Alex Villaluz
©2011 Nicolás Dumit Estévez
Nicolás Dumit Estévez with William Aguado, Linda Cox, Aida Celeste García Howie, Aisha Rose Howie, Susan Newmark Fleminger, and Martha Wilson
Born Again: A Lebanese-Dominican Dominican York Is Born Again as a Bronxite, 2011
I invited William Aguado and Susan Fleminger to baptize me as a Bronxite with the water from the Bronx River. This baptism is a performative rite of passage that marks my transition from Lebanese-Dominican to Dominican York (a Dominican who had settled permanently in New York City) and my birth/rebirth as a native son of the Bronx. Ceremony officiated by Martha Wilson.
Born Again: A Lebanese-Dominican Dominican York Is Born Again as a Bronxite was conceived by Nicolás Dumit Estévez for Longwood Art Gallery/ Bronx Council on the Arts and presented with collaborating organizations, including Bronx River Alliance, El Museo del Barrio, Banana Kelly High School, Lehman College Art Gallery, and two programs from Phipps Community Development Corporation: Drew Gardens and La Casa de Felicidad, among others.