Tabula Rasa
Artist: Cristina Ferrigno
Cristina Ferrigno is a Colombian-born, Brooklyn-raised artist based in Sunnyside. Her work explores cultural “in-betweenness” as a transnational adoptee through combined-media practices and ongoing community-based projects. She loves all kinds of prints and printmaking, photography and image-making processes, as well as working with personal and visual archives.
This work grew out of experiments using leftover paper pulp from an intergenerational workshop she led in the church garden in August 2025. This lovely, messy, hot event was an epic collaboration between the Episcopal Mission in Sunnyside and Citation Needed, a community-based press and workshop series where Cristina has served as Studio Director since 2025.
What's something you’re working on that feels like a soggy, smelly mess?
Here’s what some of our neighbors said:
My own sense of self, in bad moments, can feel like a soggy smelly mess.
Sometimes it feels this way as I endeavor to be a good husband, a good mentor, a good friend, a good son. I’m navigating my mom’s cognitive decline and the mortality of my family, while trying to heal a shoulder injury and finding a new job. I navigate it by staying focused and in the present moment, by staying for hope.
My character. I feel like I go through these ebbs and flows of feeling like I have developed into a more well-rounded, aware person - but then I notice these moments of regression and seclusion. These moments of regression are daunting and feel heavy - soggy and smelly, if you will. They can cause me to be hard on myself and frustrated, as I should know better than to be quick to anger, judgement, or selfish. Personal development is a never ending journey, but those low moments of stagnation or steps backwards can feel endless and challenging.
My wardrobe—so many clothes, and I maybe hate all of them.
Organizing my apartment after years of accumulating too many things
My parenting. As my child grows, I need to grow too, but I feel like I can’t keep pace. So I’m in this awkward moment where my habitual responses aren’t quite right, but I’m also unskilled at the new strategies I think would feel right… So I’m stuck in between and nothing is satisfying.
