Small work

Beatriz Amelia Whitehill

Beatriz Amelia Whitehill is a Puerto Rican-American multidisciplinary artist. Her work speaks to diasporic communities through a visual representation of the resilience and endurance of culture. Her paintings are worlds that contain fleeting memories and inner reflections hidden within everyday objects. She blends traditional painting techniques with animation and three-dimensional installation to build immersive and accessible artworks.

Beatriz holds a BFA in painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. She is currently a painting studio mentor at Artists for Humanity, a community artist liaison for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and a studio resident at Boston Center for the Arts.

Artist statement

Cuentitos de hada (fairytales and other snippets of stories I wasn’t supposed to hear)

The works depict a range of folktales and family stories I heard growing up, along with stories my mother told me about growing up in Puerto Rico. This exhibition is an intimate exploration of heritage and legacy, using my perspective to interpret and contribute to the ongoing narrative of my family and cultural history. The iron-style gates and doors that cover the works show Caribbean aesthetics in architecture, the influence of Spaniard colonization. These doors open to reveal an intimate painting, a vignette and a window into the past. The varied imagery recounts stories from my mother and aunts of their childhood in Puerto Rico, and addresses my understanding of my role in the continuation of these stories.

Instagram: @beatrizzzamelia
Personal website

preview

Rejas de atardecer,
oil on canvas, wood and metal wire, 4 x 3 in, $150
Rejas de noche, oil on canvas, wood, metal
wire, 4.5 x 3 in, $225
La Maleta (the packed
suitcase that only made it one
block from home), oil on panel, 3.25 x 4.25 in, $100
La Ropa Sucia, oil on panel, clay, wire, wood
and metal hinges, 3.25 x 2.5 in, $150
La Grama (what they found
in the grass),
oil on canvas, 3 x 3 in, $75
Vejigante 12, ceramic stoneware and glaze,
1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 in, $75
El Patio (the garden of my
grandparents house that’s
now my aunt’s house), oil on canvas, clay, wood,
and meta hinges, 3×3 in, $200
La Virgen pendant,
clay, wire, 2 x .5 in, $25
Guanabana (good luck trying
to find that here),
oil on panel, $50
El Colchón, oil on canvas, clay, wire,
wood, metal hinges, 3 x 3 in, $75
El Medio Pollito (the origin
story of the weathervane), oil on panel, 3 x 4.25 in, $200
Pantallas de reja, clay, wire, 2 x 2 in, $25
Ojo Izquierdo, oil on panel, clay, 2 x 2.75 in, $50
Jesucristo pendant, clay, wire, 1.5 x 1 in, $25
Rejas cerrados,
oil on canvas, clay, metal wire, 5 x 3.5 in, $175