Opened on May 9, 2014

Brocados: Magic, Illusions, Dreams and Life is Patricia Cazorla & Nancy Saleme’s site-specific installation in Taller’s adjacent garden that pays homage to the history of the area’s textile industry and its connection to Latina women and their struggles. Since 2010, the two artists have worked together beginning with issues of undocumented farm workers in the US and immigration policy.

The Kensington neighborhood of North Philadelphia was known for its many small to medium-sized textile factories.  After World War II  Puerto Ricans migrated to Greater Philadelphia to work in canning factories and sugar refineries. Women came to work at first as domestic help, but eventually found work as seamstresses and textile workers. With their earnings these Puerto Rican and Latina women supported their families in their home countries and were able to start families here. For most of these women, this was their first job and taste of independence. Now, after a lot of these factories have closed or moved out of the city, what remains is their stories.

Conociéndote (Getting to Know You): Bridging the Audience Divide is Taller’s 2013 John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge award-winning project, bridging Philadelphia’s audience divide with events and exhibitions in May, July, and September of 2014.  The events connect the work of five organizations in North Philadelphia around three commissioned, month-long, socially-conscious outdoor art installations by artists Nancy Salame & Patricia Cazorla, José Ortiz Pagán, and Andria Morales & Maya Escobar. The partner organizations are Congreso de Latinos Unidos, HACE, Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas, and a Seed on Diamond Gallery.

For further information or images, please contact Rafael Damast @ 215-426-3311 or rdamast@tallerpr.org