Las Flores del Paseo Boricua /The Flowers of Paseo Boricua

“Las Flores del Paseo Boricua /The Flowers of Paseo Boricua” seeks to center the lesser-known herstory of 20 historic and contemporary women that have contributed to Puerto Rico’s culture, identity and liberation, as well as the establishment and growth of the Humboldt Park community. This project will place the faces and histories in flower installations lining the 4 posts of the towering Puerto Rican steel flags. This interactive public art would inherently balance the male-dominated images of Paseo by offering  virtual and animated histories narrated by Boricua women from the community. To do this, the portraits of the women would be transferred to a weather-resistant material  where you would use a device to activate the profile with a code, and the portrait animates, or “comes alive”. The women would be voiced by 20 women of the community (in English and Spanish). These biographies would also be written out and transcribed in braille for those without devices.

The first wave of the project will commission established Puerto Rican artist Richard Santiago to paint portraits of the first 10 historical profiles. These are the revolutionaries, poets, educators, feminists, artists, suffragists and political figures who will be canonised in our community by having their portraits made on a large-scale medium. The second wave of the project includes digitizing and animating. The technology needed for the portraits to be transferred to a coded image will be costly and will involve other artists to work with specific  weather-resistant mediums for the permanent installation. The fixed portraits will then adorn 4 main flower beds that will be stationed at the base of each leg of the towering steel flags that bookend Paseo Boricua so that all foot traffic will be able to interact with the installation all year round. 

With the help of your donation, we will be able to secure the materials, artists, and technology needed to materialize the vision. The unveiling will be a public celebration during Women’s History Month in March of 2026.  Many of the businesses on Paseo are now owned or run by women of color, and that presence is due in large part to the actions taken by the brave women of  “Las Flores” Project. Young girls will see these faces everyday when they walk from school and know that their community, our community, holds women in the highest regard.Join me in not only honoring the Boricua women of our past,  but also inspiring women of today and for generations to come.