IMMOKALEE, Fla. — Roberts Ranch will transform its outdoor space in a few weeks to host the "Remember Us" art fair. Local Jonathon Martinez's vision created years ago.
"It can mean a lot for the rest of the community to hear their voice and to be seen and understood in a different way," Martinez said.
Local artists will get the opportunity to display and sell their work.
Martinez got the idea idea years back as a young artists in Immokalee searching for a space where he would be understood.
"Being raised and brought into a space where you feel kind of excluded just because of your race or how you identify that kind of separates me from my parents," he said.
His parents are from a different country, but he was born here which is something he shares with a lot of other people in Immokalee.
"I want the same for younger individuals to understand they are not alone in their experience and that they have an outlet."
Martinez created the space, The Immokalee Center for Arts and Culture, and the art fair for artists like Emili Carmona Trejo and Briana Nunez.
"There are many other people here who've done art a long time ago, and they've probably been hidden, and no one has ever seen their art," Carmona Trejo said.
The fair gives artists of any age the opportunity to share their work and their journey. The love they have for their art, is the same they have for their hometown.
"The more we put work into this town, the more it will become beautiful. It's just like art."
Emili Carmona Trejo
The fair's theme this year is one you can't forget, "Remember Us".
"Honestly, I want to scream the title sometimes," Martinez said.
A community full of bright talent that wants to be seen.
"I think we are overlooked a lot…this creates a lot of meaning and opportunity," Nunez said.
The art fair on July 6 is free to attend and they're still accepting art submissions. Find more information here.
