphasizes the similarities between slavery and now. Just like during slavery, the people on the land are being dragged out of their homes to live and work in other states, among other people they do not know anything about and will have to work with or for, leaving their people, family and culture behind. Labor is an omnipresent element in the installation that I wanted to make sure the audience never lost sight upon. Once the system needs labor, it will use the people. Once the system doesn’t need a particular group to live in a particular area due to the labor it had previously required, the system will force the people to move somewhere else and so on.
LFB/
BROKEN ANGELS
