23 Feb Inside NEGRO/A/X: An Exhibition Curated Around The Afro-Boricuan Experience
Jade Robinson • Travel Noire
The NEGRO/A/X Art Exhibit, located in Piñones, Puerto Rico highlights twenty Afro-Puerto Rican artists. The neighborhood is filled with African descendants, making this Casa Afro exhibition the perfect location.
We sat with founder Marta Moreno Vega, curator Celso González and Communications Director Olga Chapman Rivera to talk about this exhibition, and the unapologetic Afro-Boricuan experience that defines Puerto Rico.
Travel Noire: What was the vision and mission behind NEGRO/A/X?
Celso González: The vision of the exhibit is to give an overview of the current Afro aesthetics developed on the island.
Marta Moreno Vega: NEGRO/A/X, unapologetically honors our Blackness, affirming that the African Diaspora is not only present and thriving, but an integral part of the cultural fabric of present-day Puerto Rico.
Travel Noire: How were the artists selected to showcase or create a piece for the exhibit?
Celso González: Regardless of age, gender, notoriety, or career accomplishment— we selected artists that include in their pieces, process, ideology and visual language, an original black aesthetic that represents our culture.
Travel Noire: What reaction do you hope to receive from visitors of the exhibit?
Celso González: We want excitement, pride, learning, and we want connection. We want them to see themselves, their lives and their journey represented in the pieces. We also want the audience to recognize and be proud of our heritage, and contributions of Afro Puerto Rican artists to the art scene, locally and internationally.
Travel Noire: How is Puerto Rico’s Afro-Latin history displayed in this exhibit?
Celso González: I believe that the exhibition speaks to many relevant topics; from our daily lifestyle to religion, and ancestral traditions giving the viewer a broader scope of who we are as Afro descendants.
Olga Chapman Rivera: The exhibit features over 7 females subjects, there is pain and earth, struggle, family, music, the ocean, color and nature— all the central topics of the local and historic experience of the Afro Caribbean and Afro Puerto Rican people.