Heart of Community found its fullest form as a large-scale installation commissioned by Faena Art in Miami, where it lived throughout 2023.
The Faena Art Project Room became a world unto itself: textile art, fashion, collage, murals, and moving image woven together into a distinctly Latin American Pop universe. Vernacular religious imagery, urban visual culture, and the celebratory spirit of the quinceañera shaped a space that held womanhood, memory, and cultural identity at its center.
Thousands of visitors passed through. Many stayed. The installation functioned as a living hub, with workshops, conversations, and creative activations that invited the public to become part of the work itself. In recognition of its cultural and social impact, the project was later honored by the City of Miami Beach.
ACT I
In May 2023, "La Virgencita" dress was awarded Best Dressed at the Faena Art Gala in Miami. Two years later, the dress returned to the Faena Penthouse in a performance that continued the story where it began.
LA VIRGENCITA MURAL
"La Virgencita" has traveled across cities and contexts since 2020, from Miami art galleries and Pen Projects to creative hub Skep360, Boreal Studio, and in-situ interventions in Mexico City, among others.
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CONSTRUCTING IDENTITIES
Heart of Community has roots in Constructing Identities, an immersive fashion installation presented at the Art and Design Gallery at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York from 2021 to 2022. Created in collaboration with digital printing company Mimaki, the work explored the quinceañera rite of passage through a vibrant pop visual language, examining how ritual, fashion, and cultural symbolism shape who we become.
WALMART: "LOS QUINCES"
The world of Heart of Community has continued to grow through new collaborations. In 2024, a creative partnership with Walmart brought the visual language of the project into a new context through the Quinceañeras project, celebrating Latin American traditions, fashion, and community at a broader scale. Each new chapter builds on the spirit of the original, turning artistic exploration into spaces where people can connect, create, and experience culture together.
The project keeps finding new homes. In 2025, the Columbus Fashion Alliance invited Heart of Community to be part of the Fashion Is Art segment at Gallerie, included in the Short North District's Gallery Hop November itinerary alongside the Greater Columbus Arts Council and the Ohio Arts Council.
LA COMUNIDAD
SE PINTA
Heart of Community arrived in Mexico City in February 2026, with a creative takeover of Padel Team Gourmet Grand Slam at Padel Co Reforma.
The activation invited the community to paint and intervene a collaged canvas together, following the visual language of previous installations and exhibitions, turning a shared afternoon into a collective act of authorship.
Every trace continued the story and the visual universe of Heart of Community into a new city.
