Round I Projects
PROJECT
Cuéntame
PROJECT FOCUS AREA:
Social justice and community engagement
ZIP CODE(S):
CONTRIBUTOR(S):
Yvette Roman and Natalia Ventura
Cuéntame is a collaborative campaign by Yvette Roman and Natalia Ventura to strengthen borderlands consciousness and ancestral wisdom through intergenerational relationship building, storytelling, and art-making in the lowest quartile California Healthy Places Index communities of South San Diego. The campaign centers on building intergenerational relationships in the local transborder community. The artists and other local emerging artists will connect with elders living in senior housing, meeting and sharing their stories about migration, family, love, identity, and unique experiences as individuals living near a border. The artists will record the conversations as a podcast and create artwork inspired by the discussions for an exhibition and an accompanying catalog. Connecting these two populations and generations will generate a meaningful cultural exchange that will strengthen generational wisdom and collective borderlands consciousness. It will also enhance a communal vision for the future of our border community. This campaign aims to contribute to social justice and community engagement by bringing a healing-centered art program to an often overlooked population.
LEARN ABOUT THE ARTIST + CULTURAL PRACTITIONERS
Yvette Roman
San Diego County
Yvette Roman is a bi-national artist, curator, muralist, and arts educator. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts and Cultural Anthropology from the University of California San Diego and a Museums Studies Certificate from Mesa College. Yvette is passionate about making art accessible through community-organized collaboration. Her artistic journey explores simplicity and chaos, interwoven with personal narratives of loss, self-discovery, and acceptance. Yvette's disciplines include painting, textiles, printmaking, and collage. In 2022, she collaborated on a public art project titled "Collective Memory," facilitated by the City of San Diego (Park Social). At A Reason to Survive, Roman assumes the roles of Curator and Lead Teaching Artists, nurturing the next generation of artistic minds. She co-founded Residencia Ranchito Aurora (RRA). RRA aims to unite artists from both sides of the border to foster learning, collaboration, and innovation. Currently, she is undertaking a fellowship at RISE San Diego.
Natalia Ventura
San Diego County
Natalia Ventura is a Mexican-Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist from the border city of Chula Vista. She leads a dual art practice -studio and social- that reflects the dichotomy of her borderlands consciousness. In her studio practice, Ventura explores her internal and domestic experiences as a border-dwelling woman. She manipulates materials from her everyday life, such as human hair, textiles, and family heirlooms, to understand and present her identity. Ventura also engages in social practice, using art as an organizing tool to fight for a better quality of life for border crossers. Ventura's dual approach grows symbiotically, strengthening her ability to express visualizations of liberation that she holds and shares with her border community. She is a 2022-2023 artist-in-residence with Artists at Work's Borderlands Initiative.
Natalia Ventura
Natalia Ventura is a Mexican-Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist from the border city of Chula Vista. She leads a dual art practice -studio and social- that reflects the dichotomy of her borderlands consciousness. In her studio practice, Ventura explores her internal and domestic experiences as a border-dwelling woman. She manipulates materials from her everyday life, such as human hair, textiles, and family heirlooms, to understand and present her identity. Ventura also engages in social practice, using art as an organizing tool to fight for a better quality of life for border crossers. Ventura's dual approach grows symbiotically, strengthening her ability to express visualizations of liberation that she holds and shares with her border community. She is a 2022-2023 artist-in-residence with Artists at Work's Borderlands Initiative.