Join us for the continuation of Nuestro Árbol (Our Tree) — a year-long cultural project examining our roots and our evolutionary growth into active, creative individuals in the world. Organized and led by artist Mercedes Gertz in collaboration with the youth community organization MILATIDO, visitors participate in grounding exercises, enjoy a meal, and contribute to the creation of Nuestro Árbol (Our Tree) with photographs, drawings, and other ephemera. All ages are encouraged to participate.

Nuestro Árbol began on December 11, 2022 at ICA LA’s annual Posada Family Festival and will culminate at the Posada in December 2023.

About the Artist: Mercedes Gertz was born in Mexico City and works from studio residences in Mexico City, Los Angeles, CA and Lausanne, Switzerland. She holds a BA in Fine Arts from Parsons School of Design in New York, as well as an MA in Fine Arts from the Otis School of Art and Design in Los Angeles, and a PhD in Depth Psychology from the Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Bárbara, California. Mercedes was awarded a grant for young artists by the Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (FONCA) in 1988. From 2001 to present she has worked in community practice and offered workshops on art as a language to Latino families in Los Angeles, California. She has also given workshops in Mexico, Los Angeles, and Paris, focused on the study of dreams and fairy tales as a symbolic language that articulates aspects that words cannot express. Her paintings, conceptual installations, and graphics have been exhibited in Mexico, the US, and Europe. As of 2018, she has been the co-founder of Women’s Salon LA, an international collective of female artists that have been working and exhibiting in Los Angeles, that collaborate with up to 76 women from 7 cities in three different continents. Her social practice projects are inspired by her ongoing interest in building creative and collaborative communities that foster and highlight the skilled work of women.

About MILATIDO: Founded by youth arts advocate Mila Diez Barroso, MILATIDO is a youth community organization anchored in research and the facilitation of intergenerational conversations around inclusion, diversity, heritage, narrative, and opportunities for change.

MILATIDO: Nuestro Árbol is generously supported by Human Sustainability Project and Fieldwork.