Today we’d like to introduce you to Lina Maria Giraldo.
Lina Maria, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I’m a Colombia-born, Boston-based Artist and a mother. I’m passionate about my work and I love to play with new technologies and experiment new ways of storytelling. I like to incorporate computer generated work, video, photography, physical computing, and data. My community and my surroundings are key elements to the development of my work.
I’m an artist because I’ve seen the power of creativity and how it can impact our society. It helps us to understand and find solutions from different points of view and to create safe spaces to spark difficult conversations. I believe in the power of contemporary art through digital storytelling in public spaces.
This is why over 15 years my work has been focused on creating messages where I depict the fragility of our environment, community equality, and immigration concerns, exploring the questions of being Latino in the US.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My work is created based on the research of the community. I would like to mention the last two projects that I created.
The first one called City Journalist was made possible thanks to the support from Creative City Trough NEFA. I worked on the Egleston square community along with the Urbano Project’s Art Teens. We interviewed the business owners on Washington Street and talked about the challenges of rent increases. We visited barbershops, accessories shops, and restaurants among many others. They shared with the Art teens their thoughts about the community, their businesses and their stories. Topics included gentrification, their different backgrounds, clients, and rent increase. The goal as journalists was to create a digital portrait of the beauty of the Egleston square community that portrays their challenges, hopes, and backgrounds.
The second project was as Boston Artist in Residency working with the Hyde Park community through the BCYF community center. We worked with a community, which ranged from middle schoolers to seniors, in learning electronics and programing in order to build video cameras that were then used to interview the community. Throughout the work, the community also worked in developing the questions based on their own experiences and issues that affect their community.
How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
For my specific work, success is based on being able to reach the community I am working with and create a constructive conversation around the topics that were explored.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work is usually displayed for the duration of the project and then is available as documentation on my website and social media feeds. Next project will be in summer and is made possible thanks to the support of Now and There.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://linamariagiraldo.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linamariagiraldopage/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/dogslab
Image Credit:
Lina Maria Giraldo
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