Murals in Ithaca by Latin American Artists

Meet some of the incredible Latin American artists who have helped color Ithaca's walls!

Ana Goldsmith + Sequoia Lee, Betsy Casañas + Mauricio Pérez, Carlos Rodriguez, Eder Muniz, Emily De Lima, Hugo Medina, Isabel Padilla, Justin Suarez, Kevin Cruz, Mariana Meriles, Maryam Adib, Norma Gutierrez, Paloma Abregú Arroyo, Ramiro Davaro-Comas, Ria Burns-Wilder, Roxana Mora, Sergio Arce, Todd Ayoung, Yen Ospina, and more!

❤️ We're working toward making this a comprehensive celebration of Latin American artists with murals in Ithaca... and we welcome thoughts, feedback, additions, and edits. ❤️

Ana Goldsmith + Sequoia Lee
🇨🇴 Colombian 🇨🇴
Mother-daughter artists Ana Goldsmith and Sequoia Lee grew up in Ithaca and have added their own family collaboration to the city's mural landscape. Born in Bogotá, Ana attended LACS as a student and, after years teaching art at South Hill Elementary, returned to LACS as an art teacher - a pretty perfect full circle for a school where murals are part of the culture! Together, Ana and Sequoia helped create a mural with Stephen Anderson and South Hill students.

Betsy Casañas + Mauricio Pérez
🇵🇷 Puerto Rican + 🇨🇴 Colombian
Betsy Casañas and Mauricio Pérez brought decades of community art-making to Ithaca for their huge 160-foot CARS mural, The Opposite of Addiction is Connection - amazingly, it was their first mural together! Betsy is an award-winning Philadelphia muralist, educator, and community activist, while Mauricio grew up in Colombia and creates fantastical papier-mâché art inspired by magical realism and Latin American traditions. Together, they filled an Ithaca wall with farmlands, butterflies, transformation, and hope.
​@bzcasanas + @muchomache

Carlos Rodriguez
🇲🇽 Mexican 🇲🇽
Carlos Rodriguez grew up surrounded by murals in Mexico before immigrating to the U.S., where graffiti became his first artistic outlet. Inspired by the great Mexican muralists Rivera, Siqueiros, and Orozco, Carlos believes murals can give communities a voice - something he's been putting into practice for decades, including murals created with young people at the Greater Ithaca Activity Center!

Eder Muniz
🇧🇷 Brazilian 🇧🇷
Eder Muniz, aka Calangos de Rua (Street Lizard), is a self-taught artist from Salvador, Brazil, whose wildly colorful work blends nature, street art, and surreal imagination. His murals have appeared around the world - and on walls and electrical boxes all around Ithaca! Back in Salvador, he co-founded the Calangos movement to create cultural spaces for young artists in the city's favelas.

Emily De Lima
🇧🇷 Brazilian 🇧🇷
Emily De Lima is a Brazilian-American artist and designer from Queens, NYC, and a Cornell architecture graduate. Her colorful, sometimes otherworldly work draws inspiration from mythology, folklore, astronomy, and the stories and traditions that connect us. She works across painting, sculpture, installation, and design, and loves finding new ways to bring creativity into community spaces.

Hugo Medina
🇧🇴 Bolivian 🇧🇴
Born in La Paz, Bolivia, Hugo Medina is a muralist, sculptor, educator, and longtime believer in the power of public art to build community. His colorful work celebrates culture, resilience, immigrant experiences, and connection. Now based in the Ithaca area, Hugo has added his artistic voice to several of our community walls.

Isabel Padilla
🇵🇷 Puerto Rican 🇵🇷
Puerto Rican artist Isabel Padilla brings color, culture, and community storytelling to Ithaca-area walls. Her local projects include murals with No Más Lágrimas and Enfield Elementary School - connecting public art with spaces where community and young people come together.

Justin Suarez
🇨🇺 Cuban 🇨🇺
Justin Suarez, aka Aerosol Kingdom, is a Cuban American artist from Rochester who brings wildlife to life on city walls. His vibrant murals blend his love of animals, rural landscapes, and graffiti culture. Off the wall, Justin works with young artists through Rochester's Roc Paint Division and cares for birds at Wild Wings Animal Sanctuary.
@aerosolkingdom

Kevin Cruz
🇲🇽 Mexican American / Chicano 🇲🇽
Cornell alum Kevin Cruz is a Chicano artist from Los Angeles whose work explores immigration, identity, social justice, and Latinx culture. While at Cornell, Kevin studied Fine Arts and American Studies and was active in immigrant-rights organizing. His art brought those worlds together - including a large work celebrating Latinx writers and activists that found a permanent home at the Tompkins County Workers' Center.

​Mariana Meriles
🇦🇷 Argentinian 🇦🇷
Argentinian artist Mariana Meriles brought together art, illustration, humor, and activism during her years at Cornell. She contributed cartoons and creative work to campus life and was part of a student curatorial team at Cornell's Johnson Museum of Art. Her Ithaca mural work brought that same playful and socially engaged creative spirit out into the community.

Maryam Adib
🇬🇹 Guatemalan 🇬🇹
Ithaca artist Maryam Adib works across painting, illustration, screen printing, clothing design, and - lucky for us - murals! Her work explores memory, family, dreams, nature, and community, and can be found on walls around Ithaca, including at Southside Community Center.
@thrifted_underwear

Norma Gutierrez
🇨🇱 Chilean 🇨🇱
Norma Gutierrez is a Chilean American artist, graphic designer, community educator, nature lover, and self-described transportation geek with Andean roots. Her Ithaca murals bring together justice, ecology, community, and a whole lot of color!

Paloma Abregú Arroyo
🇵🇪 Peruvian / Quechua Chanka 🇵🇪
Paloma Abregú Arroyo is a Quechua Chanka artist whose work centers Indigenous identity, social justice, and environmental justice. From Peru to Austria to the United States - including an Ithaca mural created with Kazoo Studios - Paloma uses art to connect culture, land, and community.

Ramiro Davaro-Comas
🇦🇷 Argentinian 🇦🇷
Argentinian American muralist and art educator Ramiro Davaro-Comas loves big walls, playful characters, and making art with communities. His colorful work draws inspiration from immigrant stories, skateboarding, children's drawings, and his own Argentinian American identity. He's painted around the country - including a house right here in Ithaca!
@ramirostudios

Ria Burns-Wilder
🇵🇷 Puerto Rican 🇵🇷
Ria Burns-Wilder lived in Ithaca back in the day, working at EVOLution on the Commons and adding her creativity to the local scene. A muralist and musician, Ria paints with longtime collaborator Dennis (aka Sinned) as #sinnedandria, creating murals in NYC, Ithaca, and beyond - including a Brooklyn Pride mural celebrating the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. When she's not painting walls, you might find her behind a microphone!

Sergio Arce
🇳🇮 Nicaraguan 🇳🇮
Born in Managua, Nicaragua, Sergio Arce, aka Registered Artist, is a self-taught urban pop artist whose colorful work draws from comics, pop art, street art, and a healthy dose of imagination. A former registered nurse, Sergio has painted around the world and uses murals and workshops to bring art into schools and communities - including right here in Ithaca.
@registered_artist

Todd Ayoung
🇹🇹 Trinidadian 🇹🇹
Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Todd Ayoung is a longtime Ithaca artist, educator, activist, and world-traveling maker whose work has appeared in galleries and museums in the U.S. and beyond. Todd has spent decades mixing art with history, justice, and community, while sharing that creative spirit with generations of local students through his years teaching art at New Roots.

Yen Ospina
🇨🇴 Colombian 🇨🇴
Yen Ospina is a self-taught Colombian American artist whose bold, joyful work spans digital illustration, traditional media, and murals. She's also the creator of Orozco Gallery, a nomadic gallery uplifting queer and BIPOC artists, and has served as president of Tompkins County's Latino Civic Association - mixing art, organizing, and community wherever she goes.
@yenospina

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Special thanks to No Mas Lagrimas and Cultura Ithaca and CU Latino Studies Department for many years of mural collaborations!

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Support the amazing Latin American artists above!

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​Support orgs and businesses below! ​

Latinx Owned Food Businesses:
Atabey Restaurant & Lounge • 201 N. Aurora St.
Frida's Mexican Grill • Mexican Cuisine • 222 Elmira Rd.
Nueva Vida • Latin American Grocery + Goods • 401 Elmira Rd.
Old Mexico • Mexican Cuisine • 357 Elmira Rd.
La Paladar • Roy Despaigne's Cuban Food • Ithaca Farmers Market
Yxi's Arepas & Gordito • Venezuelan Cuisine • 301 Taughannock Blvd.
DOTCU Cuban Food • 301 Taughannock Blvd.
El Chamo Bar & Grill • Venezuelan Cuisine • 308 Stewart Ave.
Tacos CDMX • Mexican Street Food • 114 W. Green St.
Zocalo • Mexican Bar + Grill • Ithaca Mall
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Latinx Led Organizations:
Guapea Dance School • Cuban + Latin Dance, 208 E. Buffalo St.
Latino Civic Association • Latinx Community + Culture in Tompkins County
No Más Lágrimas • Community Support + Mutual Aid
Salsa Ithaca • Latin Music + Dance Network
Cine con Cultura • Latinx American Film Festival
Tompkins County Immigrant Rights Coalition • Advocacy

Cornell:
Latina/o Studies Program • 434 Rockefeller Hall
Latino Living Center • Latinx Residential + Cultural Community
La Asociación Latina • Latinx Student Community
Asociación de Sudamericanos Unidos • South American Student Community
Sabor Latino Dance Ensemble • Latin Dance + Culture
La Unidad Latina / Lambda Upsilon Lambda • Fraternity Founded at Cornell
Latin American + Caribbean Studies • Academic Program

Ithaca College:
African Latino Society • Black + Latino Culture + Community
Latino/a/x Studies • Latinx History, Culture + Identity
Latin American + Caribbean Studies • Academic Program

What else to add to these lists?