Mercury, a born and raised HartfordRican multidisciplinary artist

Christmas is just 4 days away, and the Winterfair is wrapping up to celebrate with the entire community. As we are already in holiday mode, BOCETO MEDIA interviewed Mercury, a born and raised multidisciplinary artist from Hartford, to give us a sneak peek of what’s coming in the following days.

Boceto Media: How did you come up to work for the Winterfair in Hartford?

Mercury

It was a relationship with Breakfast Lunch and Dinner and my contacts. Jeff, Josh, and Jene. They've been working on a few projects in the city. I like what they were doing. More than anything, I admired the effort they put into it. Like they believed in it, they really worked hard in it, and for me, that speaks volumes, but the projects also happen to be cool and interesting. I did one piece for them, and it's kind of just like it was easy to work with on the next one, which happened to be this one.

Boceto Media: Tell me about the innovative Christmas tree project.

Mercury

I got the trees from a place called "Happy Trees Acres" in Coventry. The owners are Puerto Ricans from Hartford. So, this project started off being how do we feel. So I work in two ways I do commercial work that's artsy and my artwork. I had this cool idea like, What if we sell Christmas trees in a really interesting way? Maybe I can turn it into something else.' And it reminded me of another project that I did on a street art piece. So, I ended up going with 24 trees, all perfectly aligned in rows of 6 by 4, and they're all six feet apart. You could probably understand the resonance of six feet apart references like we're in COVID safety protocols. Then, I started to dig a little deeper, and the number 6 and its resonance in any way, and I found an interesting story about the plague that happened in London in 1666. And that was where the idea of burying someone 6 foot deep happened because they believed that was this was the right amount of distance to keep the plague away from spreading, and it just like had at least in the numbers by just like hearing connections.

Boceto Media: Seeing this reminds me of a biblical versicle when Saint Peter was hanged upside down on the cross. Have you ever thought about it while doing this art?

Mercury

You know, see, this is where it gets interesting, everyone is going to bring their own experience. You know, and that's the beautiful thing about this. No matter what I write, no matter what I'm thinking about, or what I referenced in these pieces, someone will always have their perspective, and that one right there is pretty cool. I'm not a religious person, but you know that's there are powerful signs and in religions and symbols, and I may be channeling some of those without even knowing it. When those symbols were created or written about those ideas and those motifs and stories, they're probably coming from a similar place as mine, and I might not even know it. So, I think that's awesome that you brought that up.

Boceto Media: Hartford always praises that we are diverse, and that it gives opportunities to diverse communities. I see that you are coming from a Hispanic background. Tell me about you.

Mercury

Yeah, I'd like to use the term Boricua because it's more specific. I don't use the term Hispanic Latino or and definitely not Spanish. I have to differentiate that because it's so easy with politics to lump everyone that is maybe speaking the same language or having one similar thing all into one group. But within those groups, there's so much diversity. I'd rather not be tied and especially to one group by a colonized language. So, I don't see myself as Hispanic or Latino. I don't get offended if people like to see that in me, but I want to particularly see myself as Boricua because that's particular to my experience and my ancestry.

Boceto Media: Are you a proud descendant of boricuas from Hartford?

Mercury

Yeah, I mean, Can you name proud peoples that wave their flag around? There's so much significance even if you're not from the island or have never been there, don't speak Spanish, dance salsa, or maybe you're not even like brown enough. But just like the spectrum of what that means is so wide and diverse. So yeah, I'm boricua from Hartford. You know my mother always tells me that my Spanish is not perfect, but she also says 'La Sangre te llama.' So it's like in our DNA like the information that we hold is sacred, and it's much more than any box that we can create with language. Especially when it's a tongue that is not our own like it's so limiting. So, I try to break free from those stereotypes and those boxes as much as possible. And naming things a certain way is the first step, and yes, I am boricua from Hartford.

Boceto Media: When was the first time you realized you were an artist, a creative? How did you pursue those dreams?

Mercury

I think everyone has the potential to be an artist and is an artist in their sense. We're always creating. There's this pressure that, oh you're an artist, do you sell your work? Do you show it? And it's like, really, that's the bar we're setting for like what it means to be a creative person and artist to express yourself? So if I'm being honest, I've always been an artist, and I think we all are. Even you as Boceto Media, you are sitting here and doing your craft to do this story. You're doing your part as we're collaborating right now. But it was survival, you know, leaving Hartford like what do I do? Do I try to make a ton of money right off the bat and bring up my family financially, or do I see this as a golden ticket opportunity where I can do something truly different and represent my people? And I chose the latter, and I do that by examining symbols and language and aesthetics and beauty questions. Like what is beautiful? Who says what is beautiful and why? So that's how I move as an artist. It's like constantly being curious and trying to… yeah, just be curious always.

Boceto Media: What do you think people will take after seeing your art on Thursday?

Mercury

I have a couple of collaborators in back, Maddie and Henry, and they're helping me create NFTS for each tree; this is completely new to the art world, and definitely, for me, there's going to be my first one, and now we decided this a few days ago. So there's going to be NFT sales so you can buy each tree but not the physical tree. It's only the digital representation you will get a token for it, and the prices for them haven't been set. There will be a discount for pre-sale for local people and the people who will be at the show, and then the price will go up significantly after that. We are, you know, stepping into that digital world, that Metaverse, so that's new for me, that's new for everybody.

Boceto Media: Will there be a special performance in addition to the exhibition?

Mercury

There's going to be a special performance by YM of Nimbus, Chad Browne-Spinger. I want to think of them as a celebrity. They're extremely talented. Their music is beautifully eerie and conscious, and it's jarring but beautiful and dark in its way. I would make sure they feel very comfortable showing up on Thursday, and we're still developing the idea. At the very least, there's going to be some music DJ-ing. I think it's going to be from 6 PM to 10 PM. It's just going to be a few hours. You could participate, walk around, take photos, take selfies, see the Hartford art scene, see a group of local artists including me. We want to establish what it means to be an artist in Hartford. Especially one of a particular background because if we don't do it, other people can dictate that conversation.

Boceto Media

You are a very talented person. Do you think there is authentic talent in Connecticut?

Mercury

That's obviously yes! As far as people who have really big ideas that can make conceptually sound work that's beautiful and unique, yeah, and I can tell you that is happening very fast. The few people I've met since coming back to Hartford; and I've lived all over the place I lived in New York for over a decade I've traveled all over the world I've seen the artwork of all kinds, and I can tell you that Hartford has something specific that a lot of places don't have; maybe I'm biased because the conversation is you know geared around like the diaspora from the Caribbean and South America. But I can tell you that it is unique, and it's coming in full force, and I think you're going to start to see that next year, and you know this is me just talking.

Boceto Media: Do you think there's support for local talent?

Mercury

I would say there's more visibility. I had to leave Hartford initially. Growing up here, in certain places, it's a little bit rough, so I needed to feel safe, and I just wanted adventure a little bit, but it felt like it was a little harder to move as an artist alone. As an artist, you always got to support yourself some other way, and you know that's the hustle. That's OK, but it felt a little harder and came back. Maybe it's because of the pandemic and people coming back with ideas, people coming back with money, seeing that the center of the universe isn't just like in LA, New York, and Miami. The center is everywhere now. Everyone connected, you could just set up a shop and create your community, and hopefully, it's a community with soul and not just like a boring box with windows and a new bar or coffee shop.

Not to talk about businesses like that, but we have to understand what communities live and what it means to bring business in, and make sure we represent those voices and not displace them. You know I'm for making the place safer and bringing in business; but if it means that the cost of living is just displacing other people because they have no money or we don't have a political voice or can't afford lawyers or whatever, no. Like the native Americans, they used to live here and called Connecticut Quinnehtukqut we have to acknowledge that. We have to acknowledge the people living here now and be conscious of where the conversation is. This is our home, and we're going to have a say.

Do you have a tip or know something interesting? Email me bocetomediamc@gmail.com

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