JUNE 2023
Borikén WHERE ART MEETS ACTIVISM
Street Art Syllabus
THE
WORLD'S Photography by Edwin
OLDEST COLONY
On November 19, 1493, during his second voyage, Christopher Columbus arrived in Puerto Rico. That is, he landed on the island called Borikén ("the land of the valiant lord") by the indigenous Taíno culture that largely dominated the land, which was later renamed Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has been under some form of military occupation or protectorate status since 1508.
Rosskam via Library of Congress
Spanish Original I ¡Despierta, borinqueño que han dado la señal! ¡Despierta de ese sueño que es hora de luchar! A ese llamar patriótico ¿no arde tu corazón? ¡Ven! Nos será simpático el ruido del cañón. III Nosotros queremos la libertad, y nuestro machete nos la dará. Vámonos, borinqueños, vámonos ya, que nos espera ansiosa, ansiosa la libertad. 𝄆 ¡La libertad, la libertad! la libertad!
Lola Rodríguez de Tió Lyricist
La Borinqueña THE PUERTO RICAN NATIONAL ANTHEM English translation I Arise, boricua! The call to arms has sounded! Awake from the slumber, it is time to fight! Doesn't this patriotic call set your heart alight? Come! We are in tune with the roar of the cannon. III We want freedom, and our machete will give it to us. Come, Boricuas, come now, since anxiously awaits us anxiously, freedom, 𝄆 freedom, freedom!
1492 “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue...” Schoolchildren on the U.S. mainland learn the chant: “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue...,” in which Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus is portrayed as an intrepid explorer who obediently found some gold “to bring back home as he’d been told.” Schoolchildren in Puerto Rico know the parts of the Columbus story that were left out of the rhyme, namely, the extermination of the indigenous Taínos. In this massive work in the Santurce neighborhood, artists from the collective El Basta help make the collateral damage of Columbus’s “achievements” more visible.
This work in Rio Piedras depicts Indigenous Taínos. The Taínos were described in great detail by Ramon Pané, a Catholic missionary who joined Columbus on his voyage to the New World. In one of his accounts, Pané tells the story of Cazivaquel, a Taíno chief, who had a vision in which he foresaw “a clothed people who would [come to] rule them, and slay them.”
THE TAÍNOS
T
he first Puerto Rican flag was created by the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico, a proindependence group. In 1868, the group leader Ramón Emeterio Betances asked Mariana Bracceti to sew The Revolutionary Flag inspired by the Dominican Republic Flag. During this time, the group saw themselves as part of the Antillean Confederation with the other Latin Carribbean islands. The Revolutionary Flag, also known as the Lares Flag, featured a white cross, a white lone star, and two blue and red corners. On September 23, 1868, the Committee led a revolt against the Spanish in the town of Lares. Although the revolution wasn't successful, revolutionaries continued to use the flag.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE PUERTO RICAN FLAG
In 1895, the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Committee called "Club Borinquen" composed of revolutionary exiles in New York adopted a new flag. It had the same design as the Cuban flag, but with the colors inverted. The flag tied the affiliation between the two country's revolutions, After the United States took over Puerto Rico in 1898, the flag changed again. Due to a rise in support of Puerto Rican Independence, in 1948 Law 53, known as Ley de la Mordaza ("The Gag Law"), made it a felony act to own or display any Puerto Rican flag. In 1952, the U.S. government officially adopted the Puerto Rican National Flag as the official flag with changes in its colors to distance it from it's revolutionary origins. The official flag has remained in place since then, however, in 2016 a group called Artistas Solidarixs y en Resistencia (Artists in Solidarity and Resistance) created the mourining flag. The group stripped the flag of the colors of the United States, instead opting for black and white as a message against U.S. oversight.
VISUAL GUIDE TO THE FLAG The flag has undergone many variations over the years.
1868 Lares Flag
1895 Revolutionary Flag
1952 National Flag
2016 Mourning Flag
SAN JOSÉ STREET • Old San Juan
GRABADORES POR GRABADORES / ARTISTAS SOLIDARIXS Y EN RESISTENCIA
WHY THE FLAG IS IN MOURNING PROMESA, THE U.S., AND BROKEN PROMISES
Artistas Solidarixs y en Resistencia (Artists in
a proposal for RESISTANCE; it is not pessimistic, it
Solidarity and Resistance), the art group responsible
discusses the death of these powers, but hope is still
for re-painting the flag, released an open statement
present in the three white stripes that symbolize the
explaining their motives:
individual's rights and their capacity to reclaim and create their rights.
"Art as a form of expression has been used
This act is an invitation to reflect and take action
throughout history to transmit ideas, provoke
against the collapse of our education and health
reflection, and transform and recreate reality.
system, privatization and destruction of our natural
National symbols help reinforce a country's identity
resources, the colonial status, abuses committed
and values. Since its origins, the Puerto Rican flag
against our working force, the payment of an
has been a symbol of struggle against our colonial
exorbitant debt, the imposition of an anti-
status, and during several years, hoisting it was
democratic government, cuts made to cultural
considered a felony. Under the colonial act that
affairs, among other conflicts. This act demonstrates
created the 1952 ELA [Associated Free State of
that there exists an artistic community that will not
Puerto Rico/Commonwealth], the flag becomes an
remain with arms crossed, that is willing to fight
official symbol. Today, the triangle represents the
against any exploitation, against the imposition of
three branches of government: executive, legislative,
an absolutist government and its austerity policies,
and judicial. The three red stripes symbolize the
the most recent: Federal Control Board (PROMESA).
blood that gives these branches power.
Puerto Rico is fighting, lets strengthen the love
Our laws, our politicians, and courts have not
between us and the space we inhabit by promoting
represented the interests of the Puerto Rican people.
respect, solidarity, tolerance, union, communication,
Replacing the colors with black (which is the result
and community cooperation."
of the absence of LIGHT) creates a new discussion. Ours is
RESISTANCE THE FIGHT FOR INDEPENDENCE Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Phasellus vitae placerat turpis, efficitur malesuada velit. Donec at arcu metus. Aenean ullamcorper eu purus eget vehicula.