Above: Imna Arroyo, Yo soy / I Am, 2022, Medio mixto, 16´´ x 20´´
The Edwin Velázquez / Casa Silvana Curatorial Project dedicated to promoting contemporary Afro-Puerto Rican art presents the first group exhibition exclusively of Afro-Puerto Rican artists from Puerto Rico and its Diaspora.
The exhibition under the title “Trenzado Identidades” will be presented until May 12, 2023 at the Casa Escuté de Carolina Museum. It includes the participation of 30 prominent and emerging Afro-Puerto Rican artists currently living and working in Puerto Rico, the United States, Spain, and France who address issues of race, gender, and identity in the media of photography, painting, drawing, art digital, collage and engraving.
The participating artists are: Gabriela Ajlesha, Angelica Allen, Alvilda Sophia Anaya Alegría, Imna Arroyo, S.Damary Burgos, Ketsia Camacho Ramos, Maribel Canales Rosario, Brenda Cruz, Maritza Dávila Irizarry, Joyce De Jesús Martínez, Jorly Flores, Yasmín Hernández, Juanita Lanzo, Nitzayra Leonor, Deyaneira Lucero Maldonado, Sandra Martínez, Adriana Parrilla, Madeline Pimentel, Amber Robles Gordon, Brendamaris Rodríguez, Raysa Raquel, Alejandra Rosa, Femarie Rosario Disla, Ahisamar Antonia, Rachel Smith Sepúlveda, Brenda Torres Figueroa, Violeta Vani, Gabriela M. Vázquez Santiago, Estefanía Vallejo Santiago and Marcia X.
About the Curator
Edwin Velázquez Collazo, artist and curator member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA-USA), Founder and director of Casa Silvana, a rural space for the dissemination and promotion of contemporary Afro-Puerto Rican art, as well as the blog Black Art in Puerto Rico. He was the curator of the first collective exhibition of black artists in Puerto Rico under the title of Parenthesis: eight contemporary black artists in 1996 in addition to Parenthesis: 25 years later in the Afro Corridor, 2021; Other Voices: Current Afro-Puerto Rican Art, Museo Casa Escuté, 2021; Cimarronas: 12 black and Afro-descendant artists, Casa Escuté Museum, 2022; Afro-Identities in the East Room of the Arsenal of the Spanish Navy in La Puntilla, ICP for the Afro International Summit, 2022 and Afro Sur, Ramón Rivera Bermúdez Historical Museum, 2023.
The exhibition has been possible thanks to the support of the Maneuver program of the Center for Creative Economy (CEC) and the Mellon Foundation.
