During Hispanic Heritage Month, 麻豆原创 Today will share some of our students鈥� and faculty members鈥� stories and how being Latino has shaped their lives.
Before she became a professor, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz had her work exhibited in galleries around the world.
Now, this assistant professor in 麻豆原创鈥檚 School of Visual Arts & Design serves as a self-styled ambassador for first-generation college students and any others who are intimidated by the culture of academia.
They need allies 鈥� this [麻豆原创] is probably the only place they鈥檒l be able to find allegiances.鈥�
Her latest project, a tribute to the Pulse nightclub tragedy, will be at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago as part of its 30th annual D铆a de los Muertos exhibition . D铆a de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead, is an annual holiday held in remembrance of dead family and friends. Raimundi-Ortiz has been collecting items of significance from people affected by the Pulse tragedy to craft a three-tiered altar that will debut at the event.
鈥淚 wanted to make sure that the feeling was authentic, that there鈥檚 a conversation occurring about healing and transcendence, and maybe a bit educational, to acknowledge the Latino presence, because it was a Latino tragedy,鈥� she said.
Raimundi-Ortiz鈥檚 art 鈥� her paintings, drawings, photographs and performance-art pieces 鈥� are largely based upon self-examination. Her YouTube character Chuleta, for example, a tough-talking Latina personality who deconstructs the oftentimes abstruse elements of the art world, is based on her experience of disconnection between the art world and the communities with which it鈥檚 involved.
鈥淭he bulk of my research is about otherness,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he work that I make is all about me morphing and becoming different variations of myself鈥he creation of Chuleta teaching these crazy art lessons was because I personally got tired of feeling like art institutions pander to the community but don鈥檛 talk to the community; they talk at the community.鈥�
Raimundi-Ortiz鈥檚 journey began in the Bronx borough of New York City, where she lived with her parents, immigrants from Puerto Rico. They gave their daughter two choices after she graduated high school: get a job or go to school.
In 1995, she enrolled in the Fashion Institute of Technology, the State University of New York鈥檚 college of art, business, design, mass communication and technology connected to the fashion industry, where she earned her associate degree in illustration. In 2002, she took a residency in the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in Maine, which exposed her to the wider world of art.
Her work has been featured in exhibitions around the world, such as American Chambers, Hush #3 in Korea, Manifesta 8 in Spain, and Ni de Aqui, Ni de Alla: transcultura in El Salvador.
Despite her success as an artist, she never imagined that she would find her calling as a teacher.
鈥淎cademia was never even part of my thought process. working-class city chick. The last thing I was thinking about was going to grad school and upper academia,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 was just trying to tuck my head, make my art. I never thought I would be showing internationally. I never thought I would be lauded enough to sit at this desk and teach other people.鈥�
It wasn鈥檛 until she crossed paths with African-American postmodernist artist Emma Amos around 2005 that Raimundi-Ortiz gave academia serious consideration.
鈥淚 think she understood the value of a woman of color getting her education because she also understood all the doors that would never, ever open to me without a master鈥檚 degree, especially as a visual artist,鈥� she said.
At Amos鈥� insistence, Raimundi-Ortiz applied to Rutgers University, where she graduated with a master鈥檚 degree in fine art in 2008. Two years later, she took a job at 麻豆原创, where she has taught ever since.
鈥淚 still think like that inner-city urban chick,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 forgotten where I鈥檝e come from at all, but 鈥� it [graduate school] forever changed the course of my life.鈥�