Curated by Ana-Hilda Figueroa de Jesús, Andrea Sofia Matos & Xavier Robles Armas
January 31 - May 2, 2025, at the 20 Cooper Square Gallery and 3rd Floor Gallery
Rejecting rigid definitions of Puerto Rican identities, RicanVisions: Global Ancestralities and Embodied Futures showcases the richness of contemporary Diasporican art. By elevating voices that have been historically marginalized, the exhibition creates a platform for artists to break free from conventional iconographies and narratives. It unites artists across generations—each innovating visually and thematically—contributing to the ever-evolving Diasporican canon.
Encompassing five decades, RicanVisions showcases the artistic range of nineteen artists with works made from the 1980s to the present day. Rather than providing a comprehensive survey, this exhibition captures key moments of artistic development and creative practice, intertwining historical narratives with forward-looking visions that challenge the boundaries of identity and expression.
RicanVisions challenges viewers to rethink both the historical frameworks of Puerto Rican art and its future trajectories. Some artists explore themes of migration, identity, gender, race, religion amongst other intersectional heritages. They draw on personal narratives and memory to complicate both the archive and dominant histories of Diasporican life. Other artists envision alternative worldviews and landscapes through works that convey joy, liberation, ecological and bodily freedoms.
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 new possibilities in making. In curating this exhibition with living artists, RicanVisions underscores the immediacy and relevance of their work—dynamic and vibrant. It celebrates the power of art to redefine our past, inform our present, and envision our future.
Selected Artists
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 ‘Ri Acu’ Rivera Ríos, Keysha Rivera, Jorge Luis Rodríguez, G. Rosa Rey, Angelina Ruiz, Tamara Torres, and Isaac Vazquez
Related Programming
About the Curators
Ana Hilda Figueroa de Jesús is a curator and art critic based between San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico and NYC. Focusing on Caribbean, Latin American, and Latinx communities, her research explores memory, affect, notions of tragedy/paradise and Contemporary art. She has collaborated with ArtNexus, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte at UPR, Smithsonian Institution, Reyes-Veray Collection, and Osvaldo Santiago Collection. Received awards from the Museums Association of the Caribbean, International Association of Art Critics – Puerto Rico and Council of Library and Information Resources. Recent research includes “The Esso Salon of Young Artists: Puerto Rico (1964)” 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.
Visitation
20 Cooper Square Gallery,
1st floor & 3rd floor
January 31 - May 2, 2025
Tuesday - Friday 11 a.m - 5 p.m
Supporters
RicanVisions is made possible with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the New York University Office of the Provost.