Entre Horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico is an interdisciplinary exhibition that seeks to recognize and critically examine the affinities between the social justice movements and the artistic genealogies of the Puerto Rican diaspora between Chicago and Puerto Rico from the 1960s to the present. It will feature painting, sculpture, photography, video, and other mediums by an intergenerational group of artists, alongside documentation of the social movements that advocated for the rights of these underrepresented communities. Anchoring the exhibition is the horizon line that connects Chicago with Puerto Rico, over Lake Michigan and Caribbean waters respectively, which is used as a metaphor to make connections across place and identity, visual art, and social justice.

The exhibition will also trace the emergence and expansion of Puerto Rican anticolonial activism and resistance starting with the Young Lords, which was founded in Chicago in the 1960s by José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez as part of broader movement of social justice groups advocating for civil rights in Chicago and around the country. It will also include documentation of important events and organizations, including the Division Street uprising and the unprecedented activism that founded the Puerto Rican Cultural Center. Entre Horizontes will include historic photographs and other ephemera that tell the story of the anticolonial resistance of the Puerto Rican community in Chicago.

This exhibition is organized by Marilyn and Larry Fields Curator Carla Acevedo-Yates.

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, New York, NY)
• 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)
• Angel 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)
• Edra Soto (b. 1971, Cupey, San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives in Chicago, IL)
• 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)
• 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)

Official Website

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Tags: Angel Otero, Arnaldo Roche Rabell, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Bibiana Suárez, Candida Alvarez, Carla Acevedo-Yates, Carlos Flores, Chicago, Edra Soto, Elizam Escobar, Entre Horizontes: Art and Activism Between Chicago and Puerto Rico, Frank Espada, Jose Lerma, Marisol Plard Narváez, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Near North Side, Nibia Pastrana Santiago, Nora Maité Nieves, Omar Velázquez, Rafael Ferrer, Ramón Miranda Beltrán, Sebastián Vallejo