Vaivén: 21st-Century Art of Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

Twenty—five years of creative expression from Puerto Rican artists working in Puerto Rico and across its U.S. diaspora

Connoting back and forth movement, the word vaivén is frequently used to describe the supposed ease with which Puerto Ricans travel between the United States and Puerto Rico. Not just physical but also psychological, this diasporic oscillation is inextricably linked to Puerto Rican heritage, and the fluidity between the two geographies is constant, complex, and profound.

A collaboration between the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota and Hidrante, San Juan, Vaivén: 21st—Century Art of Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora showcases the work of forty—three intergenerational artists working from Puerto Rico and its U.S. diaspora who explore the hybridity of memory, language, place, and ancestral knowledge as they relate to acts of witnessing, resistance, and kinship. Highlighting their many artistic genres and styles, this bilingual volume uplifts the cultural and political dynamism and shifting interpretations of home and belonging that are inherent to Puerto Rico amid the perpetual transnational migrations of its people.

Artists: Candida Alvarez, Genesis Báez, Sula Bermudez—Silverman, Ricardo Cabret, Melissa Calderón, Rodríguez Calero, Colectivo Moriviví, Nayda Collazo—Llorens, Gisela Colón, Cristina Córdova, David Antonio Cruz, Maritza Dávila—Irizarry, Larissa De Jesús Negrón, Ada del Pilar Ortiz, Estrella Esquilín, Mónica Félix, Cándida González, GeoVanna Gonzalez, Ivelisse Jiménez, Juanita Lanzo, Natalia Lassalle—Morillo, Olivia Levins Holden, Ricardo Levins Morales, Nora Maité Nieves, Héctor Méndez Caratini, Javier Orfón, Josué Pellot, Joey Quiñones, Wanda Raimundi—Ortiz, Elizabeth Robles, Amber Robles—Gordon, Jezabeth Roca González, Shellyne Rodriguez, Luis Rodríguez Rosario, Raúl Romero, G. Rosa—Rey, Juan Sánchez, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Amarise Deán Santo, Edra Soto, Bibiana Suárez, Nitza Tufiño, William Villalongo.

Contributors: Yomaira C. Figueroa—Vásquez, María Elena Ortiz, Carlos Ortiz Burgos, Monica Uszerowicz.