La Bodega Gallery
695 5th Avenue, Brooklyn NY

January 19—20, 2018

Curated By Glorimar Garcia

In September 2017, still recovering from Hurricane Irma, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria. A month later, 85% of the island still did not have power, communications were still a struggle, water and food were scarce, and the island was on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.

In order to gather funds for relief for Puerto Rico, I called upon artists to create small original works of art on (or the size of) baseball cards for a fundraising event. In 2013, I saved a collection of water damaged sports cards from being thrown away and began using them in a series of paintings and sculptures. I eventually realized the identity, culture, and gender implications inherent in my salvaging and manipulating these cards. Ultimately, this series has become the group of work most closely tied to my Puerto Rican heritage.

For Cards for Puerto Rico, I reached out to artists, friends and colleagues from my time in college and my years in New York City, as well as posting an open call on social media. The 40 submissions were exhibited and sold at a two day pop-up exhibition at La Bodega Gallery in Brooklyn, New York in January 2018. Both the art submissions and the overwhelming response in support of Puerto Rico through the purchase of original art were extraordinary. 100% of all sales were donated to The Maria Fund.