“Zone Change.” “Complete Communities.” “LUMO.” In Erik Valera’s paintings, which make use of bright, chromatic colors that create lines, arrows and shapes, the viewer can make out these phrases.
For Chapel Hill local, two-time town council candidate and artist Erik Valera, the art pieces pose the question:
“When creating our built environment, especially when we’re rewriting our rules for creating a lived environment — whose belonging is assumed, and whose belonging is negotiated?” he said.
After his second city council defeat in 2025, Valera was left with a pile of campaign posters that were of no use anymore. Although not
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