Casitas Lindas

Casitas Lindas is an installation art piece by poet and theatre artist Andrew Aaron Valdez. Valdez, a Texas native, drew inspiration from Dallas Native Giovanni Valderas’s guerilla outdoor project Casita Triste (Sad Little House). Valdera’s project looked to create awareness, reflection, and empathy by provoking discussion around affordable housing issues and displacement in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, TX. Though the issue of gentrification and displacement is not unique to Dallas, Casita Triste highlighted the plight of Latinx neighborhoods rapidly disappearing and being replaced by affluent, luxury housing. 
Casitas Lindas serves as a response to the Casita Triste project, a wayward symbol of welcoming and embracement of  the Latinx folks who have found themselves being displaced either due to gentrification, home country plight, or other conditions. Casitas Lindas hopes to welcome our gente who have been displaced, and is a symbol that they are welcome here, you are welcome here and you should be celebrated. This project is specifically aimed at welcoming and celebrating the high number of Latinx immigrants that find their way to Cleveland. Casitas Lindas was commissioned as a part of the Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center Support for Artist Grant. Casitas Lindas was displayed at The Cleveland Print Room and

maletas lindas

"Maletas Lindas", or “Happy Suitcases”, is inspired by El Sueno Americano by Tom Kiefer and features the brothers created in Casitas Lindas, highlighting the things they may have brought with them in their search of a new home. This work was displayed at the Cleveland Print Room and Akron Soul train through their “Suitcase Project” initiative.

Display Description:

When interacting with Maletas Lindas you’ll notice that there are items that have been fully piñata-fied and others that are gradually in transformation. This gradual and messy transformation is a commentary on the gradual assimilation immigrants must make to dawn a more Americanized identity. Valdez’s choice of items aren’t what would considered "the best" items for two travelers to bring but rather a reflection of what was available to two immigrants and what held the most sentimental meaning. The items’ gradual assimilation seen through piñata-fication is most apparent when viewing the suitcase, as the bottom portion is fully immersed in a green, white and red pattern (Mexico) as the top is adorned with a partial red, white and blue pattern. The piñata-fication was achieved by mixing a proportional amount of flour, water, oil and carefully attaching newspaper to the different material surfaces, accounting for the durability of each surface. The inner lining of the suitcase is made up of a road map outlining the journey of our two brothers. When interacting with Maletas Lindas the artist poses the question to the viewer, what would you bring with you if you moved to a different country and what or who would you be willing to leave behind?

"Maletas Lindas" is an extension of Andrew Aaron Valdez's "Casitas Lindas" project. Casitas Lindas is an installation art piece by poet and theatre artist Andrew Aaron Valdez. Valdez, a Texas native, drew inspiration from Dallas Native Giovanni Valderas’s guerilla outdoor project Casita Triste (Sad Little House). Valdera’s project looked to create awareness, reflection, and empathy by provoking discussion around affordable housing issues and displacement in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, TX. 

Casitas Lindas serves as a response to the Casita Triste project, a wayward symbol of welcoming and embracement of the Latinx folks who have found themselves being displaced. Casitas Lindas was commissioned as a part of the Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center Support for Artist Grant.