NICOLAS ESTEVEZ
Growing a Green Heart
Bronx, New York, US
Growing a Green Heart consists of a highly experiential community gathering-walk-movement-workshop at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, for which Estévez invites participants to become one with its ecosystem, and thus to develop deep connections with it that can lead to advocacy for the borough's green areas. This immersive event develops at the intersection of social involvement, empathetic activism, and embodied compassion for Nature. It also finds inspiration in postmodern dance icon and activist Ana Halprin and her understanding of the relationship between people and Nature. According to Halprin, with whom Estévez studied at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California in the summer of 2017, “We are not part of nature, we are nature.” With this in mind, Estévez partners with City as Living Laboratory. It has been leading walks to generate interest in the effort to daylight (unbury) the sections of Tibbetts Brook in the North Bronx that remain covered by asphalt and thus allow this vital body of water to flow freely again. The impetus is for Tibbbetts Brook to transition from sewer to surface and potentially be resurrected as a new stream, feeding the ecosystem again.
This project is supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the Bronx Council on the Arts. Additional support is provided by City as Living Laboratory. Presented with City as Living Laboratory.
Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo and Priscilla Marrero
Elemental Awareness, movement improvisation, 2021
Stills from video by Geoffrey Jones
Copyright 2021 Nicolás Dumit Estévez and Priscilla Marrero
Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles treads an elusive path that manifests itself performatively through creative experiences that he unfolds within the quotidian. He has exhibited or performed at Madrid Abierto/ARCO, The IX Havana Biennial, PERFORMA 05/07, IDENSITAT, Prague Quadrennial, Pontevedra Biennial, Call/Walks, Queens Museum, MoMA, Printed Matter, P.S. 122, Hemispheric Institute of Performance Art and Politics, Princeton University, Anthology Film Archives, El Museo del Barrio, Center for Book Arts, Longwood Art Gallery/BCA, The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Franklin Furnace, and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Nicolás has received mentorship in art in everyday life from Linda Mary Montano, a historic figure in the performance art field. Residencies attended include MoMA PS 1, Yaddo, and MacDowell. Nicolás holds an MFA from Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, where he studied with Coco Fusco, and an MA from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Born in Santiago de los Treinta Caballeros, Dominican Republic, in 2011 he was baptized as a Bronxite: a citizen of the Bronx. Nicolás is the founding director of The Interior Beauty Salon, a space working at the intersection of creativity and healing.