about the project
As a lifelong New Yorker and the daughter of a Guatemalan immigrant, Cuellar is familiar with the conditions and realities of poverty. She is often concerned about people out on the street hungry and trying to look for a roof over their head. She was able to put herself in her father’s shoes and try to imagine how hard life was for him, as well as everyone else who doesn’t have the many opportunities within America’s system.
Advantage Boundaries, addresses issues of class mobility and the barriers between poverty and wealth. Cuellar can see her artwork displayed in a subway station or in an urban setting. The goal of this project is to make people aware of how there is an unfair boundary between the rich and the poor. Viewers of this piece should know that the rich shouldn’t always take advantages of their own money, and that they should use their wealth to help out those who don’t have that many advantages. Viewers should know that the rich should not be richer just because the poor are getting poorer. Therefore, the danger of an advantage boundary corrupts the world for everyone.
about the artist
Nicole Cuellar was born in 1998 in Queens, New York. She is a senior at The Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria, and practices her artwork in her portfolio preparation class and whenever she has free time. Cuellar works with pen, charcoal, markers, and paint. She also loves photography. Cuellar is an open-minded and an independent individual who loves to explore and experience new things and isn’t scared about trying new things. She is an active listener and is there for those who really need her. Cuellar despises ignorance. She is interested in challenging social classes, racism, and sexism. Cuellar’s work actively opposes racism and sexism. She is the winner of a silver key from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her illustration that was exhibited in the Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education.