On the lower level of Terminal 1 at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, three figures look out at passersby.
Each holds a different pose and is painted on top of a map with specific meaning to the subject. The portraits depict real people and attempt to answer a central question: “Where are you from?”
The portraits are part of “From,” a series by St. Louis artist Cristina Fletes-Mach that will be on display at the airport through April 2026. The works explore themes of migration, identity and belonging through the stories of people whose origins cannot be reduced to a single place.
“I was born in New Orleans. I was raised in Memphis. I've lived in different places, and now I'm here in St. Louis, but my parents are Nicaraguan immigrants and my mom, specifically, is Cajun Nicaraguan,” Fletes-Mach said. “So my identity is this very weird mishmash of things, and I've always been in this liminal space of, am I a Southerner? Not really. Am I a Latina? Kind of, but I never lived in Nicaragua. I've never neatly fit into any category.”
As part of her creative process for “From,” Fletes-Mach made a Facebook post to connect with potential portrait subjects. Its thread was full of responses from people whose origin stories and identity defy simple labels. The social media discourse also revealed that many people have kept feelings about their identity to themselves.
“Many people think [it’s] an isolated experience, you're the only one. The more I started talking about it, I realized so many people, specifically immigrants, have that same feeling. It might be different countries, but similarities in experience are way more common. My husband is Chinese, he was born in Vietnam and raised in Virginia, went to college in Kentucky, and now lives here,” Fletes-Mach said.
The lived experience of migration and feeling in-between made Lambert – which has a program that displays art throughout the airport – a natural site for sharing a project Fletes-Mach hopes to keep building. “An airport is kind of neither one nor the other. You might not necessarily be from the place you're coming from, and you are not necessarily from the place that you're going. So it just felt like the right place to introduce this series,” Fletes-Mach said.
Showing her “From” portraits now feels timely, the artist said.
“We hear the term ‘migrant’ being thrown around, and it's kind of treated like a dirty word, but it just means you're coming from a different place, or your parents came from a different place, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. And unless you are of native ancestry, your ancestors at some point, came from someone else, somewhere else,” said Fletes-Mach.
She added, “We have all been migrants at some point. Or our ancestors, one, two, three, four generations removed, we've all been from somewhere else.”
To hear how Cristina Fletes-Mach, who is the visual communications specialist at St. Louis Public Radio, hopes to expand her portrait series — including why she wants to incorporate audio into future exhibitions, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: “From” portrait series
When: Now through April 2026
Where: St. Louis Lambert International Airport, Terminal 1, Lower Level, 10701 Lambert International Blvd. St. Louis, MO 63145-0212
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
