IDENTIFY: Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz

The Portrait Gallery’s first-ever performance art series, IDENTIFY, focuses attention on activism, visibility, and experimentation in portraiture. This Saturday, Wanda Raimundi-Ortiz will continue the series with her performance, Pietà. 

Raimundi-Ortiz’s REINAS (Queens) series considers female archetypes who have shaped her identity and worldview. Expanding on her previous work and reflecting on her perspective as a mother, she responds to the human cost of gun violence through the lens of Michelangelo’s Pietà. The performance, accompanied by music from the Howard University Gospel Choir and Florida-based DJ Stereo 77, provides meditation on the universal theme of loss and mourning and offers a symbol of resilience.

Here’s what Raimundi-Ortiz says about her performance:

In the latest iteration of my REINAS (Queens) series, which is anchored in trauma and anxiety, I investigate the fear of losing a child to violence or intolerance. I fear the inherent injustices m family will endure based on their skin, and grieve for the mothers of fallen children.

This performance is a metaphor of grief, realization, and resilience, as we continue to rise and press onward. This is not just a performance about social justice, but a moment to collectively grieve.
The performance will held in the Great Hall at 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 6.

Support for the IDENTIFY performance art series has been provided by an anonymous donor and The Skanby + Gould Foundation.