TLP Announces 2025 exhibition on Nuyorican and Diasporican Art

The Latinx Project at New York University announces the upcoming exhibition RicanVisions: Global Ancestralities and Embodied Futures featuring the work of nineteen emerging and established artists from the contemporary Diasporican and Nuyorican community. Activating galleries on the first and third floors of 20 Cooper Square, the exhibition launches with a public opening celebration on January 31 and closes on May 2, 2025.

The exhibition coincides with the publication of the forthcoming book Nuyorican and Diasporican Visual Art: A Critical Anthology (Duke University Press, January 2025) edited by Arlene Dávila and Yasmin Ramirez. More information on the book and its contributors can be found here. 

RicanVisions aims to continue to expand the canon of Diasporican visual art, bridging the past and present of contemporary art from the Puerto Rican diaspora. The exhibition includes emerging artists, some who are showing in New York City for the first time, as well as veteran artists overdue for recognition, such as Marina Gutiérrez and the abstract artist Evelyn López de Guzmán who are showcasing work that has never been exhibited before. Some of the artists were selected through their participation in the annual Artist-in-Residence open call at The Latinx Project. 

Artists featured in the exhibition are Manuel Acevedo, Armando Alleyne, Nayda Collazo-Llorens, Vyczie Dorado, Orlando Estrada, Marina Gutierrez, Lee Jiménez, Juanita Lanzo, Miguel Enrique Lastra, Evelyn López de Guzmán, Jacoub Reyes, David Rios Ferreira, Shey ‘Rí Acu’ Rivera Ríos, Keysha Rivera, Jorge Luis Rodríguez, G. Rosa-Rey, Angelina Ruiz, Tamara Torres, and Isaac Vazquez. The exhibition is the first curated in-house by The Latinx Project and reflects its largest curatorial effort to date.

The artworks underlie two specific concepts in the show: Global Ancestralities and Embodied Futures. Rather than present a historical survey, a number of the artists highlight the rich and varied histories of their communities, drawing on multiple knowledge systems and histories. They explore themes such as migration, identity, and intersectional heritages. Others draw on their personal narratives and memories to address the complexity of Diasporican life or envision alternative worldviews. They examine the crucial roles that the body and the family play in creating these future worlds. Altogether, their innovative and provocative works challenge and expand our understanding of the Puerto Rican experience and the diverse aesthetics and mediums through which contemporary artists are imagining future worlds. They look to the past to reimagine a decolonial future where we all flourish and thrive. 

Exhibition Curators & Catalog

RicanVisions: Global Ancestralities and Embodied Futures was curated by The Latinx Project curatorial team including Ana Hilda Figueroa de Jesús, Andrea Sofia Matos and Xavier Robles Armas. An accompanying catalog to be released in April 2025 features writing by Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé, Arlene Dávila, Jillian Hernandez, Xavier Robles Armas, Ana Hilda Figueroa de Jesús, Andrea Sofia Matos, Urayoán Noel, and Marlin Ramos.

Exhibition Organization

The exhibition is organized by The Latinx Project: Interdisciplinary Center for Arts and Culture.

Visit the Exhibition & Related Activities

RicanVisions is free and open to the public. Visiting hours are Tuesday to Friday, 11am to 5pm, at 20 Cooper Square (1st and 3rd floor galleries). Please check in at the 1st Floor Gallery for visitor access. Following the public exhibition opening on January 31, regular hours begin on February 4. Please email us at latinxproject@nyu.edu to schedule a group visit. All events are free and open to the public. 

Exhibition Opening

RicanVisions

January 31, 2025, 6:00-8:00pm

20 Cooper Square, 1st & 3rd Floor Galleries

Book Panel & Catalog Launch

Nuyorican & Diasporican Visual Art

April 9, 2025, 6:00-8:00pm

20 Cooper Square, 3rd Floor Lounge

Supporters

This exhibition is made possible with support from The Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the NYU Office of the Provost.

Curator Bios

Ana Hilda Figueroa de Jesús is a curator and art critic specializing in Caribbean, Latin American, and Latinx communities and focusing on memory, affect, and notions of tragedy/paradise in contemporary art. Currently a 2024-25 Intern for the Paintings & Sculptures department at the Museum of Modern Art, she has also collaborated with ArtNexus, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte at UPR, Reyes-Veray Collection, and Osvaldo Santiago Collection. She has received awards from the Museums Association of the Caribbean, International Association of Art Critics – Puerto Rico and Council of Library and Information Resources. Latest projects include researching The Esso Salon of Young Artists in Puerto Rico and “Remembering the Island of Enchantment.” Ana Hilda holds an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and an Advanced Certificate in Museum Studies from New York University (2024) and a BA in Art History from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus (2021).

Andrea Sofía Matos is a curator and arts administrator from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, specializing in contemporary art from the Caribbean and its diasporas. She is currently the Arts & Wellness Manager at Urban Health Plan, where she manages a social prescribing program that integrates the arts into healthcare. Recently, Andrea served as a Curatorial Research Fellow at Independent Curators International in New York City. Her latest curatorial projects include “I Come From a Place...", a group exhibition at Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Brooklyn (April 2024) and "BotanicÁrte," a group exhibition at Taller Boricua in Harlem (March 2024), celebrating artists as healers. She has collaborated with various organizations, including Puerto Rico Art News, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico, LnSGallery, The Margulies Collection, The Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA), and the Bronx Art Museum. She holds an MA in Visual Arts Administration from New York University (2024) and a BA in Art History and Photography from Florida International University (2021). 

Xavier Robles Armas is a multidisciplinary artist and curator with a focus on public space, photography, and how migration shapes architecture and the self in the U.S. He is currently the Events and Arts Manager at The Latinx Project, where he curated Tinkuy: Converging Ecologies (2023) and supported exhibitions including Re-collections (2024). A recent Independent Curators International Curatorial Seminar graduate and NALAC Leadership Institute Fellow (2024), Xavier has also been part of the inaugural cohort of Latinx curators in the A&L Berg Foundation’s Early Stage Arts Professionals program. He has held fellowships at the Queens Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. Xavier is pursuing an MA in Performance Studies at NYU, holds an MFA in Photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BA in Architectural Studies from Hampshire College. Born in Zacatecas, Mexico, Xavier lives in Queens, New York—by way of Santa Ana, California.

About The Latinx Project

The Latinx Project: Interdisciplinary Center for Arts and Culture explores and promotes U.S. Latinx art, culture and scholarship through creative and interdisciplinary programs that examine and highlight the multitude of Latinx identities. Established in 2018, the Latinx Project has become influential as the first Latinx art and culture focused, interdisciplinary center at an east coast research university. Learn more about the Latinx Project at its website. Follow @LatinxProjNYU on Instagram and X.