The art exhibition entitled “Ida y vuelta: experiencias de la migración en el arte puertorriqueño contemporáneo” [Roundtrip: Experiences of migration in contemporary Puerto Rican art] was on view early this year at the Museum of History, Anthropology and Art (MHAA) of the University of Puerto Rico-Río Piedras (UPR-RP). It recently reopened and is now on view. Also see previous post ART EXHIBITION—“ROUNDTRIP: EXPERIENCES OF MIGRATION IN CONTEMPORARY PUERTO RICAN ART.”]

“Preludio,” a collection of black and white photographs by Máximo Colón, also reopened together with “Ida y vuelta.” This exhibition presents different scenes of the Puerto Rican community in New York City in the 1970s. Colón’s work documents the traditions, daily life, and civil rights struggles, as well as portraits of salient cultural figures.

Ida y vuelta’s curator, Laura Bravo López, highlights the importance of the historic moment in which this exhibition opens its doors again. “The relevance of the reopening of this show responds to the phenomenon of migration in the present reality of Puerto Rico, since the island is currently experiencing an alarming migratory flow due to the effects of Hurricane Maria on September 20. This new opportunity to visit the exhibition is re-framed in the recent experience of tens of thousands of people who have left Puerto Rico in the last two months,” she said.

This exhibition brings together eighteen artists who—through photography, painting, engraving, installations, and video, among other media—approach the current migration through their different interpretations of the phenomenon, in most cases formulated on the basis of their own lived experiences, whether they are reflecting on the years in which they lived outside of Puerto Rico or on this experience where they currently reside.

The 18 participating artists are Abdiel Segarra, ADÁL, Anabel Vázquez, Anaida Hernández, Antonio Martorell, Brenda Cruz, Carlos Ruiz-Valarino, Edra Soto, John Betancourt, José A. Ortiz Pagán, Marta Mabel Pérez, Mónica Félix, Nayda Collazo Llorens, Norma Villa Rivero, Osvaldo Budet, Pedro Vélez, Quintín Rivera Toro, and Víctor Vázquez.

[. . .] The exhibition has a parallel publication that includes the writings of Laura Bravo, Jorge Duany, Quintín Rivera Toro, and Brenda Cruz on the current migratory phenomenon and extends the analysis of the selected works of art. In addition, the project includes more than fifty video interviews with artists, curators, art critics and gallery owners who share their perspectives on the current Puerto Rican migration.

[Excerpts translated by Ivette Romero.]

For more information, see http://www.uprrp.edu/?p=14955

For original information (in Spanish), see press release at http://www.upr.edu/exhibicion-ida-y-vuelta-experiencias-de-la-migracion-en-el-arte-puertorriqueno-contemporaneo/