Art
ESTAMOS AQUÍ
- Client: LA Fashion District
- Curator: Tre Borden /Co
- Exhibition Type: Public Art Installation
- Location: 7th and Main St in DTLA
- Year: 2021
- Role: Artist
ESTAMOS AQUÍ is a large-scale neon installation that reclaims space and visibility for Los Angeles’s Latinx community. Installed atop the historic Dearden’s building in Downtown LA, the work references the site’s legacy as a furniture store that extended credit to undocumented immigrants, enabling many to establish legal presence in the United States.
What was once a quiet symbol of support becomes the conceptual foundation for a bold public gesture. Translated as “We Are Here,” the six-foot-tall phrase glows in bright green neon above 7th and Main, asserting presence, resisting erasure, and embodying collective resilience.
Commissioned for Where Do We Go From Here?, a public art exhibition curated by Tré Borden and featuring artists who identify as women and people of color, the installation responds to a moment of cultural reckoning and transformation. Rooted in memory and shaped by post-pandemic uncertainty, ESTAMOS AQUÍ invites viewers to look up, claim space, and reaffirm belonging.