City Line Laundromat is currently hosting the “Re UNIDOS: Pasado Presente y Futuro/Past, Present & Future” exhibit photos. — Photos courtesy of Mario Quiroz

By Eliot Josti

Art is in every corner in the city of Somerville. From museums to personal exhibitions, the creativity of the community can be found in places even where you least expect it … like a laundromat.

The exhibit, “Re UNIDOS: Pasado Presente y Futuro/Past, Present & Future” is located at City Line Laundromat in East Somerville and is created by Mario Quiroz and Analiese Reigstad, both instructors at Unidos, the K-8 Dual Language Program at East Somerville Community School.

The program emerged about 26 years ago, starting off at the Butler Drive Building, which has since been demolished. After five years of advocacy, community building, school leadership, and planning for the program, the Spanish-to-English immersion program was created.

Analiese Reigstad, a Curriculum and Instruction Specialist at Unidos, first got the idea for promoting the program after teaching there for about 3 years.

“It was my third year in the program, and last year I noticed there wasn’t a lot of information available online. How do you promote a school because it is a lot different than promoting a product?” said Reigstad. “I wanted to share an opportunity that belonged to the community.”

She then reached out to Mario Quiroz, who worked alongside the preschoolers and happened to be a documentary photographer, focusing his work on the immigrant experience in America.

“I enjoy the notion of creating work that is about something, or art in the service of. My work is about subjects that matter, and in this case it is immigrant heritage and Spanish-speaking people. We had thousands of ideas and a counterpart that clicks…that becomes a project,” said Quiroz.

The exhibit focuses on the past, present, and future of the program, capturing images of those involved. Alumni, current students, and teachers were photographed representing the passing of the baton of dual language.

“We wanted to give the community an idea of the program and what the experience was like in a few snapshots,” said Reigstad.

What makes the exhibit so unique is the location of the artwork.

“The exhibit is made of 72 photos displayed on 6 pieces of fabric in the heart of the laundromat. It is a way to directly see and believe art going back to the community,” said Quiroz.

For more information regarding the program, check out their website https://www.somerville.k12.ma.us/unidos/. In addition, Quiroz’s work can be found at https://www.marioquiroz.com/home.html.

“When people view the photographs, I hope they, in some small way, feel pride in the community. So many students had big smiles and pride to be a part of this project and recognize people in the program over the years,” said Reigstad. “It’s about understanding that what they experience today is a combined effort of generations who fought for this before.”