Yumarlin Rodriguez, a junior in the School of Art who goes by the diminutive Yumi, was recently interviewed by Orion magazine for her contribution to the Audubon Mural Project, which features murals of climate-threatened birds throughout Harlem where John James Audubon was once based. 

For the project, Yumi painted a Rufous Hummingbird in tribute to her grandfather, Odalis Alvarez, who passed away in the spring of 2020. He had called her colibri (hummingbird) throughout her life and Yumi credits him for her love of nature. She placed the mural on the gate of Romulo Barber Shop, the last place where he had worked. Of her mural Orion wrote “She took care when designing her mural that it was ‘not just a pretty thing,’ but rather, an image for people to spectate with a sense of respect. She included insects and plants, pollinators integral to the balance of the ecosystem to keep it from collapse.”

Yumi also recently interviewed artists Carlos Pinto and John Sear for an Audubon video about the making and installation of the project's newest mural (of trumpeter swans).