About

Niceli Portugal is a Multidisciplinary artist and educator hailing from Arequipa in the Peruvian Andes, now based in New York City. In her work she approaches topics related to immigration and sustainability, as a result of growing up around the Andean Cosmovision, a unique view driven by mutual nurture and interconnectedness between humans and nature. Education Coordinator at Materials for the Arts focusing on sustainability and art integration. Niceli has created educational programs for the Guggenheim Museum, Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, Queens Museum and American Folk Art Museum. Her work has been shown at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Human Impacts Institute and Bronx Art Space. Niceli is the Director of Escuelita en Casa, an international initiative in response to the pandemic that connects educators and provides free tutoring and art classes to families in the US and Latin America.

artist statement :

My Andean Cosmovision anthropomorphizes my surroundings, leading me to approach topics related to sustainability, climate change and colonialism. Playing with unconventional uses of language I explore the connections of cultural elements between communities. My proposal seeks a syncretic, multicultural and safe future for everyone. I create multilingual, multicultural and intergenerational spaces to encourage everyone to make art together.

ART SHOWS

Two-person Art shows

• Year Ayer & Mis Lenguas, Codelca, Arequipa, Peru (December 2021)

• Year Ayer, 68 Jay, Brooklyn, NY (May 2021)

Selected Group shows

•Sit With Me, Sit With us, New York Latin American Triennal , Governors Island, NY (August, 2023)

•Branching Out: Trees as Community Hosts, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, NY (June 2023)

• Creative Climate Awards for Human Impact Institute, The Tapei Center, New York, NY (April, 2023)

• Borderwalls, The Border Project Space, Brooklyn, NY (December 2022)

• You Are the Artist, Materials for the Arts Gallery, Long Island City, NY (November, 2022)

• Womxn’s Day Show, The Living Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (March 2020)

• Woman Makes Art 2020, The Art Gallery at the Cohen Library, City College of

New York, Harlem, NY (March, 2020)

Grants/ Fellowships/ Residencies

• Transborder Art Residency, New York, NY (July 2023)

• Ankhlave Arts Alliance Fellowship, New York, NY (May 2023)

• Su -Casa Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn, NY (May 2022)

Community Projects/Exhibitions

• Walking Feelings, YM&YWHA of Washington Heights & Inwood , New York, NY (May 2023)

• Walking Feelings, Love and Serve Without Borders, Athens, Greece (February, 2023)

• Catch Me If You Dream at One Vandebilt TD Bank , New York, NY (October 2022)

• Wild Food at Skytown Mall, Queens, NY (September 2022)

• Walking Feelings at Back to School Event Councilwoman Catalina Cruz Office, Queens, NY (September 2022)

• Nuestras Raíces: Escuelita en Casa Community Camp at Queens Museum, Queens, NY (August 2022)

•Mapeando, New New Yorkers at Queens Museum, Queens, NY (August 2022)

• Walking Feelings, Mothers Day Celebration Councilwoman Catalina Cruz Office, Queens, NY (May 2022)

• Walking Feelings, Autimami at Queens Museum, Queens, NY (July 2022)

• Walking Feelings Until Death, Brooklyn, NY (May 2022)

• Everyday Bread, Choachi, Colombia (March 2022)

• Walking Feelings at Ferralarada Rural School, Choachi, Colombia (March 2022)

• Escuelita en Casa Art Festivals at Rural Schools: Pedro Pescador, El Hato, Maza and Ferralarada. Choachi, Colombia (March 2022)

• La Luz No Se Va (Day of the Dead Memorial), Queens Museum, Queens, NY (October 2021)

• Walking Feelings, Bushwick Open Studios, Brooklyn, NY (September 2021)

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