Flag Series: Katalina Iturralde, Banner Series 1, 2026

LEARN MORE ABOUT ART AT AMERICAS SOCIETY
 

Art at Americas Society's Flag Series is pleased to present Banner Series 1, 2026, a new iteration of the 2011 work created by Katalina Iturralde.

Katalina Iturralde (b. 1983, Chicago, Illinois; lives and works in New York, New York) is a mixed-media artist who works across painting, ceramics, and photography. Her artistic practice contemplates the rituals and ephemeral moments of daily life, revealing the dormant beauty within objects and environments.

Banner Series I (2011) debuted at the First Gran Bienal Tropical in Loíza, Puerto Rico, and has been restaged for Telenovela as part of Art at Americas Society’s Flag Series. Reading “Drama Tropical” (Tropical drama), the work addresses the quintessential challenges of living on a tropical island like Puerto Rico. For Iturralde, the phrase refers to the intense heat and climate events common to tropical regions, as well as the density of the island community. Iturralde likens tropicality to the interactions within a tight-knit community. Just as the heat is inescapable, so too is the closeness of a place where degrees of separation are minimal, making everything feel immediately personal. Island drama thus becomes its own real-life telenovela.

The banner is designed to blend into Loíza’s beach environment, a further reminder of the heat and surroundings. The font resembles the graffiti and murals often found in major urban landscapes. This visual cue, together with the work’s banner format, makes the work accessible to the public, giving it a reach comparable to that of telenovelas.

The Flag Series presents public artworks on 68th Street, furthering Americas Society’s engagement with the surrounding community in New York and creating new dialogues between artists of the Americas and our audiences.