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Make It Visible
In an effort to bring vibrancy and vitality to Rockville Town Square, Make It Visible uses the power of art to heal, inspire, comfort, transform, and share experiences during this time of a global health crisis and civil unrest. VisArts, in collaboration with the City of Rockville and Federal Realty, is proud to present two large scale designs by artists Jackie Milad and Hedieh Ilchi in the windows of businesses around Rockville Town Square.
About the artists:
Jackie Milad
No Hay Lobos (there are no wolves)
Milad’s work draws focus to time and movement, showcasing how artwork can become part of a regenerative process, keeping the work from becoming static. Thinking about the similarities between this notion and the reality of historical symbolism, we can begin to understand Milad’s resistance to permanence. Within her collages, Milad gives us hints of her identity as an Egyptian-Honduran-American through pictorial elements and deconstructed language. She utilizes color and texture, freeing herself up to be responsive and reactive during her process. This breakdown of symbols and collapse of ideas references her experience in the world and allows the viewer to draw multiple meanings from small details in each piece.
Jackie Milad is an Egyptian-Honduran first generation American, born in Baltimore City. She has exhibited and performed internationally and nationally in venues such as the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, the Arlington Art Center and the Richard Foreman Ontological Theater in New York City.
Hedieh Ilchi
What Remains #2
“My work is the product of my immigrant experience. It provides a space where my two disparate histories come together to reflect on cultural traditions and the notion of belonging. In my work, I explore contradictory painting processes and the ways they can be melded into a hybrid visual language. I combine conventions of Western abstraction with conventions of Persian art to create pictorial clashes that echo the erasure and distortion of cultural identities.”
Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi was born in Tehran, Iran and currently lives and works in the Washington, D.C. area. Ilchi received an M.F.A. in studio art from American University and a B.F.A. from the Corcoran College of Art + Design.
Edgar Reyes
Xochitl
Edgar Reyes is a multimedia artist based in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area. Reyes earned his MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art and has taught at non-profit organizations, schools, and museums. Many of his projects are autobiographical and a reflection of his personal journey as an undocumented youth in the United States. His work highlights the adversities his family has faced when divided by deportations, the loss of loved ones, and racially motivated crimes.
Reyes is driven by the desire to raise an awareness and question the ongoing displacement of his community and their native rituals that transcend our current national borders. He explores how the blending of Indigenous and European traditions is an ongoing process of conquest and resistance.
Through his creative programming interests and abilities, he nurtures the development of youth-driven arts-based leadership initiatives, that advocate how art and design can assist in self-expression and easing of cultural tensions. Reyes also creates some of his pieces in a collaborative platform as an act of healing and as a resource to creatively engage others in their connection to the land and their shared narratives of survival.
His art practice highlights the beauty of being Mexican American, yet questions his national and cultural traditions. He challenges social norms to express what it means for him to be labeled Latino. His art making is centered around building compassion and understanding regarding the complex history of forced and volunteered resettlement throughout the Americas.