The 2022 poster art was printed by student artists, in partnership with Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, which fosters the creative disciplines of papermaking, printmaking, and book arts, within a collaborative community. The partnership was led by artist Andrea Worthington-Garcia and co-led by Jeanette Bolden. The artists, Ozioma Agoh, Jamison Heckrotte, Maybeline Herrera, Audrey Hurtt, and Regina Kulanda created the poster through research and in response to the theme Unidos: Inclusivity for a Stronger Nation. After completing the design, they hand-produced a limited edition of silkscreen prints of the poster to serve as an enduring legacy of their work, the partnership, and cultural traditions. The Department of Parks and Recreation then used the design to print collectible posters, available for free at our staffed locations throughout the county.

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Words About the Design from the Artists

This year’s Latinx Heritage Month poster has a border with 21 stylized flags to represent the 21 Spanish-speaking countries. Each corner of the border has a small symbol, taken from different Mesoamerican glyphs. Going clockwise from the upper left-hand corner, these symbols represent person, mountain, wind, and home. These symbols were chosen to demonstrate the importance of these ideas to the different Hispanic cultures. “Person” and “home” represent the idea of family, which is an important value in Latinx communities. “Mountain” and “wind” are used to show the significance of nature. The zig-zag lines between the stylized flags are a nod to the traditional woven textiles in Central and South America, including molas from Panama, frazadas from Peru, aguayos from Bolivia, and ponchos de gauchos from Argentina.

The background of the top half of the poster is filled with wispy swirls and spirals representing the wind. Wind is used to show migration and the freedom that comes with migrating to a new place to start a new life for your family for generations to come. The wind travels up to the upper left-hand corner of the poster to meet at the sun, with the word “unidos” printed on it. At the top left edge of the sun, are two small hands clasped together. These hands represent the ideas of unity and connectedness. The sun is meant to show unity and strength between the Latinx people, as all of life on earth stems from the sun. The birds seen flying through the wind depict the Latinx people of the US. There are various species of birds depicted, all of which are native to Latin America. For example, flying in the upper middle section of the poster is a harpy eagle (águila harpía in Spanish), which is found throughout Mexico, Central and South America. Many of the small birds flying across the sky were based off of the clay-colored thrush or yigüirro in Spanish, the national bird of Costa Rica. They are shown all flying towards the sun, to demonstrate that the Latinx people of the US are working together towards a common goal of a stronger nation.

At the bottom half of the poster, there is lush vegetation. Each of the plants are native to the many Spanish-speaking nations. Much of the greenery is philodendrons (filodendros) and bromeliads (bromelias), both native to tropical climates in North and South America. Some of the flowers depicted include la flor de izote (yucca tree flower) from El Salvador, la monja blanca (white nun orchid) from Guatemala, the rhyncholaelia digbyana orchid from Honduras, el sacuanjoche (plumeria) from Nicaragua, la cantuta flower of Peru, the dahlia of Mexico, la rosa de bayahibe from Dominican Republic, and la flor de maga of Puerto Rico. The great diversity of vegetation represents the diversity of Hispanic cultures living throughout the US. Behind the plants, there is a pre-Columbian statue. This statue represents the importance to the indigenous people of the Spanish-speaking nations.

Participating Student Artists

• Maybeline Herrera, 17 years old, 11th grade at International High School in Langley Park.
• Regina Kulanda, 16 years old, 10th grade at Frederick Douglas High School in Upper Marlboro.
• Jamison Heckrotte, 17 years old, 12th grade at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt.
• Ozioma Agoh, 17 years old, 11th grade at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt.
• Audrey Hurtt, 14 years old, 8th grade at Sandy Spring Friends School in Sandy Spring.

Teaching Artists

Lead Teacher: Andrea Worthington-Garcia (she/her) is a National Board-Certified art educator at Dora Kennedy French Immersion School in Greenbelt, MD. She has been a teacher for 20 years to students of all ages, specifically those who are learning English. She has studied many art forms but has a deep love for printmaking. Andrea sees art education as a means to engage students in anti-bias, anti-racist education and is committed to those ideals.

Co-Teacher: Jeanette Bolden is a current Studio Arts student with an Art History Minor at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is interested in the subtle power of history, extraction, and montage. She creates the multifaceted connection between body, memory, and iconography through the exploration of lineage, identity, and collective consciousness. Bolden glues, dabs, cuts, carves, and etches, thus epitomizing the nuances in each of the pieces that make the whole. She uses motifs, photos, collages, and cyanotypes in conjunction with traditional and alternative printmaking processes to form a bridge between these concepts. In 2021, she contributed illustrations to the Diamondback Newspaper's Behind the Demands project and was the recipient of The Washington Print Club 2021 Young Printer award.