Streetnotes

This series of artworks explore the human perceptions of space, presence, belonging, communication, movement, resilience, and regrowth during the ongoing pandemic in New York City. In a dynamic spatial ontology, past-present-future palimpsests exist as our spatiotemporal perception of reality. Current pandemic trapped humans (including myself) in situ, and, in a way, recontextualized human social spatiability and psychogeographic perception of space, adding layers of introspection. During lockdowns, as the only means to communicate with other people was via digital technologies, entire life (work, school, religious service, exercising, entertainment, socializing, dating, etc.) moved online. This new spatiotemporal reality emerged as a form of resilience and solidarity in the time of crisis. New York City, the city that never sleeps, started to buzz again. In a dance between the real and the imaginary, the transient and the permanent, on and off screen, the virtual and the real, online and in-person, between here and there, appears the space in between, populated with traces, imprints, voices of the voiceless, and opportunities for regrowth. This newly created mashwork inspired my painting series “Buzzing Calligraffiti” where multiple realities, spaces, cultures, and points of view coexist in a buzzing harmony. These paintings (painted with natural and manmade pigments - acai juice, ink, color pencils, and blue watercolor) are a bridge between cultures, aesthetics, and points of view (calligraphy and graffiti), as well as a bridge between nature and the city.  The work represents a unity in difference - at the same time a cultural unity and a unity where non-human and human nature coexist in harmony.