Flores de Libertad

2017

Archival print
20 x 16 inches (unframed)

Statement:

Flores de Libertad: Ortiz led several free paper flower workshops open to the public at the Barnes Foundation. Over a thousand paper flowers, a tradition passed down by her maternal grandmother, were created by more than 100 participants that include students, educators, and families in Philadelphia. The flowers made by the participants will join the flowers made by the mothers detained at Berks which carry messages of freedom and the continued fight against family detention. On Wednesday, October 25th from 11 am -12pm, the hand dyed flowers were assembled at the north gates of City Hall to spell out the 10'x40' word "Libertad" (Freedom/ Liberty). The collective artwork is a creative action followed by a press conference led by the Shut Down Berks Coalition to end family detention in Pennsylvania and in the United States.

https://www.michelleangela.com/flores-de-libertad

Bio:
Michelle Angela Ortiz is a visual artist/ skilled muralist/ community arts educator/ filmmaker who uses her art as a vehicle to represent people and communities whose histories are often lost or co-opted. Through community arts practices, painting, documentaries, and public art installations, she creates a safe space for dialogue around some of the most profound issues communities and individuals may face. Her work tells stories using richly crafted and emotive imagery to claim and transform spaces into a visual affirmation that reveals the strength and spirit of the community.

For 20 years, Ortiz has designed and created over 50 large-scale public works nationally and internationally. Since 2008, Ortiz has led art for social change public art projects in Costa Rica & Ecuador and as a Cultural Envoy through the US Embassy in Fiji, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Venezuela, Honduras, and Cuba.

Ortiz is a 2020 Art For Justice Fund Grantee, PEW Fellow, Rauschenberg Foundation Artist as Activist Fellow, and a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist National Fellow. In 2016, she received the Americans for the Arts' Public Art Year in Review Award which honors outstanding public art projects in the nation.

www.michelleangela.com