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Relief Art For Peru
November 12th, 2008 - Chicago, IL
August 22, 2007
Relief Art for Peru
On Wednesday August 15 at 8pm, 29-year-old Peruvian-American artist Alex Loza of Chicago, IL goes to www.terra.com.pe, as he usually does to get ideas for dinner for the following day. When Loza logs onto the website to his surprise he sees that there is a tsunami warning for the coastal areas of Peru and finds out that a 7.9 earthquake hit south of Lima in the areas of Pisco, Ica, Cañete, and Chincha where his family is from.
Worried for the people in the affected areas of Peru, Loza wondered what he could do to help. “I wanted to help but how can I if I’m not a doctor or
physician,” says Loza. “And I said to myself ‘What can I do as an artist to help these people and show them that we care and want to help?' "So that night Loza went to work and came up with a design that summed up what he and all Peruvians like him felt and posted it on his myspace page early the next morning. The result was “Contigo Perú” (Peru we are with you) with the map of Peru in red on top of a black ribbon held together by the Peruvian seal with a seismograph underlining “Contigo” and the date 08/15/07 below.
The day Loza posted the design on his myspace page it spread like wildfire where many Peruvians on myspace used the design as their main photo for their myspace profile, as a symbol solidarity and support for Peru.
“I was surprised to see how popular the design was amongst the Peruvian community on myspace,” says the 29-year-old artist. “But I knew I could do more to help the people of Peru.” And this is where Loza takes his design a step further and finds away to make a monetary difference to help Peru.
“I found an online company that will take my design and put it on t-shirts, sweatshirts, jerseys, etc. and decided that all the money that is made from the sales will go to the Peruvian earthquake relief.” To assure that all the money goes to the victims of Peru, Loza aligned himself with Catholic and Christian organizations as well as the Peruvian Consulate of Chicago to make sure the money goes where it is needed most. Loza is also keeping track of all purchases and is personally sending thank you notes to everyone and will show them where their money is going. One of the most surprising things is that Loza was scheduled to be in Ica, Peru the day of the earthquake to do an art show. But as luck would have it he was
not able to go because his passport did not arrive in time due to the delays in passport processing.
“When I looked at what happened in Ica, Peru and realized that I was suppose to be there, apart of me was relieved because at least something good came out of the backlog in processing passports,” Loza says laughingly.
When asked how long he plans to do continue his efforts Loza’s reply was, “For as long as I can and the people in Peru need the help.” He continues by saying, “If there are people and areas of Peru that still need help for example clinics and other groups and organizations, I will continue and create new designs for them to help raise money and rebuild Peru,” says Loza.
If you want to help and purchase a t-shirt you can do so by going to www.alexloza.com, or go to www.cafepress.com/contigoperu for the “Contigo Peru” logo or www.cafepress.com/reliefinperu for the “Relief in Peru” logo.
Posted by Javier L. Orellana on August 22, 2007 1:46 PM
Peruvian-American artist Alex Loza
wearing his t-shirt design.