Artist Statement: I am a Richmond visual artist with a Puerto Rican cultural background. I believe artists should be outspoken, a resource for communities, and actively involved in working for the social good. It gives me great satisfaction to collaborate with various communities on public art, and to get local youth interested in art. My art practice is concerned with the use of traditional genres and methods in painting and printmaking to bring attention to social justice issues. I am also a graphic designer who enjoys digital art illustration as a way to express ideas on social media.

IG: @hoodnot4sale

Statement: We receive a lot of our energy from what we eat. In my opinion, what we put into our system determines how we physically and mentally show up in the world. Having healthy soil can lead to growing healthy food which can impact our body, mind, and spirit in a positive way. Communities of color tend to have a high disproportionate amount of fast food restaurants and liquor stores than community gardens and healthy food. This bilingual poster promotes the importance of maintaining healthy soil to create healthy food, a healthy mind, body, and spirit.

Statement: Considering that I graduated high school last year in the midst of the pandemic as well as transitioned into a whole new learning platform and environment, COVID-19 really took a toll on my well-being; physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It is sad to say, but my experience is not singular. The pandemic has really affected many students in these ways, and we are always just told to deal with it or move on, but not taught how to cope with these things. I made this poster with the intentions of reminding our young adults and youth that no matter what happens, be it, a global pandemic or even a school test, that you should always remember to take time to yourself, and do things that you enjoy, as well as do things that you think self-care looks like because everyone’s idea of self-care is very different, and in order to stay healthy self-care is always something that we should practice.