PRODUCTION
Mercedes
Mercedes is a new multidisciplinary art experience that deals with our relationship to aging, dementia, healing through art, and inherited trauma through a series of components: a theater piece, gallery and VR experience based around Mercedes’ life, including her migration to the U.S., her experience with dementia, and how she used art and writing to express herself at the end of her life; art therapy workshops in ‘The Healing Room’; and a documentary, which will depict the entire project to share with wider audiences.
Black and white portrait of Mercedes
DOCUMENTARY
The Mercedes documentary aims to create a conversation around the mental and physical health needs of Latine communities and bring their stories to the forefront. In the initial stages of the project’s development, ¡Oye! Group recorded interviews with creator Modesto “Flako” Jimenez, Mercedes’ home attendants, and other community members who either serve as caregivers to their parents or work with seniors. As development continues, we plan to conduct additional interviews in hospitals and at service agencies.
STAGE PLAY
A new multidisciplinary theatrical work in which we explore our relationship to the matriarchy and our ancestors, familial bonds and inherited trauma, and how our own identity can impact our mental health.
GALLERY
A multidisciplinary installation that includes a visual exhibit, and a documentary, inspired by Modesto 'Flako' Jimenez’s grandmother Mercedes, and the legacy of Latine individuals she helped migrate to the country.
HEALING ROOMS
A series of free two-hour workshops led by community artists to provide an opportunity to engage in self-care, and creative self-expression with no experience needed, and receive additional information regarding community resources.
VIRTUAL REALITY
Viewers are invited to journey through the material objects and psychic space of the home where Jimenez grew up, and where he would spend years caring for the woman who once raised him.
