Collective Drift: Celebrating International Women, Culture, and Travel - (ep 12) Exploring Race and Femininity in Caribbean and Mexican Cultures with Perez Art Museum Miami’s Curator, María Elena Ortiz

(ep 12) Exploring Race and Femininity in Caribbean and Mexican Cultures with Perez Art Museum Miami’s Curator, María Elena Ortiz

07/14/20 • 48 min

Collective Drift: Celebrating International Women, Culture, and Travel

Exploring Race and Femininity in Caribbean and Mexican Cultures with Perez Art Museum Miami’s Curator, María Elena Ortiz

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What is it like being the only woman in the workplace? What is Classism vs. Racism like in Latin America? How does race impact art? Why should artists be funded by the government? What is it like being an Afro Latina in Mexico? How does surrounding yourself with a positive company affect you? What is it like to live in Mexico?

In this interview with María Elena Ortiz, a curator at the Perez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), we learned so much about Afro Caribbean art and culture. She shared her adventures around the English speaking Caribbean; growing up in a progressive Puerto Rican household; living in Mexico and Miami, and what it’s like for her to be a Black Puerto Rican woman in the art world.

This episode is sponsored by the Knight Foundation on behalf of PAMM’s Fund for African American Art. CLICK HERE to learn more.

Please note that this episode was recorded prior to the Coronavirus pandemic and the current fight for valuing Black lives in America and the world. However, it is timely as we had a great discussion on the dynamics of race in the Caribbean and art.

María Elena is originally from Puerto Rico, born in San Juan and raised in Carolina by her mother and father. She’s lived in Mexico City, Mexico and currently resides in Miami, FL, USA. María Elena has spent an extensive amount of time in the Caribbean Islands conducting research on Afro Caribbean Art for her book and PAMM exhibition both titled “The Other Side of Now”.

CLICK HERE to read more and to get all of the links for Maria's recommendations.

So, what is a question María Elena would ask other women?
“How do you feel today?”

How does María Elena define a woman?
“To be powerful, and to own our power and use it.”

Make a donation for Perez Art Museum Miami Fund for African American Art (All donations go towards an endowment for purchasing art from the African Diaspora):
https://pamm.org/artfund

Where to find Maria
https://instagram.com/contemporarychica/

Where to find Erica and Collective Drift
https://collectivedrift.com
https:/instagram.com/collectivedrift/
https://youtube.com/collectivedrift

Click HERE to make sure that you get our upcoming episodes! https://collectivedrift.com/stayintouch

The Collective Drift platform was created by Erica Knowles to celebrate all women, the beauty of their cultures, and international travel experiences.

Previous Episode

(ep 11) Love, travel and balance with Nicole Gates, owner of Lil Greenhouse Grill

(ep 11) Love, travel and balance with Nicole Gates, owner of Lil Greenhouse Grill

Make sure you get our latest episodes: https://www.collectivedrift.com/stayintouch

I had such a fun conversation with Nicole Gates, co-owner of Lil Greenhouse Grill restaurant in the heart of Historic Overtown, Miami, FL. Just this January Oprah Winfrey recently visited Nicole’s restaurant and listed it as one of her favorite restaurants for Weight Watchers, so she must be doing something right.

Nicole is a proud Black woman, she has an amazing soul food restaurant, she is a daughter, a mom, a media executive, and has lived internationally as an army brat. In this conversation Nicole allowed me to get all up in her business. So we talked about everything including her love life, owning a restaurant, and travel.

Nicole talks about the process her and her son's father Karim Bryant went through to become owners of and keep Lil Greenhouse Grill. Yes, I said her father’s son, no they aren’t in a relationship anymore and yes, I did make sure to talk to her about that. So, you’ll hear how she’s managing that in the dating world.

Although marriage wasn’t in the cards for Nicole and Karim she has learned about love from her mother and step-father. Her mother taught her “if it doesn’t feel right then let it go”. But also through watching her parents' marriage she learned that true commitment, and the importance of making good decisions and sacrifices together are key to relationships.

This episode is sponsored by the Southeast Park West Overtown CRA. Lil Greenhouse Grill is a grantee of the CRA more info is available in their 2018 Annual Report: http://www.miamicra.com/seopwcra/pages/annual.html

Stay in touch with Nicole and Lil Greenhouse Grill

Lil Greenhouse Grill

1300 NW 3rd Ave Miami, FL 33136

(786) 277-3582

[email protected]

https://www.lilgreenhousegrill.com/

http://instagram.com/lilgreenhousegrill

https://www.instagram.com/nikkigeewiz/

Where to find Erica and Collective Drift:

https://www.collectivedrift.com

https://www.instagram.com/collectivedrift/

https://www.youtube.com/collectivedrift

https://www.facebook.com/collectivedrift

Southeast Overtown/Park West CRA

http://experienceovertown.com/

https://instagram.com/miamicra

Mentioned in this episode:

The Bahamas https://www.bahamas.com/

Italy http://www.italia.it/en/home.html

Next Episode

(ep 13 - part 1) How can I have a more fulfilling life after 40? With the Kitesurfer and Art Powerhouse Sandra Christmann

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How does one find their true passion? What can you do to have a fulfilling life even at an older age? How can one find the best opportunity to help others? Are women who do not get to travel not aware of their privilege? How do women influence women? What does it feel like to be a German woman? What is something you wish another woman would’ve told you? These are all the questions that our interviewee Sandra Christmann answers wonderfully in this first part of the interview! Being acquainted with such topics and spending her life finding her passion, she’s the best person you can go to for these answers.

Collective Drift is taking up AARP's challenge to reinvent what it means to age. Remember, what you do after 50 can be just as amazing as what you've done before 30. It's time to disrupt aging. This is the first of 3 episodes in partnership with AARP highlighting amazing women from around the world who have disrupted aging. Go to aarp.org/disrupt-aging to learn more.

Sandra Christmann is a 52 year old woman that disrupts aging by 1000%! She’s a mother, an art powerhouse, kitesurfer, world traveler and philanthropist. Sandra was born and raised in Essen, Germany. She studied German linguistics, media and Italian in Düsseldorf where she still resides. At the age of 25 she was fortunate to give birth to her favorite person in the world, her daughter Lana. Soon after that, she started working as a PR and marketing manager. Despite being good at marketing, she couldn’t find the necessary drive in it. She wasn’t content with the said job and decided to find something where her heart would feel at peace. Then, many of Sandra’s friends, who were artists themselves, prompted her to direct her attention to art. That’s when she started working at one of the most famous museums, focusing on classic modern and contemporary art, The Kunstsammlung in Düsseldorf. She spent 13 years there as the general manager responsible for sponsoring. After turning 50 years old she made another life changing move. She became the head of strategic alliances for the startup art fair Art Düsseldorf. So don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t get a new job after 50 or that only millennials can work for startups!

Click HERE to read more!

Where to find Erica and Collective Drift

collectivedrift.com

instagram.com/collectivedrift/

youtube.com/collectivedrift

Where to find Sandra

instagram.com/sandrachristmann/

Art Düsseldorf art-dus.de/

Aid Kenya Watoto aidkenya.org/

Click HERE to make sure that you get our upcoming episodes!