entre horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico

About the Exhibition

entre horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico examines the artistic genealogies and social justice movements that connect Puerto Rico with Chicago. Featuring works by an intergenerational group of artists with ties to Chicago, the exhibition presents Puerto Rican painters who use printmaking techniques and approaches alongside artists who address social and political issues through their work.

The exhibition also centers Chicago as a city that for decades has championed national conversations on Puerto Rican self-determination and Latine issues, such as immigration and bilingual education. It features a selection of materials documenting the social movements and community organizations that advocated for the rights of underrepresented Latine communities, including historic photographs and other ephemera that tell the story of the anticolonial resistance and transcultural solidarities in the Puerto Rican community in Chicago. Starting with the Young Lords, which was founded in Chicago in the 1960s as part of broader national civil rights movements, entre horizontes includes documentation of the Division Street and Humboldt Park rebellions, the relentless advocacy for the liberation of Puerto Rican political prisoners, and the unprecedented activism of community members and grassroots organizations.

The title of the exhibition, entre horizontes (between horizons), draws on another point of connection between these two places. While geographically distinct, the horizon lines over the waters of Lake Michigan and the Caribbean appear as sites of memory and longing to Puerto Rican Chicagoans. By bridging these two horizons, the exhibition traces correspondences across not only visual art and social justice, but also place and identity.

entre horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico is curated by Carla Acevedo-Yates, Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator, with Iris Colburn, Curatorial Associate. The exhibition is designed by SKETCH | Johann Wolfschoon, Panamá.

Artists

• Candida Alvarez (b. 1955, Brooklyn, NY; lives in Chicago, IL, and Baroda, MI)
• Elizam Escobar (b. 1948, Ponce, Puerto Rico; d. 2021, Hato Rey, San Juan)
• Frank Espada (b. 1930 Utuado, Puerto Rico; d. 2014, Pacifica, CA)
• Rafael Ferrer (b. 1933, San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in Long Island, NY)
• Carlos Flores (b. 1949, Guayama, Puerto Rico. lives in Chicago, IL)
• José Lerma (b. 1971, Seville, Spain; lives in Chicago, IL, and San Juan, Puerto Rico)
• Ramón Miranda Beltrán (b. 1982, San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in San Juan)
• Nora Maité Nieves (b. 1980 San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in Brooklyn, NY)
• Ángel Otero (b. 1981, San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in New York, NY)
• nibia pastrana santiago (b. 1987, Caguas, Puerto Rico; lives in San Juan, Puerto Rico) with Eduardo Rosario (b. 1988, Caguas, Puerto Rico; lives in Los Angeles, CA)
• Marisol Plard Narváez (b. 1966, San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in San Juan)
• Arnaldo Roche Rabell (b. 1955, Santurce, Puerto Rico; d. 2018, San Juan, Puerto Rico)
• Beatriz Santiago Muñoz (b. 1972, San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in San Juan)
• Edra Soto (b. 1971, Cupey, San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in Chicago, IL)
• Bibiana Suárez (b. 1960, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico; lives in Chicago, IL)
• Sebastián Vallejo (b. 1982, San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in Austin, TX)
• Omar Velázquez (b. 1984, Isabela, Puerto Rico; lives in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and Chicago, IL)