Reclaiming Spaces in the South Bronx : A walking tour for Bronxites
When: Sunday May 30 @ 12:00 PM
Where: To join and receive specific directions as to where to meet, contact Nicolás at indioclaro@hotmail.com or click HERE
Participants: Lisa Ortega, Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel
Revolutionary Boricua Lisa Ortega guides Nicolás Dumit through some of the sites that she, together with neighbors and activists around Southern Boulevard, have regained access to for community purposes. Once condemned, padlocked or out of reach for collective use, some of the lots that Lisa and Nicolás will visit with you are today playgrounds, vegetable gardens and sports courts. This walk on March 30th in the South Bronx evolved from conversations about tourists’ buses, mostly with Spanish visitors, arriving in the area and stopping by for a quick selfie at “The Bronx” mural on Westchester Avenue where the popular Double Discount department store used to be. What brings people from outside to this section of our borough still perceived by those not from here as a “ghetto”? How does a tour for Bronxites look like and what benefits will it yield in terms of remembering and honoring those who have done the work?
One specific story that prompted this walk was shared with Nicolás by Lisa, and it relates to an unhoused person sleeping below “The Bronx” mural. This person was threatened to be removed because of an outsider’s call to the police so tourists could use the backdrop for their “I was there” selfies. What does it mean to reclaim spaces for communities in a South Bronx that even some of its local politicians have been giving the green light to developers to gentrify…because as Nicolás heard someone say “…it is “cheap”? How do communities in this culturally vibrant area of our city continue to hold onto the spaces reclaimed and keep them RADICAL?
Lisa Ortega is a revolutionary Boricua, Mother of 4, Grandma of 5. She is a recovering addict being clean for 35 years and has been organizing for 31 years. She is a devout atheist and anarchist. She believes strongly that "people power" will ultimately bring about a full revolution...replacing politicians, police, and all other forms of oppression." Organizing is not an option but a way of life". Liberation of all is the final destination.
This event will be documented through video and photographs.
To join for this walk for Bronxites on March 30, 12 noon and to get directions as to where to meet, please contact Nicolás at indioclaro@hotmail.com or click HERE
ABOUT: PERFORMING THE BRONX
Since 2015 Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel has invited a group of remarkable Bronxites to co-develop actions embedded in the day-to-day of our beloved home borough. The gestures that emerge are presented in private spaces, as well as in the Bronx's public realm, and focus on the roots that weave these visionaries with specific communities and neighborhoods in our part of the City. Performing the Bronx is an expansion of Nicolás’s ongoing in honoring, recovering, reclaiming and remembering herstories/histories/theirstories of the area’s neighbors and trailblazers that run the risk of being effaced by time, lost in the midst of neighborhoods in flux, or dismissed by dominant discourses that often position themselves at the center of the conversation.
Past participants: Arthur Avilés, Bill Aguado, Benny Bonilla, Mili Bonilla, Caridad De La Luz ‘La Bruja’, Dr. Drum, Ana ‘ROKAFELLA’ García, Reverend Danilo Lachapel, Wanda Salamán, and Rhina Valentin
Performing the Bronx as a whole has been supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Casita Maria’s South Bronx Culture Trail 2020, and the Bronx Council on the Arts. It has also received love, space and support from Mothers on the Move, BronxNet TV, The Andrew Freedman Home, and BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance.
The 2025 chapters of Performing the Bronx with Lisa Ortega, and Charles Rice-González are presented with support from Historias, a multi-year programmatic initiative led by The Clemente in partnership with LxNY and supported by the Rauschenberg Foundation. Historias celebrates the transformative impact of Latinx communities in NYC through research, artistic interpretations, and public engagement.