Puerto Rico: Defying Darkness Curated by Dr. Josie Lopez
516 ARTS August 11 – October 20, 2018 Albuquerque, New Mexico
El Arte de Bregar
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“Puerto Rico needs us artists to confront images, engage, resist and agitate, question power structures, and explore unfamiliar lines of thought. Puerto Rico is currently in a cultural crisis with art and education institutions facing hardships worsened by hurricane Maria. Surviving this phenomenon and becoming active agents of solidarity has led us toward an ideological shift. Culture and the arts are tools for human beings to reconstruct themselves.” —Elsa Maria Melendes “Who is Puerto Rico for?” In her recent book, The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists, Naomi Klein asks this question arguing that the struggle for land, resources, and sovereignty is at a critical point. Some corporate and political interests are pressing for expanding privatization through outside investments while many others are envisioning and working toward a Puerto Rico that embraces sustainability, recovery and an infrastructure that supports the communities of the island. Puerto Rico: Defying Darkness is comprised of works by artists living and working on the island and in the diaspora. Through a diversity of media including painting, sculpture, photography, film, the graphic arts and installation, the artists engage with issues of continued colonialism and its impacts on national and cultural identity, economic crisis, and climate justice and disaster. They also represent and celebrate the cultural artistic traditions that have made Puerto Rico one of the most creatively vibrant places in the world. Though the destruction of hurricane Maria has heightened the urgency to act for the artists participating in this exhibition, their resilience and resourcefulness is anything but new.
Identity and Continued Colonialism on the Island and in the Diaspora Puerto Rico was colonized by Spain beginning in the early 1500s through 1898 when it was ceded to the United States. Its Commonwealth status ties Puerto Rico to the U.S. through legislation such as the Jones Act of 1917 which granted citizenship to Puerto Ricans, defined a dependent financial relationship including a common currency, and provided a common defense. But it also restricted the island’s ports and barred voting rights at the national level. This long history of colonization is rooted in issues of race as well as exploitation of the island and its people for labor, land and agricultural resources. Despite these colonial relationships, a strong sense of culture, history and dignity permeates Puerto Rican identity. Antonio Martorell’s 1979 project entitled Loas addresses Afro-Caribbean consciousness at a time when that consciousness was suppressed. Inspired by folklore, deities and rituals, Loas was originally comprised of a silkscreen and collage portfolio (included in this exhibition) and a dance theater performance with the Taller de Histriones. The text, written by Antonio Díaz-Royo, reflects on cultural and spiritual practices of Puerto Rico based in African, Spanish and traditions of the Taino (Indigenous inhabitants of the Caribbean). According to Martorell, “I feel, that although Loas was done almost 40 years ago, it is very pertinent that the kinds of racial bigotry and discrimination we were addressing continue today.” Juan Sanchez’s lithographs produced at the Tamarind Institute also explore identity. According to Sanchez, “I am one of millions of Puerto Ricans not born on Caribbean soil.
Colonialism and poverty forced my parents to migrate to the U.S. Born and still living in Brooklyn, I grew up to be an ethically, socially and politically conscious Puerto Rican.” In his lithographs Astro Boy, Afro-Taino, and Todavia hay Boricuas, Sanchez reflects on the U.S.’s control of Puerto Rico and the diaspora living with the “vestiges of racism, poverty, drugs, AIDS, police brutality, incarceration, underemployment and inadequate education.” But he also looks to the beauty in the diversity of Boricua culture (Puerto Rican’s often identify themselves as Boricua, a term which is derived from the Taino word, Boriken). In Afro-Taino, for example, he incorporates European, African and Indigenous elements to present visual, multi-layered references to Christ, Caguana, the Taino goddess of fertility and the African god Chango, among others. Kai Margarida-Ramírez explores issues of identity and the diaspora. Her silkscreen collage entitled Fault Lines incorporates floor tiles from her grandmother’s home in Puerto Rico which are imprinted on her memory and represent family ties. The jumbled pattern in the print speaks to the fallibility of memory. Having grown up in Albuquerque, far from the island, Margarida-Ramírez’s prints and photographic collages explore the process of connecting to a familial and cultural past through memories and stories. Aby Ruiz’s paintings look to the history of art, portraiture and realism in Puerto Rico to comment on the present. His iteration of Ramón Frade’s El pan nuestro (Our Daily Bread) depicts the iconic image of a campesino - but rather than carrying crops, he is bound by a straitjacket commenting on the exploitation of labor and agriculture as well as the psychological impacts of the current situation on Puerto Ricans.
Economic Crisis Starting in 1976, Congress granted tax exemption on income generated by U.S. companies in Puerto Rico, attracting many corporations to the island. In 1996 the incentive began to be phased out and many companies left, leading to recession and a poverty rate of nearly 50 percent. In response, Puerto Rico issued tax exempt bonds but a decade later the island could not meet its obligations. A state of emergency was declared as insurmountable debt further crippled the island. In 2016, Congress created a financial control board to address the situation, which many saw as yet another layer of colonial plundering. By the time hurricane Maria hit, the island had already been marred by economic disaster, including significant austerity measures that gutted the budgets of educational and cultural institutions. Myritza Castillo’s photographic series entitled Territorial Landscapes document abandoned sites such as the U.S. naval base Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba, which was constructed in the late fifties. The architecture and landscape that Castillo Hector Arce-Espasas, Dancers, 2017 • Jo Cosme, from Chronicles of a Catastrophic Future, 2017 Chemi Rosado-Seijo, El Cerro, 2001 - present
depicts is a vestige of U.S. military and economic interests. These traces of imperial power signify the failed strategies and abandoned experiments that have resulted in detrimental impacts on both the people and the environment. Adál’s photography series, Puerto Ricans Underwater, explores multiple meanings of being “underwater,” examining aesthetics and identity through collaboration with his subjects who vary in age, class, gender and occupation. According to Adál, “Most importantly, it’s the sense of denial of self-determination. That feeling that you get from not being in control of your own life. That will manifest differently depending on different people…but I would say that’s pretty much it; not having a voice, feeling impotent inside of your own condition.” Hector Arce-Espasas’ vessels are reminiscent of the overflowing fruit bowls popular in 17th century Europe and serving as symbols of wealth and social class. Ripe tropical fruit and the body coalesce to reflect an interplay between history and contemporary indulgence and exoticism. He creates a lush landscape defined by tropical flora to comment on bodies being exploited.
Hurricane Maria On September 20, 2017, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria which left the entire population without electricity and other necessities. Despite the U.S.’s duty to act, it was not until ten days after Hurricane Maria that Donald Trump finally lifted maritime restrictions defined by the Jones Act, leaving many Puerto Rican’s to fend for themselves at a time when aid was critical. In the months that have passed since the hurricane the failures of disaster relief continue to mount and there are still many citizens in need. Carmen Yulin Cruz, Mayor of San Juan, has been outspoken about the situation on the island confronting both national and local officials about the failure to respond. crashlovedog (aka Michael Beltran) pays homage to Cruz with a papier mâché sculpture celebrating the strength of the women who have steadfastly voiced the needs of the people. Jo Cosme’s set of Arcana Majora Tarotinspired cards visually represent a timeline of events in the aftermath of Maria. Employing satire as a tool, she brings together wit and criticism to analyze the failure of the local and national response as well as the scarcity of seemingly basic needs. She also highlights the absurdity and tragedy of events like Donald Trump handing out paper towels. Rafael Trelles’ diptych includes a woodcut print by Carlos Raquel Rivera, who illustrated the destruction
Frances Gallardo, Murmeration, 2017 • Nathan Budoff, Streets of Santurce, 2018
of hurricane Santa Clara sixty years ago, and Trelles’ photo-montage which includes hidden details that comment on the ineffective relief efforts by the local government and FEMA. Patrick McGrath Muñiz looks to Renaissance, Baroque and Colonial Latin American painting techniques to explore contemporary Puerto Rican identity, climate change and the economic challenges that many individuals are facing on the island. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria he has also turned his attention to mass exodus and migration as the number of climate change refugees increases. He is careful to point out that though the situation is dire, hope, recovery and shaping a better future are central for many Puerto Ricans. Nathan Budoff’s urban scenes juxtaposed with ocean life reflect on issues of dislocation, environmental degradation, the tenuous situation of the island and the ambiguity of being neither part of the U.S. nor independent. Frances Gallardo’s graphic works and installations analyze hurricanes and other aspects of the natural world. She is interested in going beyond the sensationalism of the disaster to reflect on the underlying social and political fissures that are revealed.
Recovery and Resilience Elsa María Meléndez’s Sprout Again is made from materials recovered from a fabric store that was destroyed by Hurricane Maria and reflects on the uncertainty of physical ruin as well as social decay. Sewing, thread, fabrics and embroidery are integral to Melendez’s visual language. “Stubbornly, I embroider textiles and organize large quantities of materials and found objects; I tear and stuff in order to create monumental work. My strategies test each spectator’s vulnerability through soft installations juxtaposed with elements such as striking written and embroidered phrases, spiky pins and unexpected uses of space.” Chemi Rosado-Seijo’s long-term project with the residents of the working class town of El Cerro began in 2002 focusing on community engagement through art. As an artist and activist, his interventions in communities bring attention to social and political issues and help build a sense of identity. Influenced by the topography and mapping of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, Ramón Bonilla reimagines architectural spaces as a way of looking to the future. His work is about reinterpreting place, landscape, architecture, the environment and the use of resources. He looks to minimalism, geometry, science fiction, poly art and low-resolution computer graphics for sources of representation. Bonilla’s approach is also connected to a sense of resourcefulness or “bregar” that comes from the experience of living on an island where making do is a necessity of daily living. Puerto Rico: Defying Darkness brings together artists who are addressing the critical situation on the island through their work and with their voices. They represent the hope, resilience and dignity that defines a people working to emerge from a complicated past and present. According to Bonilla, “In order to be able to defy the darkness a different future needs to be presented. A future that is not dictated by colonial or trade/market interests. A future that is not shaped by local and U.S. politicians and that is not self-serving or a repetition of the past.” Shedding light on the challenges as well as the beauty of the island is key to creating dialogue and action to address the current devastation and the process of moving forward.
516 Central Avenue SW, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102 505-242-1445 516arts.org Open Tue – Sat, 12-5pm
516 ARTS is a nonprofit, non-collecting contemporary art museum in the center of Downtown Albuquerque that celebrates thought-provoking art in the here and now. Our mission is to connect contemporary artists and diverse audiences. 516 ARTS presents relevant exhibitions and public programs, which feature a mix of local, national and international artists. Our public programs include collaborations with museums and organizations around the region and beyond, guest speakers, forums, the 516 WORDS literary series, workshops, youth education programs, public art projects, performances, and special events. 516arts.org GOVERNING BOARD
STAFF
Danny López, Chair Joshua Edwards Kathleen Metzger Dr. Kymberly Pinder Tim Price Mark Rohde Suzanne Sbarge Sommer Smith Tonya Turner Carroll
Suzanne Sbarge, Executive Director Dr. Josie Lopez, Curator Claude Smith, Exhibitions & Fulcrum Fund Manager Mackensie Lewis, Development Coordinator Ann Gaziano, Communications Coordinator Katie Doyle, Intern LEAD PROJECT SUPPORT Lannan Foundation J.B. Margaret Blaugrund Foundation FUNDERS McCune Charitable Foundation The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts The City of Albuquerque The FUNd at Albuquerque Community Foundation Center for Educational Initiatives Bernalillo County Commisisoners O’Malley & Hart-Stebbins Vista Larga Fund Cam Duncan Mark Rudd & Marla Painter
ABOVE: Antonio Martorell, from Laos, 1979 • COVER: Patrick McGrath Muñiz, Alba’s Dream, 2017