Artist Alejandra Baiz draws strength from the very land and people from which she comes.
Like the flower that grows wild from the sand and salt water Alejandra’s art is a statement of resilience. Yet it is the human face and form that command attention. The twist comes when Alejandra returns to her native Puerto Rico after years in the jungle of Peru, and then the southern landscapes of Provence, France.
She returns then takes care of her ill, dying father. It seems that her act of generosity will redeem their relationship, but the old man has other ideas, and leaves the transformation to Alejandra. And after seeing him through his journey she must face the devastation of Hurricane Maria, laying waist to her home, without electricity, without money, with little food and fresh water for a year, and then the global pandemic.
Yet she persists. Her art continues and with it a growing art school for others. Her small works, her “Alejandrita’s” reach more than a billion, and she shows us all a way forward where art leads the way.