Celebrating American Diversity
Current Exhibition: “WE WERE ALWAYS HERE"
Artist Reception & Art Community Celebration
Join us for a special gathering at A Perfect Union Art Gallery as we celebrate the artists, volunteers, judges, and creative partners who helped bring joy and cultural storytelling to FusionFest, A Perfect Union Art Gallery, Gallery MCO, and all our visual arts exhibitions throughout the year.
This festive evening will be a chance to connect, reflect, and honor the incredible community that makes our visual arts programs possible.
Event Details
Date: Saturday, December 20
Time: 4:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Location: A Perfect Union Art Gallery
West Oaks Mall, Ocoee, FL
We’ll enjoy light refreshments, community fellowship, and a moment of appreciation for the artists who contributed to exhibitions across the region. As an added highlight, we will also open a thought-provoking new exhibition by Nelson Cardenas, We Were Always Here, which offers a fresh perspective on heritage, identity, and belonging in the Americas.
We look forward to celebrating with you and closing the year in the spirit of unity, gratitude, and creativity. Reserve your free ticket HERE
“WE WERE ALWAYS HERE”
A powerful and direct reframing of the myth of the outsider.
EXHIBITION DESCRIPTION:
This exhibition invites viewers to reconsider the relationship between indigeneity and immigration in the Americas. Inspired by the perspective of artist Nelson Cardenas, originally from Colombia, the show challenges the conventional narrative that labels many Latin American people as “immigrants” entering someone else’s land. Instead, it highlights the deep ancestral connections that bind these communities to the territories of the Americas—connections that existed long before modern borders, nations, and definitions of citizenship.
The artworks in this exhibition ask: What does it mean to be called an immigrant in the very place your ancestors once walked? How do colonial histories distort our sense of belonging? And how might art restore a more truthful understanding of identity—one rooted in heritage, memory, and an ancient presence that predates imposed boundaries?
Through painting, sculpture, portraiture, and mixed media, Nelson explores the themes of displacement, homecoming, lineage, and reclamation. Together, they reveal a powerful truth: many who are labeled as “arriving” are, in fact, returning—affirming that they were always part of this land’s story.
