Liberating Light

Liberating Light presents a selection of works from the collection of the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC), by La Vaughn Belle, Michael D. Linares and Daniel Lind Ramos. The exhibition reflects on the intergenerational, interdisciplinary, and ancestral ties that bind us as seen through contemporary Caribbean art video production by Afro descendent artists.

In Talegas de la memoria, Lind Ramos presents an allegory of the history and colonization of Puerto Rico starring the cultural expressions of Loíza. Filmed on a beach in Loíza, the video musically dramatizes the historical transformations that have taken place in Puerto Rico. Performed by characters linked to the popular performers of the Santiago Apóstol Festival, the festivities serve as a prism to interpret the world. Two accompanying sculptures are beacons that honor the keepers of culinary knowledge in Loíza. Becoming Wind and Current investigates the history of marronage of enslaved people who fled from the island of Saint Croix to Loíza, Puerto Rico in search of their freedom. Belle created the floating coconut installation seen in the video, which is inspired by the descriptions of the tribal marks borne by the enslaved included in advertisements seeking their return as property. The work is a poetic essay on the history of marronage and its implications today.

Both works dialogue with Linares' An Aleatory History of the Stick, which investigates the stick as the origin of metaphor in the history of humanity, establishing poetic connections in relation to the history of civilizations and their material culture. Nurtured by visual references that emanate from his studies and interest in art, anthropology and archaeology, the visual style of the video evokes Internet searches and how influences and knowledge coexist in the digital realm.