- [Michelle] Tonight we meet Rhode Island Latinos who have found their voice through their art.

- For a while I was just like walking around with that pain.

Nobody ever taught me how to deal with that.

So my form was my art.

I just doodled.

- [Michelle] Then healing through horses, a program for veterans suffering post-traumatic stress.

- We kinda had that anecdotal data of where there have been individuals who told me that they have not ended their lives because of this program.

- [Michelle] And a look at the work of an Iranian artist whose paintings inspire cultural transformation.

- I didn't want to depict women as victims that don't have any agency but still they were trapped in some unpleasant situation.

(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music) - Welcome to "Rhode Island PBS Weekly".

I'm Michelle San Miguel.

- And I'm Pamela Watts.

It's the fastest growing minority group in Rhode Island.

The Hispanic population has more than doubled since 2000.

- Tonight in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, we're highlighting three local Latinos who've made their mark in the local art and music scene.

Whether it's banging a drum in front of thousands, designing murals throughout Rhode Island, or painting injustices facing the Cuban people, it's clear music and art remain a universal form of self-expression.

- There were times when I also couldn't like really find words, so I would just, or I'm not even sure what's bothering me, so I'll just paint.

- [Michelle] For artist Tamara Diaz, painting has offered a window to her soul.

- I don't know what I'm doing till it's done.

And then it tells me how I'm feeling.

Like instead of my feelings guiding it, it's almost like it gives me the insight as to like, oh wow, this is what's going on.

Like it gives me insight to my own self.

- [Michelle] She describes her designs as pop art with a tropical twist.

Her bold colors often depict difficult moments.

Born in New York to a father who fled the Cuban Revolution, Diaz says some of her best creations come from pain including this one, mi Cuba linda, lloro por ti, which means my beautiful Cuba, I cry for you.

- Even though we're not there in our homeland, it's something that we carry with us every day.

It's basically in your soul, it's kind of complicated to like be able to express those emotions on a regular basis.

So sometimes it just comes out in my art.

- [Michelle] Diaz has made two trips to the island.

She says it's easy to fall in love with the Cuban people and the culture.

- I basically had that feeling my whole life like I'll never be complete until I get to Cuba.

And so it was like such a big moment for me to set my foot down on the Cuban soil.

- Diaz is the descendant of survivors.

Not only did her father and his family leave Cuba soon after Fidel Castro took power, but her mother's parents also faced persecution, they're Holocaust survivors.

How does being the descendant of survivors manifest itself in your artwork?

- I mean, I think there is like that generational trauma that gets passed down of people having to leave their country, leaving with nothing, all of those kinds of things, that's very like emotional.

But you know, it comes out in my artwork because it does affect me even when I don't know it.

- [Michelle] Her art adorns the walls of her Providence home where she showcases her interest in spirituality and cultures.

She showed us a painting depicting The Last Supper.

- As you can see in the middle, I have a menorah so it kinda like has that element of Judaism.

But we also have like (speaks in foreign language), we have Domino's, some peace cookies and the palm tree is always symbolizing like Cuba or my roots.

- [Michelle] For Diaz, one of the best parts of painting is sharing her love of art with others.

She's a licensed, independent clinical social worker and encourages children to illustrate their emotions.

- You can have someone draw or paint how they're feeling when they can't really have the words to express it.

(bright traditional music) - For Jesus Andujar, music is his form of expression.

- And when I come home from work, even no matter how tired I am, I have to sit down the drum and play a little bit.

- What goes through your mind as you're playing?

- [Jesus] Music, I forgot about everything.

Every negative thing that happened during the day.

(bright traditional music) - [Michelle] Andujar has been playing Afro percussion music for four decades.

On this early evening in September, he's performing at a festival in Providence with his band, Grupo Sazon.

(bright traditional music) He knows how to work the crowd.

Growing up in the Dominican Republic, he didn't always have his eyes set on performing but he discovered music was in his blood.

- I never thought that I wanna be a musician.

And then at some point, I went to live with one of my uncles and he was a farmer.

So he introduced me to be a farmer and a lot of things that we used to do in the farm was music related.

- Andujar remembers harvesting rice on the island.

A process he says required rhythm and coordination.

(bright traditional music) It wasn't long before he realized all that farm work was developing his love for music.

He showed us some of the many instruments he's mastered from his studio in Providence.

(bright drum music) From the Dominican drum (bright drum music) to the conga (bright drum music) and the cajon.

(bright drum music) He says his big break came when he moved to New York in the 80s and joined the band La Gran Manzana.

(bright traditional music) Touring with the band was his ticket to seeing the world.

He then moved to Rhode Island in the late 90s.

(bright traditional music) 25 years later, Andujar made a name for himself in Rhode Island performing for large crowds at WaterFire.

What is that feeling like to be on a stage?

You have thousands of people watching you.

You're in your zone, what is that adrenaline rush like?

- It's such a great feeling and also I like when you see people dancing while you play, this like energy exchange, the more energy you get to the people, you get that back to you.

- That energy exchange has pushed artist Angela Gonzalez better known as Agonza out of her comfort zone.

- I didn't expect people to like fall that in love with my pieces.

Organically, it just happens.

- [Michelle] Agonza describes her style as Afro-Latina surrealism.

She has a studio in Providence but says getting here, was a painful journey.

She grew up in an abusive environment with relatives who were in and out of prison.

- For a while, I was just like walking around with that pain.

Nobody ever taught me how to deal with that.

So my form was my art, I just doodled.

- [Michelle] When she was nine, she moved to the Dominican Republic to live with her great-grandmother who had no running water or electricity.

Not long after she died, Agonza so went to live in an orphanage.

I think it's fair to say you did not have an easy childhood?

- I think as an adult I see it differently but I think my mom and my dad had me way too early.

They were too young.

And so my mom didn't know how to be a mom and my dad just didn't know how to be a dad.

- [Michelle] When Agonza was 17, her stepmother who had adopted her brought her back to the ocean state.

She went on to study at the University of Rhode Island.

That's where she met Professor Bob Dillworth who she says altered the course of her life.

- I got into one of his classes and he believes that bigger is better.

So he, instead of giving us these like regularized canvases, he would hire a model to model for us nude, to get the structure of the like bodies.

And I refused to paint like a thinner woman, and I was just like, "No, I'm not gonna paint a thinner woman, "like that's just not what I look like."

- [Michelle] These days, Agonza can hardly keep track of how many walls she's been asked to paint.

But this one in North Providence hits close to home.

- I always get emotional with this piece because it's very, it's very personal, so, sorry.

- [Michelle] She designed this mural outside of St. Mary's Home for Children, a nonprofit agency that works with some of Rhode Island's most vulnerable children.

Agonza says she sees herself in them.

- Because if I was to see this as a little girl, I would've been like, you know there wasn't things like this or people who look like me.

So for me to be that person for kids to look at, it feels good.

- [Michelle] Agonza hopes the children who see this are left inspired.

She echoes to them the words her former professor shared with her.

- Like I tell them, just dream big.

Like Bob told me always just go big or go home.

(soft upbeat music) - Up next, it's estimated 15% of military veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from PTSD and depression.

For some soldiers, it's the wounds you cannot see, the memories of combat that take the greatest toll.

Tonight we visit with one local program helping to ease veterans' struggles by developing a special brand of horse sense.

- Winston Churchill said, you know the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person, you know, and it's true.

There is a magic that happens of being around an animal that large with that type of energy.

Thank you.

- [Pamela] Thor Torgersen is one of the founders of a nonprofit organization run out of a horse farm just over the Rhode Island border in Stonington, Connecticut.

It's aimed at assisting veterans who return home from the service troubled and broken.

Mike Warren has been there.

- I wasn't right, I don't, you know, just a lot of bad things done to human people.

You know, a lot of wrong that you would see in a humanitarian situation.

- [Pamela] And Torgersen says he has encountered other veterans like Warren haunted by their tour of duty.

- I have seen individuals who have been homeless, addicted to drugs, incapable of walking on their own without a walker or a wheelchair become fully mobile, off of their addictions, own their own home now, drive, I mean, it's 100% transformation.

We kinda had that anecdotal data of where there have been individuals who told me that they have not ended their lives because of this program.

Start to make your turn 'cause he's gonna wanna walk out.

- [Pamela] This program is called VETS, an acronym for Veteran Equine Therapeutic Services.

This brand of therapy provides healing through horses.

Former service members are invited here free of charge to learn how to handle these highly intuitive 1,500 pound animals.

- Horses are just by nature, the poster child of PTSD.

They have hyper-vigilance, trust issues, fight or flight issues, all of the markers that are traditional PTSD markers.

And that is a survival mechanism.

And we have veterans who come in who have those same issues and you know, when they come in, I kind of jokingly say, "You're just a horse and we can work with that."

- Hold for three.

- [Pamela] How the equine specialists in mental health work is first encouraging veterans to totally unwind, shaking off tension and getting comfortable begins with taking deep breaths to let the horse know you are calm, in control, and a decisive leader.

Torgersen gave me a lesson.

- If you put both hands on him and do that same breathing exercise, you are trying to relax and make him relax by you relaxing.

- [Pamela] Torgersen says because horses are so perceptive, they can sense anger and stress in humans, empathy, compassion and emotional management leads the horse to respond.

The hope is veterans take those skills off the farm and into their lives.

And it doesn't require mounting a horse, just harnessing trust.

- 'Cause if I taught you how to ride a horse and then you never interacted with a horse again, the skill or the experience would be wasted versus coming and get to understand an animal at a very deeper level that makes you understand yourself at a very deep level.

- [Pamela] Torgersen as the program can be transformational by creating a therapeutic environment to ease the isolation of local veterans experiencing combat trauma.

- There are people who have had to see and do things that no one should have to see or do.

You wanna stuff those in the darkest place that you can and many people feel that they can never come back from that darkness.

- Walk on, walk on.

- Mike Warren found himself in that darkness.

He was an 18 year old Marine when he was deployed to the Gulf War.

While on the way, his company was sent to evacuate U.S. citizens from Liberia during its civil war.

- I saw a kid out in the street, he had to be like 11 years old shoot an adult, you know?

And those are just things that you never forget.

- That was Operation Sharp Edge and then another deployment to Iraq.

How did you get diagnosed with PTSD?

What happened to you?

- I didn't know until later.

I ended up going to an alcoholic and drug rehabilitation treatment.

- So you were self-medicating?

- Yeah, I self-medicated, you know, and- - Because, why?

- To try to suppress the feelings that I had of the things that I seen, you know?

And just the relationships.

- How did this program make a difference for you?

- I'm here today because of the program.

- Really?

- Yeah, because I was in the hospital five times for suicide, you know, wanting to commit suicide.

- How did this program change things for you?

- There was a purpose here and being with other veterans and seeing that they had similar situations or similar problems.

You're a good boy, Gump.

- Now Warren volunteers here, not just to care for the horses but also to be there for new veterans entering the program.

Some 100 service people have come through these gates.

Also spending time here are families of veterans.

People like Sara Stepalavich.

What was life like as a military wife?

- It can be lonely sometimes.

- [Pamela] She was a mom with one little boy when her husband put out to sea with the Coast Guard.

- Then we had our youngest with special needs, he has Down syndrome.

And shortly after that he transferred up to Boston and was on a cutter.

And so he'd be gone for a couple months at a time.

- How has being here at the VETS program helped you and your family?

- It's totally, totally changed our lives.

I mean, I like to say that outta something really dark came something really beautiful.

I was at a moment of total crisis.

My oldest is here all the time, he loves coming out here.

My youngest absolutely loves it here.

My husband has benefited from this program.

I mean, this is my second home, this is my second family and I found my voice here.

I've learned how to stand up for myself.

I mean, I found my tribe.

- [Pamela] Stepalavich has also found her calling.

- I am trying to get certified in equine body work and getting hopefully my equine specialist in mental health and learning.

- [Pamela] Warren now believes he has better communication with family and friends.

- At first you were really stressed out but slowly all that stuff, it breaks down.

And you know, I don't know, the horse starts to like bring you down and break you down to, it opens your heart.

He's a good boy, huh?

You're good boy, aren't you?

- [Pamela] Warren loves to tell the story about working in the paddock when this horse named Gump showed his appreciation.

- He came up to me and he put his head right on my shoulder.

You know, I was just cleaning out there.

He put his head right on my shoulder and it just like lowers everything down, you know?

It almost like can bring you to tears.

- [Pamela] Because in this space and at this pace, soldiers who have returned home from war find peace.

- When I'm here, I'm not there, you know what I mean?

When I'm here with the horses, I'm in a different place, tranquil place.

It took a lot of time to get to where I'm at now but you know, it's a lifesaver.

You're a good boy, hmm?

- One disclosure note, our Rhode Island PBS colleague Calvin Hill is a veteran participating in the program.

- Finally, contributing producer Dorothy Dickey brings us a story about an Iranian born artist who puts women at the center of her art.

Since her time as a grad student at the Rhode Island School of Design, Arghavan Khosravi has used powerful imagery to challenge the fairly restrictive society she herself grew up in.

Her work would take on a new sense of urgency seven years ago when she went home to see her family.

- I had a short travel back home in December, 2016 and only a week after I came back to the states, the previous president had been inaugurated and one of his first acts was signing an executive order, the so-called Muslim Ban or travel ban.

- Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

- So if I had stayed in Iran more than a week longer, I couldn't come back and finish my studies.

So my first reaction to this was anger like so many other Iranians in the states and non-Iranians.

I decided to protest to this Muslim ban in my own way.

I wanted to start painting on the pages of my expired password from Iran.

For me, the travel ban was the starting point but the more I worked on this series, the work became less about like that specific political moment and it was started to be more about my memories from Iran because at this point I wasn't sure when I could go back to Iran.

I still haven't been able to travel outside the U.S.. (soft somber music) - The bars don't seem to align.

- [Speaker] They are not.

- [Installer] They are not?

Okay, so that one's probably because- (soft suspenseful music) - In Iran, we have to decide about like our major in high school at the age of 15.

I thought that art is leisure so I should pursue something that my 15 year old mind thought that can rely on as a job.

So I decided to become an engineer.

So I decided math in high school.

But when I wanted to apply to college, I thought that I live only once and I really liked art and I was doing some art classes when I was at high school.

Flash forward 10 years later, when I decided to go to grad school in the States, I decided to to apply for painting.

For me, that was my ambition.

Like any immigrant immigration is a start.

And I thought that it's a start in my career too.

When I came to RISD, my work really changed and also I started to think about what I want to say in my work.

I'm interested in exploring concepts around gender, power dynamics, censorship.

My work is a reflection on my life experiences from Iran and censorship and restrictions are part of our everyday life.

These are a little bit like traumatic memories.

So when I came here, I was sitting in my studio in Providence and I didn't know what to paint and suddenly all these memories rushed to my mind and the geographical distance and the like psychological distance helped me to look at those memories from a slightly different perspective.

And I thought, this is what I want to say.

My work is figurative and also has some surrealistic elements because of a lot of symbolism that I have in my work.

And it's mostly reflecting on my life experiences and memories from Iran.

So it's a lot about women rights issues.

I didn't want to depict women as victims that don't have any agency but still they were trapped in some unpleasant situation.

And I used different symbols to show those restrictions like ropes, ball and chain which is an obvious symbol of lack of freedom.

I'm always inspired by Persian miniature paintings.

I appropriated some battlefield scenes from miniature paintings and combined them, juxtaposed them with figures of women.

And in my mind those battlefield scenes of those soldiers attacking the women, which were by the way, like proportionally smaller than the women, I was thinking of them as a symbol of misogyny or patriarchy.

(bright traditional music) (bright traditional music) After the uprisings in Iran that happened less than a year ago, the women life freedom movement.

I was inspired by the courageous acts of Iranian women and men that took to the streets and the protests to achieve more equality.

Because women had stood up against the suppression, I really wanted to have that change in my work too.

So I decided to appropriate those like the armors that the soldiers in previous works were wearing that were attacking women so that the women now are wearing those armors.

So I made these free standing pieces with like the helmet.

Now the women are wearing those armors.

There were a lot of imagery of quiver and arrows in those miniature paintings that I also appropriated in my own work.

And I replaced the feathers at the end of the arrows with human hair.

In my mind it was like a symbol of this resistance.

'Cause after the movement, I see a lot of images and videos coming from Iran that women defy the compulsory hijab and stop wearing hijab in public and they risk their lives by doing that, they can get arrested or even death.

So for me, that became like a symbol of resistance.

So I incorporated that element in my work.

It makes me feel better when I like talk about these issues in my work.

I want to have some elements of my own cultural heritage and cultural identity but also I want to share the story with others.

And I don't want the paintings to be limited to my own experience.

And because of the symbolic approach I have, I hope that audience that are coming from different cultures, different life experiences, they can find their own selves in the works.

Although I'm talking about human right issues, women right issues, but maybe someone for example, in the states that has experienced, I don't know domestic violence, can also relate to the pieces.

And I think like women rights issues is something universal.

Like even in more progressive countries, there is still a really long path ahead of women to achieve equality.

(soft traditional music) Because my work is a lot about the idea of contradiction, so I try to experiment with this contradiction in different ways.

One of them is to have visual elements that coming from different cultures, different times, contemporary past or like religious, secular, all these contrasting elements because for me it's like a visual translation of my life in Iran.

And most of the people who think freely and they can wear whatever they want and do whatever they want, but when they go in public, they have to adhere to some Islamic regulations that is imposed by the government.

So that contrast for me is like the main component in my practice.

(bright traditional music) (soft somber music) I feel good when I create something.

If I don't paint for a few days, I feel down, I feel depressed.

With images, I can express myself, I can tell my stories and share it with different people.

Like if I make an art that no one sees, I'm not satisfied.

Sharing it with the audience is also a very big part of it.

- That's our broadcast this evening, thank you for joining us.

I'm Michelle San Miguel.

- And I'm Pamela Watts.

We'll be back next week with another edition of "Rhode Island PBS Weekly".

Goodnight.

(bright upbeat music) (bright upbeat music)