An exhibit room at the Latino Cultural Center is filled with bright, colorful flowers from one piece of art: "Flowers for the Living - 2022."
"It's 647 flowers of varying size, shape, color; all cut out from various blankets, many, many blankets; and then sewn back together to create this long, almost infinite bouquet of flowers," Artist Antonia Lechuga said. "There's 647 of them. It's specific because in the year 2022, there were 647 deaths from mass shootings, mass gun violence in America."
For Lechuga, the subject hit close to home.
"I'm happy that I'm here," Lachuga said. "I'm lucky that I'm here, to be honest."
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In 2022, Lechuga went for an afternoon run on the Santa Fe Trail in Dallas when he was shot. Doctors removed a bullet from his back. Lechuga spent six months recovering. That's when inspiration hit.
"Being in the hospital and witnessing just all the love that you get," Lechuga said. "The flowers are all there for you, but you're not the only one going through all of this."
Inspired to give 'Flowers for the Living,' Lechuga used more than 100 Mexican Cobijas fleece blankets, 6,500 yards of thread, and four needles to create the 92-foot canvas that wraps around visitors like a warm hug.
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"You can see from this side here and realize that number, 647," Lechuga said, standing on the "pretty side" of the artwork. "But behind, you start to see all the work that goes into that."
Lechuga installed the work hanging from the ceiling so visitors can view it from all sides, from its vibrant front flowers to the frayed threads in the back that hold it all together.
"It's disgusting that it has to be this big," Lechuga said. "It's disgusting that it has to be 647."
Lechuga hopes his art will provide comfort, conversation, and a call to action.
"The hope is that this really does give people a space to heal and then to do something," Lechuga said. "I survived. This is for the people, or at least families of those people who did not."
Lechuga received the Nasher Sculpture Center's Artist Grant, which helped fund the project. He is represented by Daisha Board Gallery.
'Flowers for the Living - 2022' will be on exhibit at the Latino Cultural Center in Dallas through Oct. 11.
