Conveying Welcome and Hope Through Art

A project to bring art to Identity’s new headquarters was spearheaded by our Board to make the space even warmer and more welcoming. Among the many pieces are two striking murals interwoven with symbols of butterflies.

The first thing visitors to Identity now see in the lobby is a nineteen-foot-long painted mural depicting a collective of butterflies traveling together through an unknown river.  The water carries them forward to an uncertain future, but the largest butterfly holds a red star, representing the courage and inner strength it takes to persist in uncertain times.

Muralist Leila Eguino wrote in her artist’s statement, “For me, butterflies are more than a beautiful symbol of migration or community. They represent transformation and personal endurance. Even when trauma attempts to immobilize us, there remains something alive within - a quiet but persistent force that continues to move forward. In the Time of Butterflies honors that collective resilience while celebrating the inner strength of each individual within their journey.”

Down the hall is another striking mural, a fifteen-foot-long mosaic created from glass tiles by a group of 17 Identity teens under the guidance of Teaching Artist Carien Quiroga.

The mosaic commemorates Identity’s 25^th Anniversary year, and the young people also based it on a butterfly theme. To them, the butterflies symbolize how they come from different cultures but become something new together – with the swirling gold lines symbolizing Identity – how Identity supports them and other youth and families with light and with love.

Within the largest butterfly is imagery of birds representing the students’ origin stories, and imagery of villages where they came from – the histories they bring with them now.  Carien says “What I loved most was really having the conversations around everything that we bring from our countries and how we all come together to become something new but with all of our histories with us.”

The overall project to bring art into the building is the brainchild of current and former Board members Nancy Ebb, Alvaro Borzet and Fernanda Bianchi with support from staff Camilo Montoya and Ruben Caldez. As Board Member Nancy Ebb wrote, "staff wanted the art to let our clients know: you belong, we embrace you, you are safe. And to remind our clients that we will accompany them on their journey, and honor their resilience, strength and hope.”