Many vacant homes in New Orleans still bear the fading spray paint that once indicated how many dead were found inside.
Four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city, North Bergen artist Henry Hechavarria, 26, is involved in fixing it up – and turning at least one home into art.
Hechavarria first came to the city after being granted an opportunity to volunteer with the United Saints Recovery Project three months ago. He and other volunteers repaint homes and help build different establishments for low-income families.
While there, he began to observe that occupants of many homes never returned, and instead the buildings were boarded up. The grass overgrew and the owners were fined.
“The blighted house is no longer an eye sore and has become a monument dedicated to culture.” – Henry Hechavarria
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Thus, Hechavarria on his free time began “the Central City World & Art History Project.”
Building a monument
He said that while walking down a block he bumped into an owner standing in front of his blighted home.
Hechavarria “spoke from his heart” and told the owner that he wanted to paint it and turn it into a testament to New Orleans culture. The man agreed and also told him he owned other houses that the artist could paint.
Part of his inspiration came from Detroit, Mich., where many vacant homes have been turned into contemporary art. He also researched and decided the first house should center on poet Langston Hughes and jazz musician Louis Armstrong. Poetry and jazz are both cornerstones of the city.
“The blighted house is no longer an eye sore and has become a monument dedicated to culture,” said Hechavarria. “It is kind of empowering.”
Helping others
He has worked on the home with a few volunteers. He also held a BBQ last week in the hopes of attracting more member of the community in taking part in rebuilding the city through artistic ventures that will spread “messages of inspiration and education.”
He also wants to extend an invitation to Hudson County artists to come down and lend a hand.
“My main goal in life is to be a humanitarian and a good person and to help others,” he said.
Hechavarria also teachers art to around five to six students in New Orleans every Saturday, as he once did at the Union City Public Library. He said he could see how such an experience could have benefited him.
Hechavarria is grateful for the opportunity to volunteer, which he said a West New York patron of his art introduced him to.
Hudson County roots
Hechavarria was born in Jersey City and grew up on 72nd Street in North Bergen.
He played Pop Warner football, boxed at the North Bergen Police P.A.L., and got into the “subculture” of graffiti and break dancing.
He had trouble in school, primarily because he was never taught how to properly read until he was 19, he said.
Hechavarria said that unfortunately, some of his friends from his youth have graced the newspaper for the wrong reasons. He hopes to inspire inner city youths that there is hope and to not just give up.
When he began applying graffiti in contemporary art, people started to take interest and his career began.
He co-founded the La Ola Organization, which promotes the arts in North Hudson County, and has organized art shows in various locations such as the North Bergen Public Library, the Park Avenue Bar & Grill in Union City, and other galleries around Hudson County.
When he comes home sometime in the future, he said that people will be sure to recognize him walking down Bergenline Avenue with “paint on his clothes.”
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.