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Suspended Lives

Exposición destacada: Vidas Suspendidas (Suspended Lives)

Vidas Suspendidas is a radical act of storytelling, an immersive exhibition where Latine artists from across Philadelphia reclaim the piñata as a vessel of identity, memory, and transformation. Created by Nora Hiriart Litz, previous Director of Art and Culture at Puentes de Salud, this project invites viewers into the liminal space of migration, where lives are suspended between borders, belonging, and becoming.

The Project – Each life-sized piñata is a self-portrait; kinetic, symbolic, and deeply personal. Artists shed their traditional mediums to embrace this shared cultural form, embedding Mexican iconography and lived experience into sculptural narratives that are both tender and defiant.

Through sculpture and story, Vidas Suspendidas explores:

  • The immigrant journey as mythic and political
  • Latinidad as mystic existence, not just identity
  • The tension between invisibility and hypervisibility
  • The power of reclaiming one’s own image and voice

Audio Stories – Accompanying the visual works are raw, poetic, and unflinching audio testimonies. These stories offer intimate reflections on migration, resilience, and self-realization.

Please note: Some of these audio stories contain descriptions of violence and may not be suitable for children. Listener discretion is advised.

Dulce N.

A traumatic experience as a toddler and a long journey through the elements leads to a Philadelphia life defined by fear of being discovered. The passage of DACA creates an opening, and a new life brings inspiration and renewed confidence through difficulty.

Ivonne

A tangle of abuse, love, and rejection across countries and borders leads to rebirth through new life and the power of a chosen country and family.

Nacho

Driven to continue his studies and help his family emerge from debt, a young man crosses into the unknown. Reuniting with a long-lost sibling, financial realities and barriers to opportunity lead him to regret his decision.

Ari

The courage of immigration intertwines with feelings of vulnerability and self-doubt in a lyrical portrait of identity as “alebrije”, a vibrant fusion where Latine and queer experiences, trauma, invisibility, and hatred are inseparable and indivisible.

Damaris

A childhood in motion and the decision to travel North yields loneliness in a strange new home. Eligibility restrictions put future dreams on hold, rootlessness and limbo leading to big questions – what will my future be?

Dulce C

Confronted by the realities of sexism in her own country, a professional woman makes a big change and encounters a paradox – stay away, undervalued, and over-taxed, or a return to face a curtailed future?

Antonio

Traumas and abuses, piled up through a childhood of extreme hardship and cruelty, manifest as the Pre-Hispanic Gods of Wind and Earth, knocked over and prone. Evolving, tragedy and defeat yield to hopeful future steps to be taken.

José

A young child’s innocent act at Walmart leads to a mother’s incarceration and deportation, and the sadness of seeing, for the first time, the reality of life as an immigrant in the United States.

Damara

A little girl sees snow for the first time after a long journey and feels the simultaneous comfort and strangeness of a family reunited. The chance of DACA as threat or opportunity yields promise, but also uncertainty and fear.