Silvia López Chávez
Visual Artist
- Design,Visual/Crafts
Biography
Silvia Lopez Chavez is a Dominican-American artist whose community-centered murals form connections across disciplines and cultural boundaries. She uses joy as an act of resistance and celebration through her vibrant murals, and her work transforms urban spaces by honoring the identity of a place and its people.
Awards
2023:
- Common Good Awards from MassArt
- The Boston Foundation’s Brother Thomas Fellowship Award
- Amplify Latinx 100 Award
2021:
- Leadership in Public Art Award by New England for the Arts
- Common Good Awards from MassArt
- The Boston Foundation’s Brother Thomas Fellowship Award
- Amplify Latinx 100 Award
2021:
- Leadership in Public Art Award by New England for the Arts
Artist Contribution
I am a visual artist working in painting, mural-making, and illustration. Much of my work is framed by my experience as an Afro-Caribbean woman living and working in Boston. Growing up in the Dominican Republic fed my appetite for bold color palettes and my interest in how our environment influences who we become. At the core of my practice is a desire to bring joy, connection, and agency to the places where my work lives.
As a muralist, my process is fueled by understanding a site's context and its relationship to how the public engages with that space. I strive for my work to be approachable and easily understood. My style is energetic, layering bright colors and graphic elements with realistically rendered focal areas. Content is often determined through a collective, neighborhood-based co-designing and re-envisioning space, which I consider part of my social practice.
As a muralist, my process is fueled by understanding a site's context and its relationship to how the public engages with that space. I strive for my work to be approachable and easily understood. My style is energetic, layering bright colors and graphic elements with realistically rendered focal areas. Content is often determined through a collective, neighborhood-based co-designing and re-envisioning space, which I consider part of my social practice.