Demetrio Braceros: Kindness to Any Creature

Kindness to Any Creature is the first survey of Filipino American artist and visionary gardener Demetrio Braceros. Held at Cayuga Playground, where Braceros worked as a landscaper and caretaker from 1986 until 2010, the exhibition includes almost 100 objects, most of them crafted from cypress wood he cleared from the park. Many locals know Braceros for his dramatic transformation of Cayuga Playground from neglected area into a vital community space, as well as the playful topiary and sculptures he carved on his lunch breaks and installed throughout the park. His commitment to the well-being of the neighborhood earned honors from city and state officials, dedicatory murals, and appearances on local television. Kindness to Any Creature, however, draws from the vast repository of artworks that Braceros has quietly kept at home. They include statuettes, reliefs, furniture, and painted gourds, and feature a kaleidoscopic sweep of imagery, from celebrities to saints and animals. Braceros calls many of them “souvenirs”—a description consistent with his fondness for understatement. But they also recall traditional Filipino amulets that offer strength and good fortune, as well as the anthropomorphic sculptures that Braceros’s Ifugao ancestors made as protectors of their rice granaries. The exhibition is held in Cayuga Playground’s on-site clubhouse, returning Braceros’s artworks to the place from where they came, and inviting visitors to experience this exhibition within his larger creative project.

Demetrio Braceros: Kindness to Any Creature includes an introductory text by Yoni Carnice.