Mara (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist and arts organization administrator. She grew up partly in The Dominican Republic on her family's small subsistence farm, and partly in Louisville, KY. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Studio Art from The College of Wooster she began traveling, exploring and continuously learning ever since. She currently lives in New Orleans, LA where she has called home for 13 years.
Cultural immersion and deep listening have been driving forces throughout her life. She uses photography as a note-taking tool, wearable art and jewelry as physical manifestations, and dance for catharsis and joy. Her early projects focused on themes of conservation, reusing materials, and dichotomies such as hard/soft, rich/poor, big/small, outside/inside, perceptions/illusions vs reality. As her practice evolves, pauses, grows and shrinks and everything in between, living a creative life full of healthy community. Growing up in a family of political activists and educators has impacted her more than anything else and the issues and solutions of our time wend their way through her mind and everything she does. She is currently participating in an Incubator Dance Residency through the International Dance Festival New Orleans, working on a movement project about club dance culture, and collecting and cataloging her friend’s individual, identifying dance moves. See you on the dance floor!