Trenzando legados:
Homenaje a nuestras mujeres
Tocones, Loíza
2022 | Braiding Legacies: Homage to Our Women @ Loíza, P.R.
This mural pays tribute to the leaders of Tocones and previous generations of black Puerto Rican Women. The figures are braiding the younger generation, as a visual representation of the relationships of care and the ancestral knowledge that is transmitted through the act of braiding.
In the mural are featured members of the Community of Tocones: Community leader, Alicia Carrasquillo, Magali Velázquez, Dalia Ortíz, and girls from the neighborhood. The names of other important members of the community are written interwoven with the hair like Migdalia Salamán, Julia Belén Ferrer Osorio, and Adolfina Villanueva Osorio. We also honor and name other important black women who have cultivated Puerto Rican heritage. Some of the names written among them are: Celestina Cordero Molina, Dominga de la Cruz Becerril, and Awilda Sterling Duprey.
This concept connects to a series of illustrations made and published in 2020, a product of a series of online workshops that we offered during the pandemic. The act of braiding and relationships of care were some of the themes that stood out in conversations with women and femme people from Puerto Rico and Latin America. In recognition of the importance and power of these subjects, we had the opportunity to collaborate with the community of Tocones, in Loíza Puerto Rico, in the realization of this project. Community meetings informed the imagery of the mural, and we hosted a community painting session.
This mural was possible with the support of FRIDA Young Feminists fund and MAC en El Barrio, a Puerto Rico's Contemporary Art Museum sub-program,
Photography by Kelvin Rodríguez