URANTIA 'URY' RAMIREZ

 

Ury is in the 11th Grade at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, Brooklyn, and lives in Bushwick. Hearing about Groundswell from her art teacher, she joined the Summer Leadership Institute in 2009. Working with a team of youth and artists Joe Matunis and Crytal Clarity, she helped create ‘Piece Out-Peace In’ a large-scale mural in Crown Heights that highlights the problem of gun violence. Currently she is a participant in Voice’s Her’d, who are working with performance artist Reverend Billy to create a mural about consumerism this summer.

Ury finds that “Groundswell’s murals are inspiring, as they bring people together from different places. They can make the community prettier and send a message. When people look at a mural they have their own interpretation, and can relate it to aspects of their own lives”.

Working with Groundswell artists has also inspired her. “I’ve gotten much better at drawing and communicating. In painting murals you have to take in the meaning and be able to talk about what you’ve learned and why you’re doing it.”

Apart from her interest in art, Ury is also an aspiring poet. “Before I used to just do graffiti but now I do a lot of pretty drawings, such as flowers. I did a piece that has a hand, a fist rolled up and flowers coming out of it, but the hand is bleeding. So working on pieces like that also helps me work on my poetry.”

Planning on going to college when she finishes school, she feels that “Groundswell has given me more options to think about when I get older. It’s given me more of a focus.”