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The abundance of monarchs in the installation reminded me of how many have been lost due to our devastating impact on climate change and the loss of habitat. Thanks for bringing us this awareness and reminding us that there are positive steps we can take to ensure that these beautiful creatures are here for future …

I did not know what to expect when I climbed to the top of the steps. What I did not expect was to feel like a Monarch Butterfly Queen. I did not expect to feel like royalty. Yet that is exactly how I felt when a crown of Monarchs was placed upon my head and through …

My first thought as I walked up the stairs, lined with your beautiful monarchs was: this must be what Los Angeles once looked like when milkweed was abundant and swarms of Monarchs stopped to rest on their migration.   I loved being adorned with butterflies for the photograph and seeing others transformed into butterfly art.  I …

Thank you, Monarch, for being a beautiful example. An example of how fully connected life is – all countries, all animals and plants, all organisms, all ecological systems. How quickly one little action can affect the world – one butterfly, one human, one oil well, one virus. Our actions count. Growing one native milkweed plant, …

Thank you, Olivia, for your energy, and most importantly for the awareness you bring to consider the relationships of migration, immigration, human rights, and Monarch survival. Having visited Mexico’s Monarch Sanctuary back in the late ’70s I’ve always harbored a warm feeling for these delicate creatures. The fact that these winged travelers can also deliver vital insights …

When I think of the beautiful dark summers of my childhood, I think of pine trees surrounding smalls fields of hay, populated by clumps of milkweed and visiting monarchs. It wasn’t summer until the monarchs arrived from their winter home 3,000 miles away. when I was small, I loved them for their beauty, when I …

The Monarch installation reminded me of being a child and the joy I would feel when a butterfly landed on me.

The Monarch installation is a time machine. For a brief moment, I was transported to the winter of 1980 on the coast of California when over 4.5 million monarchs overwintered. This joy was felt simultaneously with the crippling loss of more than 99% of that historic population (Xerces Society, 2019). For me, The Monarch installation …

Experiencing The Monarch in Silver Lake made me reflect on the fragility and delicate nature of our culture, society, and environment. Just as the artwork and butterflies themselves are fragile, so is the ecological balance we all exist in. So are individual human social relationships and the larger networks of cultural alliances and relationships among …

It was privilege to be part of this Wonderful, cultural and Urban Monarch  2020 Project.  I am very please you invited me to this very unique event. For sure they are very magic secret places in Los Angeles.  I didn’t expected to live this close to the marvelous place. Silver Lake Stairs.  For sure you selected …

There are so many ways to think about the metaphors of the Monarch Butterflies. We witness their endurance, marvel at their beauty and remember them in our myths. Climbing the stairs, seeing the clusters of butterflies and relating it to today’s world, I think of the endurance of migration, the need for survival. Overlap it …

“Sometimes the people who are the hardest to love are the one who need it the most.”

The migration of the Monarchs and the migrations of people arise from the instinct universal to all life forms — that of seeking to grow and flourish by traveling over the Earth.

As one of the volunteers staffing the co-sponsors’ table, I got to speak with most of the people who attended, including plenty of accidental passersby. It was a cause of great encouragement for me to see everyone’s earnest interest in the project and their joy at finding community within which to share their concerns and …

Our environment is co-created. A touch, a sneeze, a gust of wind, a choice – all of our actions, planned and unpredictable – influence each other and our interconnected world. Being surrounded by butterflies was a reminder of how many unseen forces are dancing around us at all times. But, just as we are acted upon, …

We had a wonderful time performing music to a great setting and your installation that we are very proud of. Olivia is a visionary and a great artist with the lens. We look forward to more of her art pieces and installations in the future. “Perhaps the butterfly is proof  that you can go through …

It was a unique, wonderful and creative event. The event brought to life the need to save the habitat for these wonderful creatures. Those seeds are definitely going in my garden. Thank you for all your work and creativity.

I had a great experience today at the Monarch Installation. I love butterflies and felt very free today having my picture taken with them on me . It was a great day and so happy I was able to be there .

As a kid , my brother and i raised a Monarch Butterfly. Watching the caterpillar pupate and then watching the pupa hatch and watching a gorgeous creature emerge –  all made a lasting impression on me. An impression that things can change and can get better and can be more beautiful than you could ever …

I’ve always loved Butterflies. I remember as an elementary school student we had to learn about the transformation of the caterpillar into a glorious butterfly. it was so exciting to watch this magical, colorful and lighter than air creature take flight. We live in a very different world today. The education of our children, the …

I’m from Australia so my concerns about the environment are tangible, terrifying, and often about the acute, direct results of the climate changing – fires, floods, droughts, etc. It was at the Monarch installation that I learned about the deaths of Homero Gomez Gonzalez and Raul Hernandez Romero and their deaths are a stark reminder that scarcity …

Olivia, the Monarch Project was really very nice. I learned a lot of the monarch plight through the event planning process and thank you for bringing your vision to Silver Lake. I can hardly wait to sow the seeds obtained by the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Green Committee from Theodore Payne Foundation and experience first …

Butterflies are a classic galvanizing symbol of migration. Today, as so many people have suffered under the current administration’s cruel immigration policy, it was inspiring to celebrate the beautiful aspects of migration through Barrionuevo’s bold public art project on one of Silver Lake’s historic stairways.

I love the concept behind it. What a wonderful project and installation. Keep up the great work. The world needs you.

I learned how people would like to be a part of being helpful to help monarchs prosper. Thank you for your work!

I loved the Monarch-experience! Having the milkweed seeds available for participants to help the Monarch butterfly was wonderful. Having the neighborhood council, talented musicians, and information on native plants made for a complete experience. Being included in a photograph with the butterflies by Olivia Barrionuevo is so special! I am planting my seeds tomorrow! I …

“A portrait can possibly live forever and so should the Monarch Butterflies live forever without facing extinction.”

Olivia has brings the wonder and majesty with her event entitled “The Monarch” Survival is the name of the game, and there is a way to do this as we shed our caterpillar beliefs to then emerge a more beautiful beautiful being as we gain insight into all facets of humanity from immigration to social …

I was enchanted from the moment I came up the  stairway of butterflies  and,  after spending the afternoon with  a wonderful group of earth loving/ people loving people , I was reminded of what is at risk.  Of course I know this already, I read the paper, but this was different, I felt it in my …

It was truly a pleasure being part of your The Monarch Project. We tend to forget how fragile we are as human beings, just like the butterfly. That we can be caught, clipped and crushed in the blink of an eye. The Monarch is Mother Nature’s original “migrant” and like migrants, have always been subject …

I released the monarchs in my soul,  through my eyes. We are all on earth for such a short time and if we fail to see how we are all connected with everything here, then our time here will not be well spent. We must care for each other and everything here as we care …

Climate change, human rights and immigration are heavy topics to talk to about, but what is so beautiful about art is in they way humans create to express a feeling through different mediums to unify, connect and share with the world. Art makes a big impact when it’s expressed in a way people can understand, …

I was so moved by the beauty of the Monarch project. Walking up from the LA River path to discover a Silver Lake stairway covered in thousands of orange butterflies, flanked by brilliant magenta bougainvilleas and the bright blue sky took my breath away. Hearing the music out of sight and above and reading the …

Moverse para ocupar espacios. Para mi, la migración es una idea que representa un instinto natural de movilidad y que responde a una curiosidad humana por conocer y ocupar espacios para superar nuestras necesidades. Sin embargo, esta idea se está derrumbando al ver cómo este fenómeno se está convirtiendo en una salida desesperada y forzada …

It was so much fun to be part of the Monarch Installation, I am from Washington DC and I have been in Los Angeles for about half my life. Immigration is a person moving form one place to another, so I have “immigrated” from the East Coast to here. Everyone has their own story. I’m …

You split the world into pieces and called them countries Declared ownership on what never belonged to you and left the rest with nothing. ‘Rupi Kaur’

Olivia Barrionuevo’s Monarch project is a delight. There is the delight of the butterflies ‘in flight’ around the room. And then there is the photo set, where Olivia takes her terrific photos of everyone with the butterflies. Then their is the reward of watching visitors delight in their own participation of the work. And there …

At the magical age of seven my family and I flew north to the land of the ancient Tongva people, my Father had envisioned a life of more opportunity and experiences. By that time English was the main language now spoken there, but I only knew one of its words, “no”. It was a culture …

“Como periodista que ha vivido entre Europa y Estados Unidos podría relacionarme en cierta manera a la mariposa monarca que migra de un lugar a otro. Creo que siempre estoy en proceso de reinventarme y a pear de las desafiantes circunstancias de vivir en diferentes países, tener motivación optimismo y una gran capacidad de adaptación …

What it means to be an immigrant? This question was not easy for me to answer. You see, I came to the U.S.A. as a preschooler. I did not have a silver spoon in my mouth, but my parents worked so hard to give me a good life, that, for most of it, I have …

Migrante, inmigrante. Cual es la diferencia? A mis abuelos inmigrantes les prometieron tierra para trabajar, saciar su hambre y asi fue con arduo trabajo, contaba mi abuela que los terratenientes nunca fueron justos se llevaban siempre más de las cosechas y dejaban cada vez menos, pero al menos había para comer, mejor mucho mejor que …

Es un orgullo compararnos con algo de la naturaleza para empezar. Cada immigrante tiene su historia en el corazon, viene con una idea, con un sueño. Los Angeles/Mexico

Immigrants help build more the country they move in. First for some opportunities, then to get success. Is a both part success for themselves and the country. Countries should be more open and welcome immigrants. Pétionville, Haiti

Haber nacido en frontera es haber crecido viendo dos mundos distintos. El muro siempre ha estado allí, era una cerca no tan vergonzante como la que después se construyó a base de placas de acero en los inicios de los 90, durante el Gobierno de Clinton, en la franja fronteriza con México. La Heroica Nogales, …

When the president talks about judging immigrants on their merit, on a merit based system, and then says how much he would like immigrants from Norway to enter the U.S. It just shows an administration with racial biased. I don’t know why he thinks so highly of immigrants from Norway or if he even knows …

My dad was an excellent director and cartoon animator. He worked with Hanna Barbera. The Company appreciated his work greatly and Mr. Hanna did not wanted to loose my dad, helping us with the opportunity to have our green card. Immigration should be between people helping. Not about someone destroying people and their families. Immigrants …

The Monarch installation by Olivia Barrionuevo was revelatory in its beauty and artistic vision. Utilizing something so simple and so wondrous in the natural world to define and understand our sense of migration mitigated the rancorous voices that have surrounded our thoughts and divisions about the issue. The Monarch butterflies’ 3,000 mile journeys to and …

La inmigración nos demuestra la importancia de la convivencia de distintas culturas e ideologías para hacer un mejor futuro que beneficie no sólo a un país, sino al planeta en el que existimos sin importar el origen mismo. Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

For quite a long time now I have led a bi-national existence in having lived in different parts of Mexico, hailing from New York City and also having been a resident of Chicago. Further, as an international journalist, I have covered quite closely the immigration beat and also in a bi-national way in having reported …

Una de mis frases favoritas de Richard Bach “Lo que la oruga interpreta como el fin del mundo, el maestro denomina mariposa”. Tiene relación con la experiencia del migrante, el hecho de morir un poco a lo que se deja atras, y verse en la necesidad de reconstruir, muchas veces de la nada; todos lo …

La visionaria artista Olivia Barrionuevo llegó a la ciudad de México en el momento preciso: cuando Donald Trump ilustraba todas las portadas de los periódicos y revistas con insultos a los mexicanos. La fotógrafa angelina fue una visionaria al montar su exposición en el Centro Cultural El Ahuehute, en la colonia Roma, sobre la mariposa …

Realmente nunca pensé que era inmigrante. Salí de mi país para realizar una exposición de pintura en San Salvador, al regresar a través de México me quede unos días, comencé a exponer mi obra y me fui quedando…….   Siempre fui bien recibida, nunca  tuve problemas , fueron pasando los años y hoy sigo aquí, pero si …

Olivia Barrionuevo…, te escribiré sobre migración… Ayer mi hija Fride me pidió hacer la tarea con ella, le habían dado palabras para buscar en el diccionario, la primera era Nómada, la cual describió con exactitud sin diccionario, la segunda fue Migración. Hoy leo esta nota que posteo y concluyo que el ser humano, es el …

Miles de personas cruzan fronteras con papeles y sin papeles, soy de México hija de un país que ha construido su historia con migrantes de todo el mundo, extranjeros han aportado a nuestros orígenes muchos saberes y conocimientos, nuestra frontera sur recibe migrantes que son maltratados como nuestros migrantes son maltratados para llegar a los …

La “Monarca” ,nacidas para viajar, inmigran la distancia más lejos en el cielo, uniendo tres países en su vuelo, cruzando fronteras humanas así llegando hasta México; invita a la reflexión, a la sobrevivencia y la adaptación que también lleva el ser humano en su ciclo de vida. No he experimentado la inmigración en mi persona, …

“ En una forma, todos los seres humanos somos como mariposas. Vivimos en un estado constante de transformacion buscando siempre convertirnos en la mejor version de nosotros mismos” Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico

Stepping into Olivia’s monarch installation set was a magical moment. I felt transported to a space where I could play with monarchs, while having a lovely interaction with the artist. I have always loved monarchs. I knew that summer was almost over and that there were cooler days ahead when the monarchs visited our garden …

Dicen que Yo soy emigrante. Aun cuando soy por parte de mi madre octava generación Jose Maria Verdugo de Baja California, el primer hombre que recibio tierras por el mismo Rey de España en California, aqui me encuentro con la etiqueta de emigrante. Mis ancestros son originals Nativos Americanos de el norte y de el …

Nunca he sido immigrante en un país. Solo como turista he estado en otros países. Pero tengo varios amigos que lo son y han tenido muchos problemas con sus tramites y todo el papeleo, México no es muy amable con los países vecinos de abajo cuando cruzan el país. La verdad es que como Mexicanos, …

Иммиграция – это очень тяжелый период в жизни. Я думаю, что если можно жить в своей стране, то нужно оставаться на Родине! Пройдя через иммиграцию, я поняла, что главное – это язык. Необходимо общаться и понимать друг друга, читать, учиться и работать. В первые месяцы жизни в Лос Анджелесе я потеряла кошелек со всеми документами: …

Migraciones El diccionario nos da esta escueta definición de migración Del latín migratio, migratiōnis. 1. f. Viaje periódico de las aves, peces u otros animales migratorios. 2. f. Desplazamiento geográfico de individuos o grupos, generalmente por causas económicas o sociales. Yo agregaría que la migración es un fenómeno que se da en los tres reinos …

Dejar mi país fue muy doloroso, y me llevó muchos años adaptarme a mi nueva patria. Tuve la oportunidad de escoger entre dos caminos: regresar a México, a una vida que ya conocía donde tenía una red de amigos que me querían y apoyaban, o quedarme en Estados Unidos y emprender un camino que no …