Chicago artist combines sports with Latino traditions through new Cubs jersey
This Hispanic Heritage Month, a Chicago artist is fusing two beautiful identities through a shirt that will be available soon.
The design combines Latino and Chicago traditions.
When artist Liz Flores creates her art, she's often telling her story.
"A lot of my art focuses on Latinidad," she said. "My experience as a Latina woman, you know, in the U.S., having a mom from Cuba and a dad born here, family from Mexico."
Now her story, and the stories of many others, are being told on a whole new kind of canvas—a Cubs jersey.
Fans who bought a special ticket will get one on Sept. 25, which is Hispanic and Latino Heritage Night at Wrigley Field.
Flores said the team reached out to her after seeing a hat she made for the Chicago Bulls.
"Right now, we need big companies to be celebrating different heritages, I mean, right now all of that is under attack, I think it sends a powerful message," she said.
Flores said it was challenging, since Hispanic and Latino cultures are so diverse.
First, she started with these sketches of images that will be familiar to many people.
"I thought about folk motifs, and things that we see in different craft, art, architecture, in a lot of Latino design," she said.
But she kept the Cubs' traditional colors of blue and red, with the word "Cachorros", or Cubs in Spanish, on the front.
Fans who bought a special ticket will get one on Sept. 25, which is Hispanic and Latino Heritage Night at Wrigley Field.
CBS News Chicago
"It shows I'm a Cubs fan, but I'm also part of the Latino Hispanic community in Chicago. I hope it creates that bridge and you can wear those two identities," Flores said.
She said her identity plays a role in her work.
"As an artist, it's very natural, because when you're creating art, you're pulling from an internal source, and naturally that source is going to be your personal experiences or thoughts, feelings, emotions," she said.
Flores has been a full-time artist for about 10 years. She sells her work in galleries, but also did commissions for companies like Lululemon and Target. Now her goal is to get other artists to start telling their stories as well.
"When I first got into art, I didn't see a lot of contemporary Latina artists," she said. "First and foremost, it's like I'm doing this, and you can do this too. I want to see more of these stories being told."
The jersey that Liz Flores designed is so popular that tickets to get one are already sold out. However, a T-shirt is being made with some of the designs for people who couldn't get the jersey.
