The Holland Project’s Billboard Gallery showcases the work of exceptional emerging and established regional artists on billboards throughout Reno-Sparks. Three new artists are installed every four weeks. For our October-November series in 2024, participating artists are Robert Nuñez, Autumn Harry, and Birdy McCray.
OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2024 ARTISTS + WORKS
Location #1: Wells Avenue Bridge, facing South
Artist: Robert Nuñez
Artwork: Tito Papa, 2018, 2024
Wesbite | Instagram
Bio: As a photographer, Robert delves into the melancholic and often overlooked moments of everyday life, capturing the fleeting intersections of nostalgia and identity. His work reflects the complexities of his experience as a first-generation American and the child of Mexican immigrants, exploring the tension between the vibrant cultural heritage of his upbringing and the disorienting process of assimilation into American society.
Statement: “This photograph is a tribute to my late grandfather, made during one of my summer trips to my parents’ hometown in Mexico. It shows him standing in his cornfield, a place I visited often with him and my dad. I added his handwritten note, which was originally on the back of the print he gave to my dad.
It was during these trips that I learned about my heritage and understood how my parents’ lives were before they moved to U.S. My grandfather was a humble man, and while he’d never imagine himself on a billboard, let alone one in the United States, it’s a reflection of the mix of cultures I experience- honoring my heritage while living in a different world.”
Location #2: Wells Avenue Roundabout, facing North
Artist: Autumn Harry
Artwork: Replenish Pazagwa Panunadu, 2024, digital collage and photograph
Instagram
Bio: Autumn Harry (Numu & Diné) is a member of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. Autumn has spent her entire life learning and fishing in her homelands of Kooyooe Pa’a Panunadu (Pyramid Lake, NV). Autumn recently graduated with her Masters of Science student at the University of Nevada, Reno where she studied Geography with a focus on the reclamation of Numu place names. Autumn identifies as a fisherwoman, land defender, Indigenous rights advocate, artist and fly fishing guide.
Statement: Pazagwa Panunadu is the Numu (Northern Paiute) word for Winnemucca Lake and translates into ‘Mud Lake’. In the early 1900s, the construction of Derby Dam created massive water diversion from the Truckee River. This theft of water is a result of colonization and caused the lake level of Kooyooe Panunadu (Pyramid Lake) to decline by 80 feet. The water that once flowed from Pyramid Lake into Winnemucca Lake was no more.
By the late 1930s, Pazagwa Panunadu was drained completely. Pazagwa Panunadu was once a body of freshwater that supported abundant waterfowl and was home to several fish species including the Kooyooe (Cui-ui) and Agi (Lahontan Cutthroat Trout).
This imagery is a photo of Pazagwa Panunadu today with an overlay of lake water to remember what the basin may have looked like before the diversion, including plants such as the desert peach. The Cui-ui silhouettes each encompass photographs of pa’a (water), captured from Kooyooe Panunadu (Pyramid Lake), to represent the sharing of water between the two sister lakes.
This ecological shift has only happened within the last 100 years and impending drought in the Great Basin threatens the Numu way of life. We all must do what we can to replenish groundwater and surface water and stop all forms of water theft.
Location #3: Kietzke Lane & Mill Street
Artist: Birdy McCray
Artwork: The Devil, 2024, linocut
Website | Instagram
Bio: Birdy McCray is from Placerville, California, where she discovered her passion for art through community college classes, and collaborating with local artists. As a first-generation college student, she went on to earn her BA and MFA at the University of Nevada, Reno, where she shifted from traditional drawing to digital media and video art. Her current work draws inspiration from tarot and the landscapes of Northern Nevada.
Statement: I am an artist with a deep interest in magic, the occult, and the natural world. My current work, a linocut tarot card series, draws inspiration from the landscapes, people, and cities of Northern Nevada. I view both tarot and the art-making process as meditative tools for introspection and self-discovery, using them to explore symbolic connections and reveal deeper layers of meaning in everyday life.
