On view: March 20 - April 19, 2025
Opening Reception: Thurs., March 20, 6-8pm
Closing Reception: Sat., April 19, 6-8pm

Curated by Destiny Jones

Exhibiting artists include Lauren Caminero-Susana, Emelin Peralta, Jahzeel Peralta and Leonie Smith.

Angst is the cost of living. A feeling that is familiar to everyone, anxiety. It creeps into all our lives at some point and can shape our reality. Acknowledgment of mental health struggles are not afforded to women of color who live with anxiety due to societal pressures and standards. I want women to feel validated and seen when expressing themselves. This exhibition puts together four artists who have deep connections with their bodies, using them to depict scenarios of unease using surrealism. The depictions of their emotions portrayed as realistic or a cartoonish manner offering silliness while exploring heavy topics of the human condition. The women in this show bring their individual expressions of angst in the form of emotional realities, physical symptoms, and day-to-day life.  

Lauren Caminero Susana utilizes painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking to explore relationships between the body and mind. Influenced by themes such as grief & loss through the passage of time she uses self portraiture and depictions of the body to capture the displacement of not feeling here nor there. Her current work focuses on her struggles with identity & self acceptance as she continues to deal with the sudden death of her mother as a teen.

Emelin Peralta explores navigating emotions during different stages of her life. “The human body reacts to your emotions, things that can not be seen, they can only be felt.” Using painting and drawing, she mainly works with self portraiture to convey invisible emotions.  Her use of symbolism, romanticism, and abstract expressionism can be seen throughout.

Leonie Smith focuses on forging the gap between past and present using real and imagined scenarios. Utilizing printmaking, painting, and drawing, she uses aspects of childhood memories in humorous or creepy ways. “I move through the world as someone who deals with anxiety, my work is a reflection of scenarios both lived and imagined as a form of escapism.”

Jahzeel E. Peralta uses sculpture and drawing to create her sculptures that embody the emotional and mental battles that “go unheard of but speak loudly in silence.” The interweaving grotto and monumental scales are monoliths, juxtaposed with niche sceneries. They combine to create the narratives of life, death, fear, anxiety, and the transcendent merit of life.

Destiny Jones is a multidisciplinary Bronx based artist, curator, and teaching artist. My art forms range from printmaking, ceramics, photography, and digital art. My work centers black feminism, identity, and growing pains, with a focus of intersectionality exploring the issues of the past that continue to perpetuate the modern world.

Good morning,

I dare to write to you because, in light of everything happening, we have decided to organize this event.

It is truly terrifying to witness how power is being used and administered to keep the immigrant community in fear and silence.

"It is silence that wounds the world..." St. Catherine of Siena reminds us.

Given what we are experiencing, organized by three local artists—Marco Saavedra, Maria Ponce, and yours truly—a group of more than 30 artists, with the support of many amazing organizations such as The Clemente Soto Vélez, the Ford Foundation, Mixteca, CUNY Mexican Studies, the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, and many more, are coming together to celebrate and offer support to our immigrant community at Bronx Art Space in Hunts Point.

We’d love to invite you to join our celebration! They say we don’t have much to celebrate, but in reality, we do! And we want to remind our immigrant community that, despite what is happening, they matter and deserve nothing less than our love and respect.

As an immigrant who entered the country undocumented as a minor, I know what it is like to feel and live with fear right beside you.

Muy buen dia,

Blanka Amezkua (Exhibition organizer)

Muy buenos días,

Me atrevo a escribirte porque, ante todo lo que está sucediendo, hemos decidido organizar este evento.

Es verdaderamente aterrador ver cómo se está utilizando y administrando el poder para mantener a la comunidad inmigrante con miedo y en silencio.

"Es el silencio lo que hiere al mundo..." nos recuerda Santa Catalina de Siena.

Ante lo que estamos viviendo, organizado por tres artistas locales—Marco Saavedra, María Ponce y una servidora—un grupo de más de 30 artistas, con el apoyo de muchas organizaciones increíbles como The Clemente Soto Vélez, la Ford Foundation, Mixteca, CUNY Mexican Studies, el Hispanic Society Museum & Library, entre muchas otras, nos reunimos para celebrar y brindar apoyo a nuestra comunidad inmigrante en Bronx Art Space en Hunts Point.

¡Nos encantaría invitarte a unirte a nuestra celebración! Dicen que no tenemos mucho que celebrar, pero en realidad sí lo tenemos. Queremos recordarle a nuestra comunidad inmigrante que, a pesar de lo que está ocurriendo, importan y merecen nada menos que nuestro amor y respeto.

Como inmigrante que entró al país de manera indocumentada cuando era menor, sé lo que es sentir y vivir con el miedo a tu lado.

Muy buen día,

Blanka Amezkua (Organizador de la exposición)