Puerto Rico is a melting pot of heritage. Inside churns a brew of African roots and Taino bones simmering in a Spanish broth. We now add tomatoes that were brought back to the island after years of toiling and harvesting in the fields of the US mainland.
All of these ingredients make up the flavor of modern-day Boricuas. Their flavor is served up worldwide mostly through music. Boricuas have savored the flavors of their art for years, devouring the paintings of Francisco Oller, Jose Campeche, and Miguel Pou.
Waves of migration have now spread the taste of our painting, sculptures, and prints to all parts of the US mainland and the world with exhibitions as far from Puerto Rico as Seoul, South Korea.
Tampa, Florida is one location where waves of Puerto Ricans ended up after being displaced by natural disasters and other socio-economic hardships. It is no wonder why the University of South Florida coordinated with Puerto Rican artists in Florida, New York, and Puerto Rico to put together an exhibition of Puerto Rican art at their Contemporary Art Museum (USF CAM).
“So the museum has been around since 1989 but we feature artists internationally and nationally,” explains Gillian Olortegui Fourth Year International Relations Student and Student Assistant at the USF CAM. She readily volunteered why this exhibit was significant.
“Constant Storm: Art from Puerto Rico and the Diaspora” is a compilation of paintings, photographs, sculpture, video, interpretative art, and studies that tell the story of the Puerto Rican migratory wave that happened as a result of the impacts that Hurricanes Maria and Iris had in conjunction with the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic.
The public can explore five different areas of the museum where they can see the works of art up close and personal. While there are traditional paintings and poster art, the exhibit also features performance and video artwork. “One of my personal favorites is actually the one in the hallway; It’s a for video installation and they all kind of sync up with each other, so it’s like four separate storylines and they converge and diverge,” says Olortegui with excitement.
While talking about intangible art, the student assistant also pointed out the investigation work contained in the symposium titled “Bregando with Disasters: Post Maria Realities and Resiliencies” which is posted on the exhibit’s website.
The Boricua en la Luna blog will soon feature a story dealing with recent Puerto Rican migratory patterns, what forces caused them to be displaced from their home, and in what direction they are headed. The page Olortegui pointed to contained case studies and interviews presented by Dr. Alessandra Rosa which provided insight into the very topics that this blog will be covering. In her conclusion, Alessandra Rosa’s study “highlights the importance of developing strategies that can promote not only resiliency but also mitigation and prevention of crises.”
In this respect, art strives not only to show how things were and currently are, but also how they can be. Exhibits like this one allow us to virtual taste the “Boricua melting pot.” Puerto Ricans will continue to add the ingredients of their experience to this pot and are responsible for how the “Puerto Rican cultural recipe” turns out in the future.
“Constant Storm: Art from Puerto Rico and the Diaspora” will be on display through December 4, 2021. The USF Contemporary Art Museum is open Monday through Wednesday and Friday from 10 am to 5 pm, even-numbered Thursdays from 10 am to 8 pm, and on Saturdays from 1 pm to 4 pm.