The Latinx community is a complex, diverse group of people who have had a massive, unquestionable influence on North American culture and society.

Whether it is music, art, sports, or politics, you can’t tell the story of U.S. history without Latinx history. Yet, for far too long in this country, they have felt oppressed, forgotten, and treated as a monolith.

So, in a moment where many social movements have enveloped the nation, how can one tell the intricate story of the Latinx experience in America? How can those stories be used to bridge communities and create significant, lasting change?

ABOUT OUR GUEST...Lina Maria Giraldo is a Colombian-born, Boston-based artist focusing on interactive storytelling towards social change, with a diverse background ranging from digital educational tools, public art, screen based installations and computer-generated work. She explores the questions of identity as an immigrant, the impact of Mankind on our surroundings, and is constantly experimenting different ways of collective storytelling. As she explains, "For over 15 years my work has been focused on creating messages where I depict the fragility of our environment, immigration concerns and community equality."

She has exhibited her work in galleries, shows, and public spaces throughout Massachusetts, New York, and her native Colombia. Her work has been covered in media including The Boston Globe, ABC News, The Artery, Artlink, WBUR, WGBH just to name a few. She's produced large-format online content for the Marquee at the Convention Center and was selected by the Mayor's office for the Fenway 30 second cinema as well as displaying work at IAC's 120 feet screen in NYC. Her notable achievements include being selected as one of the artists in Boston AIR 2.0 Residency for the City of Boston; recipient of the Creative City Grant; being part of the team that created the award winning educational website JFK50.org, while working as an interaction designer at ESI Design; recipient of a Hispanic Scholarship Foundation Grant for the creation of workshops for middle school children in conjunction with the Santa Fe Art Institute and the creation of an interactive video installation addressing the issues of undocumented immigrants and their dreams; production of videos of Madeleine Albright, Stephen King, Harry Belafonte and Nancy Pelosi for the JFK Library.