Centro Journal ISSN: 1538-6279 [email protected] The City University of New York Estados Unidos

Hernández, Yasmín Painting liberation: 1998 and its pivotal role in the formation of a new Boricua political art movement Centro Journal, vol. XVII, núm. 2, fall, 2005, pp. 112-133 The City University of New York New York, Estados Unidos

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How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative Hernández(v1).qxd 12/10/05 3:38 PM Page 112

CENTRO Journal

Volume7 xv1i Number 2 fall 2005

Painting liberation: 1998 and its pivotal role in the formation of a new Boricua political art movement

YASMÍN HERNÁNDEZ

ABSTRACT

In the 1990’s, identity-driven art was celebrated as multiculturalism and political correctness became the new trends. During this period, identity was weighing most heavily on the minds of Puerto Ricans as the year 1998 marked a full century of U.S. political domination over Puerto Rico. Consequently, a group of artists went well beyond the identity question by developing a new form of liberation art to explicitly denounce colonialism. This essay focuses on the young artists, working in New York and Philadelphia primarily, who worked both individually and within creative collectives to cultivate radical approaches to a new Boricua political art movement. It discusses the development of such visual art and multidisciplinary initiatives and how they have gained significant momentum since 1998 to assert themselves unapologetically in the new millennium as they continue to work towards an independent Puerto Rico. [Key words: Art, nationalism, graffiti, murals, Puerto Rican, Boricua]

El pesar y orgullo de la revolucionaria (2004) Yasmín Hernández Mixed media on canvas, 48" x 24" Reprinted, by permission, from Yasmín Hernández.

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¡Hasta tanto Puerto Rico no sea libre, soberana e independiente—ni con fiel autoridad alguien—nadie tiene ningún autoridad en Puerto Rico. Ni jueces, ni fíncales, ni policía, ni gobernadores, ni ningún charlatán en Puerto Rico! PEDRO ALBIZU CAMPOS

Pedro’s got a pipe bomb Set for the Fourth of July A detonator slow fuse Loisaida high FROM “PEDRO’S GRAVE” BY RICANSTRUCTION, LIBERATION DAY (1998, CBGB RECORDS)

1898 — 1998 (07/24/98). Ricanstruction graffiti. Park Avenue, East Harlem. The above quote and lyrics serve as the State of the Union), Elizam’s sculpture opening to the album Liberation Day by was a statement against colonialism. assert themselves unapologetically in the Images of invasion the New York-based, Puerto Rican Punk But instead of promoting statehood, new millennium. Although I will mostly band Ricanstruction. On July 25th, 1998, it prompted viewers to consider highlight the work of visual artists, For over five hundred years we the songs of that album set the tone for independence as the true liberation the mentioning of those working in have had no control over our the pro-independence rally at the United from the political limbo and economic other disciplines is inevitable. Looking at identity, over our destiny Nations in New York during a live dependency that characterize the previous generations, we find various A colony to imperialist performance where I first heard their “Free Associated State.” The work carried examples of pioneering visual artists like music. The prior evening, Philadelphia a political charge unlike any other, since Lorenzo Homar and Rafael Tufiño, who countries which caused celebrated the opening of Taller Elizam created his piece behind U.S. have taken interdisciplinary approaches destruction everywhere Puertorriqueño’s Ame-Rican Borders federal prison walls, while serving a to address the survival and future of for the love of money and in exhibition, for which I created an sentence for seditious conspiracy— Puerto Rican culture. By creating and the monopolizing of resources installation entitled Independence Day. the result of being a freedom fighter actively participating in projects such as That event was held in conjunction with for Puerto Rico. His presence in the CAP (Centro de Arte Puertorriqueño) anywhere the Parranda de Libertad, which the teen exhibition served as both inspiration and and DIVEDCO (División de Educación Therefore our independence participants of Taller’s Youth Artist a warning of what could be the fate of de la Comunidad) literature, lyrics, and can in no way be tied to Program had marched through the one who openly supports the liberation music were combined with the visual arts citizenship streets of North Philadelphia. of Puerto Rico. Yet there are those who to reaffirm our identity as Puerto Ricans “Liberation,” “Libertad,” and continue to take such risks. in the wake of the new Free Associated “Independence” were the shouts of This essay focuses on the young artists State status that perpetuated a political, Fuck a free association Boricua youth confronting the brutal working in New York and Philadelphia and therefore cultural, tie to the United relationship! realities of their identity in the wake of primarily, whose art explicitly advocates States. We see samples of such projects the centennial of the U.S. invasion of for independence. I do not write as an in the Homar/Tufiño collaboration on the Why would we want our Puerto Rico. observer, but as a participant who Plenas series, a portfolio of prints that children to be a part of such a As Elizam Escobar proclaimed with his developed as a political artist within a illustrated the stories told in popular barbaric nation? flag cake sculpture in the Ame-Rican movement of young, creative Puerto plenas and juxtaposed these with their In 1898 the u.s. condemned Borders exhibit: “You can’t have your Ricans who, in light of 1998, bombarded respective song lyrics. Another sample cake and eat it too!” In the tradition of the system with images that affirmed our is found in Tufiño’s illustrations of the our fate liberation art, our creativity became a nationhood. This paper will present some poetry of Luis Palés Matos (who was born And we’ve become keepers to vehicle with which to individually and of the artists and creative initiatives that in 1898). As with previous generations, hell’s gate collectively denounce our state of developed during this time and will visual art, poetry, and music continue to protector to the ill will america political limbo. With the birthday discuss how these have gained significant be inseparable. candles forming the number 51 (as in 51st momentum since the events of 1998 to creates

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On the front line of World War III provocative art. My first semester of art created during the 1898 Spanish- resenting the “heroic” images A rook to america’s military in 1993 coincided with the Revelaciones: American War. Images of a vulnerable, celebrated in my public school Hispanic Art of Evanescence exhibit at the violated America morphed into textbooks was inevitable—especially strategy Johnson Museum on campus. The site- depictions of an imperial Uncle Sam books that relegated the African- specific installations created by Latino nursing his new colonies or “babies,” American and American Indian —RAY RAMIREZ OF THE WELFARE POETS, and Latin American artists quickly as the caricatures suggest. In little contributions to a two-page spread. “THROUGH THE SHADOWS OF DEATH", became a platform on which racist more than a century, the U.S. had In response to the hypocrisies PROJECT BLUES ALBUM, 1999, BLUE students scribbled ethnic slurs and severely altered its views, abandoning presented in American political offensive slogans. These events served as its revolutionary colonialist identity to cartoons, the work of my own BFA REALITY RECORDS the catalyst for a three-day occupation of pursue the role of imperialist. As a thesis reconfigured history by Day Hall (the administrative building on Brooklyn-born and -raised Boricua, knocking American icons off their Poetry, music, and art set the stage for campus) led by Latino and African- I was too familiar with a romanticized pedestals and violating their sacred the cultural reawakening I would experience American students. It was in this same version of American history, decorated spaces with the heroes of Puerto as an undergraduate at Cornell University climate that Hector Rivera and Ray with lavish accounts of the Rico’s untold history. I replaced the in Ithaca, New York. Like many students Ramirez began the spoken word “courageous” Paul Revere and of the composition entitled The Bloody who find themselves away from home, performances that would grow to become “fearless” Rough Riders. My own Massacre by Paul Revere with the I experienced living away from my Puerto The Welfare Poets. It was there that Puerto Rican history was largely somber image of the Ponce Massacre Rican community of East New York, James De La Vega began his explorations obscured, hidden in library stacks. of 1937 (1997). The stately profile of Brooklyn, as a kind of exile. Not only was I of Taíno and West African symbols that Waiting for me to leave my fingerprints Abraham Lincoln on the face of a exiled in Ithaca; my whole existence in this would precede his Young Lords, Albizu in the dust of their jackets were racist penny was violated with the proud country was one of exile. Like Nuyorican Campos, and religious murals in his reports by the U.S. Committee of image of Don Pedro Albizu Campos. Poet Tato Laviera, as "hijos de una neighborhood of East Harlem. It was also Insular Possessions that supported In this Puerto Rican flag made of migración, pecado forzado,” other Boricuas then and there that I made my decision the subjugation of Puerto Rico and pennies I included the slogan, were too expressing the pain and rage of to begin mobilizing around the centennial its people. Buried were accounts of “Proclaim Your Emancipation,” colonialism and displacement in their work. of the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico. clandestine acts that secretly made linking the Puerto Rican and African- The tense, competitive climate of As part of my pre-thesis semester their way into select libraries with the American struggles-two nations within Cornell’s campus served as a breeding research, I compared political cartoons expectations that only a privileged few a nation. A century under U.S. rule ground for radical thought and of the American Revolution with those would come across them. Thus, required that I make a concerted effort

Grenades are Not Free (1999). Vagabond. East Harlem Mural. Proclaim Your Emancipations (1997).Yasmín Hernández. Mixed media on canvas 42" x 48". Reprinted, by permission, from Yasmín Hernández.

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to undo the effects of institutionalized stereotypes, underlining the Americanization campaigns by using my ways in which much remained art as a vehicle for Puerto Ricanization. Failure to do so would contribute to my unchanged. I was interested in own extinction. revealing to both Puerto Rican This sentiment is shared by many and U.S. audiences that in Boricuas, both in the states and in Puerto both subtle and overt ways, Rico, who were subjected to history lessons that glorified all things American we continue to reinforce racist while painting ours as an inferior culture. ideals and aggressive cultural As artists who recognized this dilemma, imperialist attitudes and resolution was found in our ability to policies. In bringing these work collectively to undo this cycle. I first discovered this while at Cornell, images to the surface, upon learning that Brooklyn-based deconstructing them while Puerto Rican artist Juan Sánchez would rearranging and ¿Cómo se dice boricua en inglés? (1998). Miguel Luciano. Acrylic on wood, 48" x 84". Reprinted, by permission, from Miguel be serving as a visiting lecturer. As an recontextualizing them, my Luciano. undergrad within an academic little humor to be found in this piece. date. In juxtaposing the year 1898 with environment that proved hostile to my interest was in creating It instead refers to the hundreds, if not the image of a Puerto Rican political nationalist imagery, I insisted on sitting strategies of resistance that thousands, of children who were prisoner, the artist transformed the mural in with the graduate students. took on these images for what persecuted in both Island and stateside into a call to action—a need to undo the Sánchez’s first slide presentation they were, in a sense, schools for speaking their language. transition of power secured by that incorporated images of Puerto Rican It speaks of the English court hearings military occupation. The work of Nationalists Lolita Lebrón and Albizu reclaiming them and then held by American judges in Puerto Rico Vagabond and his cohorts also included Campos. Here was an established visual sending them back as who, in a foreign language, sentenced the the spray painting of slogans like artist and professor who for a generation something different...and Island’s Nationalists to decades in U.S. “Libertad,” “1898–1998,” “Revolución,” before had already been reconfiguring shifting the colonial gaze back federal prisons. Miguel’s work examines and “Free Puerto Rico” on walls, American icons in his work. The American the complexities in the political, cultural, mailboxes, light poles, and any other bald eagle appeared inverted in several onto the viewer (Personal and economic influence that the United surfaces El Barrio had to offer. of his paintings and prints. Exposure to communication with Miguel Luciano). States has had on Puerto Rico since the These same artists/activists were also Juan’s work served as for more than an occupation of 1898. part of Ricanstruction who released the academic experience for me. It gave me Liberation Day CD in 1998. A network ¿Cómo se dice boricua license to develop and continue on a path In the painting, Reclaiming Boricua history: of musicians, activists, poets, writers, en inglés? that I had already begun. (1998), Luciano features an El Barrio/ East Harlem painters, graphic artists, graffiti artists, image of Uncle Sam that is very different Like many before us, another young The year 1898 became a rallying theme filmmakers, and producers, from the typical victorious images of this artist, Miguel Luciano, also found himself for young Boricua artists who disagreed Ricanstruction embodies the American icon. Here Uncle Sam is the turning to American icons and political with the political relationship between interdisciplinary nature of the political victim, under attack by a vejigante. cartoons in an effort to reconfigure the United States and Puerto Rico. In El Boricua art movement. Wearing the traditional coconut husk history as we know it. Barrio/East Harlem, “1898” was being In 1997, Vagabond and other members mask of Loíza, the vejigante carries in spray-painted on walls. In addition, it was of Ricanstruction joined forces with a his hand the very machete used by the I collected a lot of political being used as a signature on a series of youth organization known as the Puerto enslaved cane cutters whose West African cartoons from 1898 and murals that were part of a grassroots Rico Collective (PRC). The primary cultures gave birth to the vejigante visual campaign to bring to light the focus of the group was to mobilize the incorporated some of the tradition. Only in Luciano’s work, the colonial condition of Puerto Rico. “1898” community, particularly young folks, images into paintings and machete is not just a tool; it is a weapon was a graffiti tag for Puerto Rican and around the decolonization of Puerto threatening to slice the tongue out of other works in order to Jamaican artist Vagabond. With this Rico. For Vagabond and other Uncle Sam’s mouth. Its brightly colored compare these colonial signature, Vagabond attributed the ills Ricanstruction members, collaborating caricature depictions are 19th-century of the status quo to the U.S. invasion of with more young activists through the archetypes with contemporary American political cartoon meets 20th- Puerto Rico and its presence since that PRC facilitated the mural initiative. images that reinforced racist century animation, except there is very

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Having more bodies provided the of painting for the community, engaging necessary support for creating murals people, putting kids to paint, it worked!” “illegally,” or rather, without permission (Personal communication with Vagabond). from the owners of the walls. When These murals continue to provoke selecting walls, they sought ones which critical thought in the community. were unkempt and in poor condition— One in particular, on 105th street off of oftentimes the property of absentee 3rd Avenue, features the Puerto Rican and landlords who did not represent El Cuban flags merged, alongside portraits of Barrio’s community. The purpose of the Ernesto “Che” Guevara and Pedro Albizu murals was to bring a positive message Campos. The two monochromatic portraits to the people while helping to beautify are reminiscent of the graphic images of the streets of El Barrio. This effort, communist silkscreen posters and are according to the mural artists, did not juxtaposed with quotes by Che and Albizu. require “permission.” Moreover, asking The mural also features the famous quote of permission of an owner of private Puerto Rican revolutionary poet Lola Che and Albizu mural. Vagabond, Tato Torres. 105th Street, East Harlem. property went against Ricanstruction’s Rodríguez de Tío: “Cuba y Puerto Rico son anarchistic views. de un pájaro, las dos alas.” In the same spirit renounce colonialism. My work Boricua in New York City. Cinco Ricanstruction and PRC members demonstrated by Puerto Rican members of incorporated the same documents of my Graphics, named for 5th Street, the would meet to clean up garbage from East the Cuban Revolutionary Party in New research that revealed the hypocrisies central Latino commerce hub of El Harlem lots and prime walls in preparation York, who a century earlier had designed the and discrepancies in American history- Barrio, expanded into a two-building for new murals. As the artists painted a Puerto Rican flag to express nationhood and juxtaposing images of nationhood with cultural arts center. Today Taller wall, Ricanstruction musicians would play solidarity between the two colonies, these the very words that inspired them. Puertorriqueño, Inc., includes an congas to gather a crowd. This assembly of young artists in El Barrio were summoning This melding of my political ideologies archive on Puerto Ricans in the young activists was also an opportunity to that solidarity to demand freedom yet again. with my visual language demanded that, Delaware Valley, a bilingual share information with community Only this time the imperialist was not Spain, upon graduating, I needed to immerse bookstore/ artesanía shop, members, which they did via flyer and it was the United States. myself in my culture and art, an art gallery, an education center pamphlet distribution. Vagabond explains As for the portrayal of these three contemplating strategies of resisting offering summer and after-school that such gatherings would serve to keep revolutionaries who supported the colonialism and spreading awareness cultural arts programming for the police away. An event involving flyer independence of Puerto Rico, fellow about the impending centennial. children and youth as well as public distribution, music, dancing, and the PRC member and mural collaborator, This path led me to Taller Puertorriqueño programs for the greater community. installation of a mural seemed too Carlos “Tato” Torres explains, “Patriotic in El Barrio/ North Philadelphia. During my time with the Youth organized for the police to assume that it and Nationalist imagery have been a part Stepping into the lobby of its Artist Program I made sure to expand was spontaneous or, even worse, “illegal.” of my artistic expression from an early education building for the first time in it beyond its two-year art portfolio- However, in one particular instance, age.…Some of my earliest memories 1997, I was greeted by Dennis Mario building focus to include an activist cops did become suspicious and began to include watching my uncle paint a mural Rivera’s life-sized wood-cut print, Don training component focusing on circulate the area where the young of Betances over a Lares flag and one of Pedro y los pitirres (1982), an HIV/AIDS, homophobia, cultural activists were working. Seeing a potential Don Pedro yelling.... Those two images experience confirming that I had identity, educational equality, racism, police intervention, the crowd that had and their powerful symbolism were arrived at the right place. With my and colonialism. My goal was not only gathered began yelling at the police to go imprinted into everything I ever did, relocation to Philadelphia, I served as to build technical proficiency in the away. For Vagabond, this represented a including my art” (Personal director of the Youth Artist Program aspiring teen artists, but also to introduce turning point as these activities graduated communication with Carlos Torres). (YAP) at Taller Puertorriqueño and them to the empowering element of art from being youth-organized to a situation quickly became part of an intimate, and its capacity for community building in which community members officially El Barrio/ North Philadelphia thriving Latino artist community. YAP and organizing. Whereas I served as a recognized the young artists as As with Carlos Torres, symbols of was a recreation of the original element mentor to the youth, leaders in the representing their cultural heritage and Puerto Rican nationalism dominated my that conceived what was to become Taller Philadelphia cultural arts community pride and therefore sought to protect art. My BFA thesis became a forum for Puertorriqueño, Inc. Cinco Graphics such as Johnny Irizarry (who served as them. Reflecting on this event, Vagabond me to diligently formulate my own visual was a print workshop that trained new Taller’s Director for 12 years) provided states, “That’s when I knew I had language and combine it with a political young artists in the community, much me with a strong foundation to grow as succeeded. The idea we had come up with content that would unapologetically like the CAP in Puerto Rico and Taller an artist and activist.

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displayed behind a velvet rope like the from the industrial plants erected ones I had seen at the Old City throughout the Island, museums. This velvet rope barricade or it might be a reference to provided a sense of legitimacy in the militarization, since both transformed presentation of an historical event in Puerto Rico after the U.S occupation. Puerto Rico’s struggle for In her right hand, the justice scales independence, similar to the way velvet balance plátanos with U.S. currency. ropes and alarms protect the precious The plátanos tip the scale as if to documents and artworks immortalizing demand that we remain loyal to our own the revolutions of 1776. Another piece traditions and culture and have resisted included in this installation, You Want the trappings of American capitalism. Who?, featured an inverted portrait of The machete in her left hand and the Uncle Sam from the famous “We Want pava and plátanos at her feet represent You” war posters. This image served to the symbol of national pride, el jíbaro,

Parranda de Libertad (07/24/98), Youth Artist Program,Taller Puertorriqueño, North Philadelphia. denounce the stipulations of the 1917 but also speak to the former, thriving Reprinted, by permission, from Youth Artist Program. Jones Bill, which made Puerto Ricans agricultural economy, which was U.S. citizens. Consequently, You Want replaced by an industrial one that served Pedro’s got a pipe bomb set for the country pays homage to the revolution Who? was a statement against the draft the needs of American businessmen. Fourth of July that resulted in its founding. of Puerto Ricans into World War I, As icons, our crops and our jíbaro Overwhelmingly, I felt the weight and every U.S. war thereafter, despite became romanticized, as they only exist Ayer cuando yo dormí en la of not being able to celebrate an the Islanders’ continued inability to in the past, obscured by Americanization. madrugada independence day for Puerto Rico. participate in presidential elections. Again with this tradition of recreating This all began to feed the concept En un sueño que yo tuve Surrounding the painting were images American icons, the colonized takes on behind my installation for Taller’s of American political cartoons that put the language of the colonizer, subverting pude ver exhibit that summer, Ame-Rican Que mi islita era libre y Borders: Artists Ponder the 100 Years the Uncle Sam image into a greater it for their own liberation purposes. visual context as the poster child for soberana y la fuerza Since the U.S. Invasion of Puerto Rico. imperialism. Again, as in the work of my Rallying for liberation For the exhibition, I chose to Americana se alejo de BFA thesis, I subverted the traditional recreate a gallery scene from one of presentation of American icons to allow When Pedro died Borinquen those typical Old City Society Hill a platform on which to present a Puerto Que mi islita era libre y Colonial District museums in an The sanctified Rican history that is largely obscure. soberana y la fuerza installation that would be dedicated Lolita and Boricua pride Also subverting the images of to the future liberation of Puerto Rico, Americana se alejo de American icons around this time was As Lares screamed and thus titled the work Independence Tania M. Frontera, who divides her time Utuado dreamed Borinquen Day (1998). The title piece, inspired between New York City and Puerto by 19th-century history paintings, And presidents and preachers Rico. The artist states, “I always look depicted the scene of the arrest after schemed —EXCERPT, “EL SUEÑO”, BOMBA LYRICS into history—more specifically our the 1954 Nationalist attack on the BY VICTOR VELEZ history as Puerto Ricans and a colonized Of land and liberty House of Representatives led by Lolita nation—to react and create some work. And country tis of thee Lebrón. The capitol building was Much of the creative inspiration During 1998, I was working on my glazed in the stripes and the sole star The selfish satisfied I received in the summer of 1998 interpretation of the Justice Lady [or] of the Puerto Rican flag with the A nation would rise— came from living within blocks of La dama de la justicia puertorriqueña as inverted texts of the U.S. Constitution Independence Hall and the Liberty I viewed [her]” (Personal and the U.S. Declaration of RICANSTRUCTION, EXCERPT “PEDRO’S Bell. As the 4th of July approached, communication with Tania M. Frontera). Independence collaged in the GRAVE”, LIBERATION DAY CD, 1998, CBGB Philadelphia became a celebratory In one of her digital images of La dama background and foreground, shrine to United States’ Independence. de la justicia puertorriqueña, a woman is RECORDS respectively. The painting was Out of curiosity, I began to participate seen wearing a gas mask, with the presented under buntings bearing the in tourist activities, visiting historical Puerto Rican flag as her gown. Perhaps colors of the Puerto Rican flag and was museums to observe how a sovereign the gas mask refers to the pollution

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The resounding impact of the image in troops and their general, Nelson Miles, sociopolitical movements continues to landed in 1898) and in Washington D.C. for encourage artists to use their talent to the freedom of the Puerto Rican Political evoke radical thought and action. As with Prisoners. In addition, the Pedro Albizu my own research of U.S. war posters, in Campos Museum in Chicago had New York City Vagabond (the artist who organized Images of Invasion, a traveling used “1898” as a tag) had been studying exhibition featuring a collection of flags the same images along with Communist by Ramón López, Juan Sánchez, and then and Socialist propaganda posters. political prisoner Elizam Escobar that This research was part of the process to analyzed our history and political design a poster that would draw attention relationship with the U.S. The Philadelphia to the pro-independence centennial Chapter of the National Committee to commemoration rally being organized Free the Puerto Rican Political Prisoners at the United Nations by the Comité and Prisoners of War (Comité Nacional) Puerto Rico ‘98. Its design and content arranged to bring the works to Philadelphia had to be explicit in order to emphasize for an exhibition at Taller Puertorriqueño. the political intent of this demonstration. These works served as motivation for the The caption was taken directly from the youth who were also organizing at Taller. slogans Vagabond and fellow The entire YAP summer program of East Harlem mural. Vagabond. Ricanstruction members had tagged in 1998 was centered on the commemoration. the streets of East Harlem: “Free Puerto Students participated in workshops on were deeply moved by Ana María García’s work, and the other was a personal Rico!” With this slogan anyone who Puerto Rican history and culture. documentary, La operación, on the massive comment book that would be sent to agreed to attend the rally after viewing The Spiral Q Puppet Theater, was brought sterilization campaigns launched on Freedom Fighter Elizam Escobar at the the poster knew that they were in for a special collaboration to help the Puerto Rican women. Some of the teens Oklahoma Federal Prison, where he was supporting a pro-independence event. teens organize an art pageant/ parade dressed as vejigantes since the commem- serving a sedition sentence. That book In addition, as in the mission of the scheduled for the eve of the centennial. oration date also coincided with the and an appearance by his son Eli were Puerto Rico Collective, there was a Together, the youth participants designed Festival de Santiago Apóstol in Loíza. testament to his profoundly felt absence particular interest in formulating a new the concepts for the artwork that would be Other youth participants walked on stilts at the reception. generation of freedom fighters, and so included in the parade and chose its title, while the remaining students painted Taíno The next morning several of the YAP the poster had to successfully attract La parranda de libertad. La parranda was symbols and Puerto Rican and Lares flags students boarded buses to Washington DC youth to this rally. The image consisted led, as in true parranda fashion, by on the faces of younger children from the with Comité Nacional to demand the of a large Boricua flag onto which the Philadelphia’s Los Pleneros del Batey. community. The parade advanced on its release of the political prisoners. I followed artist had superimposed the silhouettes The parade included a combination of course through the residential streets Vagabond’s poster and boarded a train to of young people standing as a united overtly politically charged works, such as surrounding Taller Puertorriqueño and New York City to “Free Puerto Rico.” front. Beneath the image is another a ten-foot wide wooden structure of the ended in the community garden next door It was the morning of July 25th, 1998. slogan that reads, “The time has come to Puerto Rican flag behind bars and the faces to Taller’s Bookstore and Gallery building, make a stand!” The Comité raised funds of the political prisoners within the star, where the crowd gathered for more music, La lucha continua to print thousands of these images on as well as more subtle religious images that testimonials, poetry, and a performance by postcards and posters, which had a wide allegorically tied in to the theme of Puerto New York’s The Welfare Poets. Meanwhile, All I have to do to keep circulation and even reached my office in Rican nationhood. The latter was the opening reception for the AmeRican working is assume that Puerto Philadelphia, where I had it on display represented by a huge yellow cross with Borders exhibit was taking place upstairs, Rico will not be free in my long before ever having met Vagabond. the Puerto Rican flag draped over it, featuring over a dozen local artists as well In the lower left-hand corner, Vagabond symbolizing both crucifixion and sacrifice. as works from the permanent collection lifetime. That way I won’t be signed the image with his graffiti alias, Equally provocative was a brightly painted that dealt with the status issue. let down if it’s not free in five “1898,” adding the final touch to a poster 12-foot tall puppet of Atabex, the Taíno As in many openings, not all artists were or ten years as I had hoped bateys promoting a protest on the centennial. fertility figure that appears in the present, but one artist’s absence resonated and won’t be discouraged from With the centennial date approaching, of the Caguana Ceremonial Park near greatly within the space. Two guest books news came of rallies also under way in Utuado, Puerto Rico. This figure was sat on a pedestal in the gallery, one for the continuing the work then. Guánica, (the site where the American designed by several girls in the class who visitors to write their comments on the —VAGABOND

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Sanitation Department by the Young transition of power were illegal. Lords a generation before, in 1998 these This resistance to U.S. authority is also artists were still struggling to keep their demonstrated by the Puerto Rican political streets clean and insert some of Puerto prisoners, who claim POW status and have Rico’s beauty into El Barrio, while always demanded hearings by an visually presenting a hidden segment international jury, refusing to accept any of our history for all to see. In essence, U.S. jurisdiction over their bodies and their Chief Seattle’s point was corroborated by homeland. For artists claiming anarchism the end result of the attempted anti- or Taíno communal codes as their driving Columbus mural. Private property kept force, the intent is the same and that is to his people’s history and his words off the resist U.S. authority over Puerto Rico. corner of 106th and Lexington. For DanOne independence is a The issue of private property is one that necessary step in Puerto Rico’s ability to is also contested by Bronx-born, take back its land and its resources. Having Philadelphia-based graffiti artist DanOne been dispossessed robs us from the very (Danny Polanco). Dan resents the term element that our native ancestors held as vandal, stating that vandals came from sacred—access to all of our land without Europe “to burn and destroy villages.” the restraints of private property. Helping Machetero mural, East Harlem. Vagabond. He describes the rage he feels walking formulate this ideology was an experience July 25th, 1998, came and went without outdoor space where community through the streets of El Barrio in Dan had while working in Brooklyn. any change in Puerto Rico’s status. residents could gather just like in the Philadelphia, named after such “vandals.” In befriending some Haudenosaunee Although the moment was ripe for young, plazas of Puerto Rico. However, instead For Dan, tagging up your name as a graffiti (Iroquois) folks there, out of respect to energetic artists/ activists to become of a cathedral or a ceiba tree, the claiming artist should be no more of a crime than them, he asked permission to paint on jaded, it was understood that the struggle of la plaza was to be marked with the someone claiming a street or avenue with their walls. They responded, “We don’t and work would continue. Miguel Luciano installation of an anti-Columbus mural his or her name on a sign. If these street own the land, we’re just the caretakers.” recalls, “I think the 1998 date was a featuring Taíno images. It was October of signs represent someone staking a claim, With his graffiti pieces, DanOne symbolic time, but didn’t anticipate 1998, and the commemoration had come then that is what graffiti artists intend to pays homage to the Taíno people and significant change … on or after this date and gone with our status unaffected. do with their work: mark their streets as their spiritual heritage. His name particularly. It was midway through the The discourse was to continue, however, home. With this approach, Dan’s politics “DAN” is presented in the shape of a Rossello administration’s second term and through a visual celebration of Boriken’s mirror the anarchistic views of Rican- pyramid, with intersections of lines they were leading the most corrupt pro- indigenous heritage as a statement struction that kept them from ever asking and strokes of color that make up its statehood administration in the history against the atrocities and the for permission to paint on a wall. However, letters in a technique he equates to of Puerto Rico. The contrasts and colonization that followed after when asked if he believes in anarchism, “engineering.” These pieces are contradictions were as extreme as ever Columbus’ voyages. The Taíno images Dan frowns upon the term saying, “I don’t constructed in the form of a Taíno and the fever continues today. The work were to be accompanied by an excerpt like that word; that’s a European term. three-pointer cemí. On either side one continues” (Personal communication with of Chief Seattle’s thoughts of the buying I practice the same communal codes that can see the profiles of a face and legs Miguel Luciano). and selling of land: “How can you buy the Taíno people did long before the arrival respectively, as in the pre-Columbian Part of the continuing struggle is or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? of the Europeans.” It may just be a matter anthropomorphic figures. This incor- the need to challenge displacement, The idea is strange to us.” of labels, but there is still a resistance poration of the cemí runs parallel to secure our position within our Ironically the attempt at this Boricua towards U.S. authority. This is the same the artist’s appreciation of Native communities, build these communities plaza failed because bank employees and resistance that was demonstrated by Pedro American and African spiritual systems. and their resources, and develop vehicles co-op residents, representing the owners Albizu Campos proclaiming that the 1898 The mound of earth, which is to preserve and promote our Puerto of the chosen wall space, forced the Treaty of Paris (that ended the Spanish- represented by the sacred cemí, Rican idiosyncrasies. A few months artists to quit midway into the project. American War and ceded Puerto Rico to is associated with the supreme deity after the centennial commemoration, It didn’t matter that the wall had been in the U.S.) was illegal, right along with the Yucayú (spirit of cassava) and was Ricanstruction members decided that poor condition prior to being carefully U.S. occupation. Citing the two countries’ thought to help in the production the wide corner of 106th Street and primed by the young artists at their own failure to consult with the autonomous of yuca crops (Rouse 1992: 118). Lexington Avenue would be the perfect expense. As with the collective street government of Puerto Rico, Albizu Therefore it also associated with site for a plaza. The idea was to have an clean-up initiatives and the protest of the maintained that the occupation and fertility and the feminine as

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Here Dan refers to the stylistic, spring of 1999 for the teens of North interlocking letters of graffiti text that Philadelphia on the issue of Puerto comprise this code. Those who exist Rico’s political status. They combined outside of, and who look down on, the an exhibit of their own works with barrios not only find graffiti to be presentations by teachers, artists, difficult to decipher, they dismiss historians, poets, and musicians that graffiti as a manifestation of ghetto served as a daylong multidisciplinary life and therefore do not take interest teach-in. Also that spring, YAP in its message. This outside resistance, students and I took a trip to Brooklyn, coupled with the stylistic reinvention where Juan Sánchez was gracious of graffiti by each new generation, enough to allow 25 of us into his studio anchors it as the foremost secret code space. The young people who had of urban youth. In the case of graffiti admired his works at Taller were now as liberation art, the code is combined given the opportunity to see them up with a visual record of our cultural close and discuss the narratives experience. This makes it even more presented in Juan’s work. subversive as it challenges the effects After I returned to New York City of Americanization that encourage us permanently, DanOne became YAP’s to abandon our history and ethnic new director. Among his many identity in order to assimilate into the contributions was the development of mainstream American culture. Thus, a mural component for the program. utilizing ethnic symbols like the cemí, With sponsorship from the Mural Arts in addition to being an act of cultural Program—which ironically began as affirmation, becomes a political one. The Anti-Graffiti Network but now “To use that symbol is to stamp it in supports the art of a radical graffiti their face: We know who we are! [We] artist—Dan guided the teens in the managed to take your language, flip it on creation of a highly captivating mural you into a new dialect to communicate of Don Pedro Albizu Campos on 5th with [our] people. But the only one who Street, two blocks south of Taller. In can’t read it is you, cause you’ll never true Philadelphia tradition, a granite understand it” (Personal communication mosaic makes up the Nationalist Los cuatro vientos (2000). DanOne and YAP. Mural, 5th Street, North Philadelphia. with Dan Polanco). leader’s face and clenched fists, which The respect that Dan’s work shimmer in the sunlight. His portrait represented by Yucayú’s mother, Atabex. Communication is a threat. generates in the North Philadelphia is layered over the Puerto Rican flag. Paying homage to the feminine is Press, phone calls, Internet community makes him an inspiration As in DanOne’s other works, Taíno paramount in Dan’s attempt to reclaim to the youth who see themselves references are once again employed our roots as he feels the reverence of usage, these things are all monitored. Graffiti can’t be reflected in his pieces. As an alumnus with a mosaic inspired by the symbol goddesses was lost with the imposition of the Cinco Graphics Program in the for el juracán at each corner of the of Western religion on African and monitored cause they don’t early stages of Taller Puertorriqueño, mural, serving as the inspiration for Native faith systems. know the code. Every Dan became a mentor and resident the title of the piece: Los cuatro As with the other artists included in artist for the teen participants of the vientos. To the right is yet another this essay, Dan prioritizes this urgency in generation mutates it, takes it to the next level. It’s the Youth Artist Program. His role would mosaic, shaped like the island of reclaiming and recording our own history. become more prominent in developing Vieques with the graffiti text “Paz Para In graffiti, the process of documenting hidden code of the street the artist/ activist component of YAP. Vieques” over the image. The teens the relationship of art and word is taken (Personal communication with Dan Realizing that the work did not end chose to work with the figure of to the next level. As Dan puts it, the Polanco). with the passing of the centennial Albizu after learning about his life and graffiti subway style of writing that he date, the same YAP students who had work. They were inspired by the fact identifies with, encompasses what he created La parranda de libertad went that he left Puerto Rico to study at the describes as an “encrypted code.” on to organize a youth forum in the University of Vermont and then

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Harvard, but when he was offered pardons came with very strict conditions, lucrative jobs in the states, he felt and in essence our freedom fighters were compelled to return to struggle for the not fully freed. In fact, even with uncon- liberation of the island. The YAP teens ditional pardons, they would not consider of El Barrio identified with this themselves free since their freedom is revolutionary leader of humble origins. synonymous with the liberation of Puerto Artworks of this movement and organ- Rico. In addition, Oscar López Rivera, izations such as Taller Puertorriqueño Haydee Beltrán, and Carlos Alberto continue to promote self-knowledge in Torres still remain behind bars, along our youth and instill a great sense of with several of the Vieques pride, both of which are paramount in demonstrators. As for Vieques, it is in the effort to undo the cycles of need of much rebuilding and will require colonialism. As with Albizu’s penetrating generations of healing for its ecosystem. voice, and incendiary politics, the Cuatro Perhaps having served witness to the vientos mural continues to command passing of the first centennial has made respect and attention from all who walk us realize that a bicentennial under the Dan cemí (1999). DanOne. Mural, North Philadelphia. or drive past it. same political limbo could occur. As if to prevent that in every way imaginable, His own cut, pasted, layered, and torn Lolita Lebrón nude. Enraged by P’alante in the new century: Resisting song lyrics become more explicit, poetry urban wall aesthetic brings visual life to comments about Lolita’s gender that a bicentennial commemoration more provocative, and images the band’s urban graffiti and punk attempt to confine women to two roles, unapologetic. In the 1999 CD Project vernaculars resulting in a collage that mother and lover, I recreated her profile Se trata de una crónica de Blues by The Welfare Poets, Juan Sánchez is part barrio streets, part CBGB wall. at the time of her arrest. She is presented migración y reconstrucción de juxtaposes the faces of Pedro Albizu Again these interdisciplinary nude to force the voyeurs to confront identidades... se trata de un Campos and Malcolm X with those of collaborations allow artists to pool their their own ignorance and to challenge the Lolita Lebrón and Assata Shakur—all of talents to most effectively convey the shock that resonated throughout the cuento callejero donde hay whom expressed no subtleties in their messages for liberation. Vagabond is an world when everyone learned that it had dioses y asesinos. Cárceles, approach towards liberation. In the 2004 interdisciplinary artist who makes graphic been a young woman who had led that enfermedades y verjas. Ricanstruction CD, Love+Revolution, work, graffiti, paintings, and films; his attack. The prison bars glazed over her Centenario dolor de colonia. Juan Sánchez again lends his support to 2004 film Machetero combines music, nude skin recall the abuse she and younger artists, creating the cover art. text, and the moving image to chronicle countless other female freedom fighters Pero también grito de la visión In a masterful six-panel collage, the artist the development of a homeless youth into have endured as the oppressor converts nueva: los puertorriqueños combines his beautifully torn manos a mentally and physically armed freedom our bodies into our own holding cells. pueden encontrarse a sí poderosas, pastel flowers, and white doves fighter. Viewers sympathizing with the Her portrait, enclosed in a collage of other mismos en el nuevo siglo y el with all things radical. Included in this U.S. definition of a terrorist will find it female revolutionaries of color, is titled El work are Machetero and FALN symbols, difficult to determine whether the more pesar y orgullo de la revolucionaria arte puede ser una de las a Palestinian flag, the chained foot of a dangerous threat in this film is (2004). luces que aclare el misterio del slave, Puerto Rican anarchofeminist represented by the character’s weapons The words pesar y orgullo convey the camino1 (López 1998: 4). Luisa Capetillo, and again Albizu and or his seamless knowledge of liberation very nature of this movement: sorrow for Malcolm X. With these collages, the struggles past and present. our present condition, yet pride for our Puerto Rican, African, and Palestinian As with Vagabond’s film Machetero, history and the conceptual nationhood Although the effects of the liberation struggles are presented side by recent work in this movement takes on we uphold despite the fact that we have commemoration protests were not felt side. Global acts of injustice are recorded a more confrontational approach, using been robbed of its political identity. immediately, the majority of the political in these panels with glimpses of light and shock value to provoke thought and As photographer and digital artist Tania prisoners, including Elizam Escobar, hope interspersed in the form of action. In an image that defies what my M. Frontera observes, “APuerto Rican came home in 1999, and the bombing on Sánchez’s flowers and doves and in the parents have taught me about respecting who defends and talks about [his or her] Vieques ceased in 2003. Although there is many revolutionary faces featured. In this my elders, another commemoration— culture, identity and history, specifically much to be celebrated in these accom- collaboration, Juan translates that of the 50th anniversary of the 1954 about our colonial status, is viewed as a plishments, the artist/activist community Ricanstruction’s politics and musical Nationalist attack on the House of terrorist in this nation” (Personal is savvy enough to recognize that those arrangements into a visual format. Representatives—compelled me to paint communication with Tania Frontera).

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seen in flames. The privilege to which only a few have access. As participants in this new Boricua background features— As with the initiatives of ©Ricandition, political art movement, we do not similar to my the former Puerto Rico Collective, subscribe to the myth that this Independence Day Ricanstruction and institutions like Taller situation persists because we lack the painting of 1998—the Puertorriqueño, Inc., our work must be ability to self-govern. We understand inverted text of the U.S. presented within grassroots vehicles that the debilitating effects of five centuries constitution. make it accessible to all levels of our of colonialism and seek to overturn Acknowledging that community. Now more than ever, it these with every stroke of a brush or what is deemed as an act becomes imperative to present our aerosol can until this colonial structure of “treason” by the messages explicitly, in an effort to has been successfully dismantled. United States is often an effectively compete with mass marketing Until then we will continue paint act of heroism or strategies and media manipulations that toward our liberation, providing nationalism for Puerto distract our communities (our youth in consolation for our wounded political Ricans, ©Ricandition, particular) from the real social burdens identity and inciting action. We have a new artist collective, that harm us. As illustrated in the made the conscious decision to debuted its campaign of examples presented in this paper, a key support the independence movement images rallying support component in creating and presenting and to use our art as a tool for for the remaining Puerto conscious art is the direct contact with liberation. Firm in our stance, Rican political prisoners. our people by working in the streets and/ and with nothing to hide, subtlety has The first images include or with community-based organizations. no place in our imagery. works by Carlos Alberto Torres and Oscar López 3( Rivera, two of the remaining political prisoners. ©Ricandition was conceived by artist Boricua Your Destiny is in Your Hands (1995). Juan Sánchez. © Juan Sánchez and © RICANdition 2005, political prisoner image campaign. Postcard design: Juan Sánchez Juan Sánchez as a ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and Zachary Fabri. Reprinted, by permission, from Juan Sánchez and Ricandition, Inc. collective that launches First I must acknowledge all artists who work to strengthen our collective spirit—artists Despite systematic repression of the on-going grassroots and are considered too radical for the mainstream. I would especially like to thank all independence movement through gag poster campaigns to spread awareness former and current YAP students, Ivan Gartner, Not4Prophet, Vagabond, Emily laws, COINTELPRO, imprisonment, on various issues impacting the Puerto "Resister" Fernández, DanOne, Miguel Luciano, Tania M. Frontera, Juan Sánchez (for and the torture of our prisoners and even Rican community. Juan, Miguel his sincerity and selfless nurturing of young artists), Johnny Irizarry (for bringing me to in the post 9/11 homeland security- Luciano, and I have organized to Taller and for your contagious passion), Elizam and Eli Escobar, Ramón López, Carlos obsessed U.S., Boricua political artists collect artist submissions and develop Torres, Hector Rivera, Ray Ramirez and The Welfare Poets, the former Philadelphia continue p’alante in their liberation art. educational texts that will accompany and Camden chapter members of Comité Nacional, and last but not least Yasmin Ramírez and Xavier Totti. This very sentiment inspired the each campaign. This first campaign was 2005 independent release of the 2nd produced on postcards for the purpose NOTES Welfare Poets album, Rhymes for of debuting at the Puerto Rican Day 1 These words were taken from Ramón López’s introduction to his pieces and those of Treason. This title speaks to their Parade where mass quantities of cards Juan Sánchez and Elizam Escobar, featured in the 1998 traveling exhibition, Images of commitment to use their poems/words with images and corresponding texts Invasion. This show was coordinated by López for The Pedro Albizu Campos Museum in to evoke nationalist sentiments and were distributed to our people. Chicago and was exhibited in the theater of Taller Puertorriqueño’s Education Building denounce colonialism and injustice. in the summer of 1998. Recognizing that such acts have been Conclusion historically viewed as “treason” in this Although American citizenship is REFERENCES country, they chose this as the title. promoted as a great advantage, Puerto Laviera, Tato. 1985. AmeRícan. Houston: Arte Público Press. For the album cover, I designed an Ricans continue to be among the poorest image of Don Pedro Albizu Campos in this nation. We are a people in crisis López, Ramón. 1998. ‘Imágenes de invasión/ Images of invasion: 1898–1998’. Que Ondeé screaming, the fire of his words and cannot lose sight of the fact that a Sola 26(4–5): 4. igniting the American flag, which is quality education continues to remain a Rouse, Irving. 1992. The Tainos. New Haven: Yale University Press

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