Film Forum

Groundswell is a NYC-based organization that brings together youth, artists, and community organizations to use art as a tool for social change, for a more just and equitable world. Over the course of 26 years, Groundswell Mural Arts has fabricated over 600 murals across the NYC landscape. A beautiful community composing this non-profit organization, Groundswell staunchly holds onto its mission of working at the intersection of arts, social justice and youth empowerment. We offer free, year-round programs to teenagers across the city centering portfolio development, college & career readiness, cultural assertion and creative imprint—elements that keep our space exciting, educational and enriching for our students.

Gabrielle “Gabby” Vazquez is a native New Yorker of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent whose creative work centers Indigenous politics, methods of identity reclamation, language and colonial structures across the Americas. Vazquez continually expands upon her fashion-as-art approach to design with the intention of bridging gaps between creative mediums and anthropological research. She has showcased work at several art spaces— among them The Joan Mitchell Foundation and El Museo de Los Sures. Vazquez holds a BFA in Fashion Design from Parsons: The New School for Design where she began an ongoing project for her thesis entitled “The Awakening of Diasporic Memory through Taíno Visual Culture.’’ This interdisciplinary work explores the intersections of language, notions of materiality, and Spanish Caribbean history. Similar themes were explored while a Master’s Anthropology student at The New School. Currently, Vazquez holds the position of Studio Programs Manager at Groundswell Mural Arts.  

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