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
MERCEDES PART 1 AT BAM
DEC 3 - DEC 8, 2024
We will be a part of BAM's Next Wave 2024 & Emerging Visions with Mercedes, Part 1
Mercedes, Part 1, a multidisciplinary documentary, gallery, and healing room installation, conceived and created by our founder Modesto Flako Jimenez, brings viewers into a poetic, visually stunning recreation of the Bushwick home where he was raised by his grandmother Mercedes after he arrived from the Dominican Republic. As an adult, Flako served as her main caregiver as she battled dementia, and uncovered years of letters, receipts, and papers that documented her impact on the Latine community. Part of a larger multidisciplinary project, Mercedes, Part 1 unlocks one woman’s home to amplify community outreach, spread the word about mental healthcare resources, and captivate audiences with an immersive story of multigenerational care.
CO-PRESENTED BY:
With development support by Material For The Arts, Dementia Spring, Princeton Lewis Center for the Arts, Guggenheim Foundation and Abrons Art Center.
Documentary directed by Brisa Areli Muñoz
Gallery and Healing Room
Set design by Michael Minaham
Sound design by Drew Weinstein
Lighting design by Megan Lang
Video design by Juan “Wamoo” Alvarez and Victor Morales
Curated by Cricket Brown
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.
