ARTIST STATEMENT Since the beginning of the 20th century migration of Puerto Rican needleworkers had been appealing for women in Puerto Rico. Operation Bootstrap in the mid-1940s was program intended to contour the related nonsequential flows by further encouraging manufacturing facilities on the island and cheap labor migration to the mainland.Hurricane Marias’ devastation in 2017 made PR visible to the rest of the mainland. A Washington Post article from March 2018 states, “Nearly 500,000 people left Puerto Rico for the mainland during the past decade according to Pew Research center…”This Textile installation, Al Otro Lado del Charco/On the other side of the puddle, explores the everlasting historical significance and cultural tradition of the needle work “Mundillo of Puerto Rico.” As a means to encourage and uplift mundillo artisans, I closely worked and support needleworkers/artisans living in PR and the Disapora. I am interested in connecting with the generation of needleworkers in the mainland, whom continue to celebrate their culture and heritage by teaching, producing mundillo in and outside of PR.Below are my collaborators:Sandra I. Rodriguezon Etsy https://www.etsy.com/shop/PuertoRicoLace Elisa VicentyOn Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/shop/AjuarParaElBebe Any Hernandezhttps://www.facebook.com/any.hernandez Hector L. Perezhttps://www.facebook.com/hectorlartesano/ Darlene Ramirezhttps://www.facebook.com/casadelartesanopr/ ARTIST BIONayda A. Cuevas Ramos was born in Puerto Rico. Her family migrated in 1990 to Florida. As a means of negotiating alienation and the absence of familiar people and places she turned to the arts to explore her identity. She obtained a BFA in Fine Art (2002) from Stetson University in Deland FL and her MFA in Visual Arts (2015) at Lesley College of Art and Design in Cambridge, MA. Ms. Cuevas passion emerged for unearthing a visual language to better articulate through visual arts her observation and/or interpretation of her Latin@ American experience. As an artist her interest lies in using history, art history, and current cultural trends to produce images of both her physical and emotional experiences of displacement.Ms. Cuevas has exhibited Internationally:Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg MA; Museo de Arte de Caguas, Caguas PR; Palazzo Ca’Zanardi, Venice, Italy; Mattatuck Museum, CT; The Clemente Center Abrazo Interino Gallery, New York, NY; Holy Family University, Philadelphia, PA; Queens University of Charlotte, Charlotte NC;Has been an Artist in Residence at MASS MoCA /Assetts for Artist in North Adams, MA and Room 83 Spring in Watertown, MA.And is a grantee of the Create Well Fund, Boston MA and MASS MoCA/ Assetts for Artists grant, MA 2016.www.NaydaCuevasArt.com