Houston Artist Organizes a Pop-Up Fair to Help Her Earthquake-Torn Home Country of Venezuela

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Artist Violette Bule in her studio (Photo by Eduardo Viloria)

Nick and Jake, “Texas: Double Cowboy (Pink),” 2014. This artwork will be available for purchase as part of Bule and ALH’s Art Fair for Venezuelan earthquake victims (Phot courtesy of the artist)

Roberto Tejada, “Why the Assembly Disbanded,” designed by Cristina Paoli of Periferia (Artist book, 2021). This work will be available for purchase as part of Bule and ALH’s Art Fair for Venezuelan earthquake victims. (Photo by Ben Corda)

Aaron Parazette, “Three Decades,” 2025. This artwork will be available for purchase as part of Bule and ALH’s Art Fair for Venezuelan earthquake victims (Photo courtesy McClain Gallery)

Nela Garzon “Cláudio Taffarel – Brasil National Team – Fifa World Cup USA 1994” (2026). This artwork will be available for purchase as part of Bule and ALH’s Art Fair for Venezuelan earthquake victims. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Daniel Cavadia, “Chrome Tears” (Zine, 2026). This work will be available for purchase as part of Violette Bule and ALH’s Art Fair for Venezuelan earthquake victims. (Photo courtesy of the artist)

Like almost any Venezuelan abroad, when Houston-based, internationally shown artist Violette Bule saw the devastation in her native country after two major back-to-back earthquakes, she felt the need to take action in any way possible. 

“I realized that my most valuable resource was the artistic community around me, which responded generously from the start,” Bule tells PaperCity.

The multimedia artist began organizing a pop-up art fair, which will be held on Saturday, August 22 at Art League Houston’s Montrose art space. All proceeds will go to supporting survivors of the earthquakes by providing medical supplies and other crucial resources. 

Besides attending the event, those wishing to support will also be able to purchase works online and make donations directly toward medical relief for earthquake victims.

Creatives — including Aaron Parazette, Zulma Vega, Doug Welsh, Robert Bacon, Cat Martinez, Rabea Ballin, Nick Vaughan and Jake Margolin, Lau de Leon, Isela Aguirre, Soledad Salame, Jenelle Esparza, Ruhee Maknojia, Lydia Bodnar, and Garland Fielder — have already donated. University of Houston professor and author Roberto Tejada donated an artist book, and Mexico City-based fine art imprint Roga Ediciones donated some of its publications. 

The art fair is still accepting donations — artists and collectors can contribute artworks as well as art books, zines and fanzines to the fundraising efforts. 

The organizers of this pop-up fair are also working with various nonprofits doing on-the-ground humanitarian work in Venezuela, such as Medical Bridges and grassroots network Tres Pasos Poliritmo.

The fundraiser is deeply personal to Bule, who was born and raised in Valencia, Venezuela. Many of her close friends and family still live in the country, and she expressed frustration at being so far from them in a time of need. 

“It reminded me that being part of a diaspora carries responsibility,” Bule says. “Even from afar, we can organize, mobilize resources and build bridges between communities.”

Bule keeps those communities and her background as the core of her artistic practice. “I don’t think it’s possible to separate my work from being Venezuelan,” she says. 

The artist adds that her myriad experiences taught her the important lesson that history is never abstract, but lives in people’s memories and the way they care for one another despite adversity. 

“That perspective continues to shape the questions I ask as an artist,” Bule says. 

Bule is a conceptual artist interested in topics of identity, violence and memory, and her work ranges from photography to multimedia installations. Her latest installation Hydra showed at San Antonio’s ArtPace this past spring after her three-month residency there. Centering around a golden turnstile surrounded by tiles made of razor wire, the piece presents statistics on immigration policy through multiple, immersive technological mediums.

“(In Hydra), viewers can encounter the contradictions, tensions and continuities embedded in these systems (of control),” she notes. 

Violette Bule argues that art can be a powerful form of advocacy, and that it helps people see the humanity of an issue rather than the headlines.

“Art may not solve a humanitarian crisis, but it can bring people together and provide some relief,” Bule says. “Sometimes that is exactly what is needed to begin making a difference.”

Art League Houston will host a fundraising pop up art fair for Venezuelan earthquake victims on Saturday, August 22, from 6 pm to 9 pm at its Montrose art space. The fair is organized by Violette Bule, with Beatriz Bellorín, Luisa Duarte, Nicolás Gerardi, Gabriela Magaña, Rosa Ana Orlando and Eleanora Rodriguez. For more information or to donate, click here.