Using paint and recycled materials, one Morris Park artist is creating portraits of people to show their beauty, diversity and experiences in the Bronx.

Annie Legnini is getting ready for her second solo art show at the Belmont Library Saturday called “Bronx Faces.”

“I love having people see themselves in my work, like truly authentically be seen,” says Legnini.

Courtney Iannitti's been friends with Legnini for years and has been there since “Bronx Faces” began back in 2016, but says she didn’t know all of these faces before the project.

She says Legnini spread the word on social media and received emails with photos and responses to a few questions about people’s Bronx experience. 

There have been 30 portraits so far, and Legnini says she's creating 100 of them total, all painted and collaged with all kinds of materials from her apartment.

“I almost meditate on their story while I’m creating them, which is really special too, I’m really hearing them and seeing them,” says Legnini.

Legnini says it is people’s differences that make her artwork so special.

“Just hearing people speak their story and hearing such diverse stories and stories you wouldn’t think happen in the same place let alone blocks away from each other is just phenomenal,” says Legnini. “I just think we're all interconnected even though we don't know each other. I think it’s really about unity.”