Monument Artists
In June 2025, the NJMML jury selected three Monument Installation Artists from a pool of applicants who responded to the project’s RFQ. These artists, introduced below, will collaborate with the project team throughout fall 2025 and winter 2026 to organize and lead three public events in each of the project’s three regions.
Follow their creative journey as they develop concepts, designs, and other key materials. These will be shared both at the public events and here on the website as the project unfolds.
Michelle Angela Ortiz is a visual artist, muralist, educator, and filmmaker who uses art to uplift underrepresented communities. For 25 years, she has created over 50 large-scale public works nationally and internationally, including social change projects in Latin America and as a U.S. Cultural Envoy. Through murals, films, and community art, she fosters dialogue and transforms spaces into affirmations of resilience. Ortiz is a Pew Fellow and has received fellowships from the Rauschenberg Foundation, Kennedy Center, and others. In 2016, she was honored with the Americans for the Arts' Public Art Year in Review Award for outstanding public art.
Chat Travieso is an artist and designer, as well as the co-founder of the multidisciplinary collaborative duo Yeju & Chat, alongside Yeju Choi. His work encompasses community-centered urban interventions, public art, and research. He has collaborated with organizations such as WHEDco, NYC Parks, NYC DOT, the Cambridge Arts Council, the Cleveland Public Library, and the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. His research has been supported by the Graham Foundation and NYSCA. Notable recognition include the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship with Yeju Choi and the United States Artists Fellowship. Currently, he holds the position of Tepper Chair in Visual Arts at Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts.
Immanuel Oni is a first-generation Nigerian-American artist and space doula living in New York City and raised in Houston, TX. Oni’s work explores loss, legacy, and its deep connection with place. He has received awards from Art Omi, Mellon Foundation, the Laundromat Project, Columbia University, Design Trust for Public Space, NY State Council of the Arts, and is the FABnyc commissioned artist for the New York City Chrystie Street African Burial Ground Memorial. He is the co-founder and Creative Director of Liminal, a non-profit organization that works at the intersection of art, unity, and space.
