AGONZA installs “My Growing Community” at Elmwood Community Center
The City of Providence Department of Art, Culture and Tourism (ACT), Providence Art in City Life Commission, and the Department of Public Property invited artists to design and install an original work of public art on the exterior façade of the recently renovated Elmwood Community Center building at 155 Niagara Street. To select an artwork, the City organized a public Call for Artists, the selection of three Semi-Finalists to prepare proposals, and then a review of those proposals. We are excited to share that AGONZA’s proposed artwork, My Growing Community, was selected for the Elmwood Community Center.
AGONZA will be painting My Growing Community this fall. The unveiling of her work will coincide with the opening of the newly renovated Elmwood Community Center. You can follow AGONZA on Instagram at @AGONZAART.
To read the original call for artists, click here. To meet the semi-finalists and to learn about the selection process, click here.
About the Artwork:
My Growing Community
With many of my friends and family members currently living near this community center, I wanted to make sure to use high-quality, bright colored paints to give the area more of a happy visual aesthetic while keeping my design modern, clean and vibrant. Additionally, I chose the colors carefully based on “color psychology,” which is the study of how certain colors impact human behavior. Different colors have different meanings, connotations, and psychological effects that vary across different cultures. Along with cultural differences, color psychology is impacted by personal preference.
Based on my interactions with residents, the population around this area is mostly Latin, West African, Cape Verdean, Cambodian, and Vietnamese. So, I added native flowers from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, West Africa, Southeast Asia, and Cape Verde. I wanted to let the community see something from their homeland so I added these native flowers relevant to these different cultures. This floral motif also references the many local community gardens in the area, and the development occurring around it. Through my conversations I have learned how much our community is growing! So everyone can be proud to say this is “My Growing Community.”
About the Artist:
AGONZA
(she/her)
@AGONZAART
www.Agonza.com
AGONZA is a Latina Artist born in Providence RI. Her biological mother was born in Puerto Rico and her father was born in the Dominican Republic. She spent her childhood in the Manton Heights Projects with her grandmother. From the ages of 9-17, her family kept her living in the Dominican Republic with family friends. AGONZA then return to the US and finished high school with all AP courses at Feinstein High. She then attended the University of Rhode Island and graduated in 2015 with a major in Fine Arts and a minor in theater design. In her early years of muralism, she juggled multiple jobs. Although maintained employment working in human resources from 2014 while still pursuing painting. In 2020 AGONZA was Breaking News in Providence RI for the George Floyd and Brianna Taylor BLM protest. Where businesses began boarding up their storefronts due to riots. AGONZA was one of the first artists to paint on boarded-up windows to demonstrate her solidarity with the Nation for support of Police Brutality. She then made history in Providence RI by being the first to complete 2 exterior wall murals side by side in 2021 in Providence housing as a child who grew up in these projects.
She continues to use her knowledge of social work and her personal life to connect with her community. She shares all her artwork via social media Platforms mostly on INSTAGRAM, known as @AGONZAART.
