NEW YORK — A community of Venezuelan artists in New York has found a symbolic and powerful way to respond to the lack of institutional representation through art.
Under the title The Consulate, this collective exhibition brings together the work of migrant creators who have decided to build their own cultural space in the absence of an active Venezuelan consulate in the United States. The exhibition was created by Pachanga, a collective of Venezuelan artists based in New York, born out of the need to make their cultural identity visible.
With The Consulate, they transform an empty space into an artistic refuge that, rather than replicating an official institution, seeks to offer a welcoming and vibrant environment where art acts as a bridge to their roots and community.
“We needed a creative space to be able to show our art. For years we had been feeling the lack of a cultural department, the lack of a consulate where we could show our culture—especially in a city like New York,” explained Alejandra Mandelblum, Venezuelan muralist and painter.
Thanks to a jointly obtained grant, the artists made this project possible in collaboration with Chashama, an organization that transforms vacant spaces into venues for art across the city. The initiative was born with the goal of creating a creative platform built by and for the community.
“Chashama was founded 30 years ago and means having vision. We take vacant spaces that are not being used and give them to small businesses, women entrepreneurs, artists, and offer free art classes for the community. We are always looking for spaces for artists where they can best show their creations. We currently have 39 active spaces in New York,” said Anita Durst, founder of Chashama.
The exhibition stands out for its multidisciplinary approach, reflecting the creative diversity of the collective. Mandelblum noted that one of the key factors in obtaining the grant was precisely this variety of expressions and the group’s collaborative strength.
“We are all multidisciplinary artists: there are painters, muralists, filmmakers, actors, musicians, architects, sound engineers. This project is a symbolic consulate, made by and for us,” she added.
The Consulate thus becomes an artistic statement that transcends aesthetics—an act of visibility, belonging, and resistance in the face of the institutional abandonment that many Venezuelan migrants have experienced in exile.
At the same time, it offers a vibrant and diverse perspective of the diaspora, with works that invite dialogue and reflection on identity, nostalgia, and cultural reconstruction abroad.
The exhibition, free to the public, will remain open in the coming weeks at one of Chashama’s spaces, located at 1161 First Avenue in Manhattan.
The original text of this article was published by Agencia Quadratín.