rossana martinez

As I turned and walked on the street to get to a meeting, I could sense I was a stranger. I knew the only way to make a connection was by using a universal language ⎯ an unconditional smile. So I smiled at the people around me and they smiled back at me…and there was a connection.

After the meeting, I thought of the nice experience I had while commuting that morning. What I enjoy about experiences like this is how they go beyond any differences in race, language, or culture, and become a union of people ⎯ a human connection.

The idea of making a human connection has been part of my work for a while. I appreciate when other artists or people in the arts understand my work. But while making the work, I think of a different type of viewer: a stranger, someone that doesn’t have an art background, someone that doesn’t know me or where I come from. My goal is to be as transparent as possible and make a person to person connection with the viewer.

With that idea in mind, I’m currently working on a series of works related to movement. What I’m trying to visually show is a certain energy I feel while being active. The movements I make are extremely simple and I want to keep that simplicity in the work as well. I constantly use the word simple (I know!), but to me a simple gesture (like an honest smile) has a stronger meaning than a complicated installation that doesn’t show who the artist really is.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a chance, or a better word to describe it, the privilege to attend the New York Women’s Foundation annual breakfast. The highlight of the event for me was when the Acholi women from Meeting Point International in Uganda received a Vision Award. These women work breaking stone into gravel. They received an award for raising $1,000 from their salaries for the displaced families in Houston and Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina. As one of the women said: “I give you the love which was given to me the first time by people who did not know me. So the greatest thing in the world, even greater than any suffering or illness, is the love we have for one another.”

In June, I will be participating in various 5K and 10K races as part of Art Movement, an initiative I’m starting to fundraise for beach cleanup in northwest Puerto Rico. The beaches in that area are absolutely beautiful, but there is also garbage. And there is little information about how to recycle. These are the beaches where I grew up and I want to make sure they are pristine and preserved for generations to come.

Art Movement began last year when I learned a good friend’s computer, video camera, and equipment were stolen from her studio. Seeing my friend upset made me think of ways I could help her even if I couldn’t provide financial assistance. We are both artists, runners, and came to New York from other places of the world (she is from Canada, I am from Puerto Rico) to be artists. The least I could do was to show her I cared and wanted to do something to help her.

I invite everyone to join Art Movement. The goal is to connect artists, runners, and anyone interested in the environment to participate in one way or another. Please email me if you are interested in participating. More event details to come.

Video: Smile Like You Mean It

By The Killers