The daughter of two Puerto Rican parents from Spanish Harlem, Michele Carlo grew up with her family in a primarily Italian and Irish neighborhood in the East Bronx.
Awards/Recognitions Most of Michele Carlo's work is heavily influenced by her upbringing in a predominantly Italian and Irish neighborhood in the East Bronx, and her experiences navigating New York City as a Latina artist of Puerto Rican descent ever since.
Later, she recalls getting lost at a Puerto Rican Day parade and a voice on the loudspeaker announcing, "'Will the family who brought the little redheaded white girl please come pick her up?'
The 55-minute solo performance revolves around her struggle to find a new apartment after being forced out of the one she had lived in for twenty years, and in doing so touches on issues of gentrification in Brooklyn.
This personal account provides evidence of the physical and social boundaries that obviously still exist within many New York neighborhoods, and in doing so speaks directly to Carlo's Latinx audience (especially those who may be white-passing).
In cleaning up the area surrounding Prospect Park, did such groups also hope to scrub out long-time residents and racial minorities, as well as the unique culture they had created?