Lizania Cruz

Artist

200,000 is the estimated number of people who have been affected by “La Sentencia,” a 2013 court ruling that revoked citizenship for Dominicans of Haitian descent in the Dominican Republic and made them stateless. I have learned so much about this situation through the work of advocacy groups like Reconoci.do that are made up largely of Dominicans of Haitian descent directly affected by this ruling and are creating awareness and fighting back against “La Sentencia.” 

In my art, I feel like I create tools for organizers and other folks to raise awareness for justice. I celebrated them in the piece that I had in Cantando Bajito: Chorus, the Ford Foundation Gallery in New York’s 2024 exhibition exploring forms of resistance to gender-based violence. I did a flower arrangement called Sentir, Resistir y Florecer—or To Feel, To Resist and To Flourish—in which I invited four community leaders, scholars, and organizers to pick a flower that represents their work in organizing and represents them and their community. Elena Lorac, a main organizer for Reconoci.do, is one of them. 

My work is a combination of thinking about flourishing and about organizing and collective work. I think of a flower arrangement as a representation of a pluralistic society that I would love to live in.

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