Park Place Window Project
Currently on view
The Shirley Fiterman Art Center is pleased to announce ¿Quién eres tu?, a site-specific installation designed for the Park Place Window Project, by New York-based artist Jessica Ramirez. For this project, Ramirez has created an installation that, in many ways, is an homage to her past. Papel picado, or cut paper, is frequently used in Mexican culture, celebrations, and ceremonies. Ramirez uses its associations and functions and redirects them to address her own questions about classifications and labels that frequently lead to stereotypical definitions and descriptions of who we are. The pervasiveness of these designations not only alter the way that others perceive us, but also informs how we see ourselves. Appropriating the decorative cut-outs that form papel picado, Ramirez uses photographs of herself and her family into which she cuts symbols and icons in repetitive patterns. The decorative designs and joyous colors of the portraits and bright paper flags suggest festive family gatherings, at the same time that they ask the fundamental question, “Who are you?”
Jessica Ramirez is a Latin-American, multidisciplinary artist born in Houston, TX. She attended University of Texas at Houston and holds an MFA from University of Texas at San Antonio. She has had solo exhibitions at Schreiner University, Kerville, TX; Lullwood Group, San Antonio, TX; Gallery 23, San Antonio, TX; and Alameda Theater Gallery, Public Arts San Antonio, TX. She has also participated in numerous group shows, including Shirley Fiterman Art Center, New York, NY; Northwest Vista College, San Antonio, TX; Plaxall Gallery, New York, NY; Salve Regina University, Newport, RI; Currently 80, Westbeth Art Gallery and Governors Island, New York NY; Summerhill Sculpture Center, Locke, NY; BRIC, Brooklyn, NY. In addition, she is a professor of art at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY.
Park Place Window Project in located on Park Place between Greenwich Street and West Broadway.