A sobering exhibition on the portrayal of Puerto Ricans from past to present is now on display in Connecticut, the state home to the largest proportion of Boricuas.
The U.S. took over the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico in 1898. Some readers may find what was said about it by American media since then to be disturbing. But Hartford-based artist Pablo Delano wants viewers to confront it in his work, titled “The Museum of the Old Colony.”
“I'm asking people to look at this, to look at the exhibition,” he said.
Delano, a Puerto Rico native, blew up pages from the turn-of-the-20th-century book “Our Islands and Their People” to put on display. According to the Smithsonian Institute, the book sold more than 400,000 copies.
“It was a two-volume, huge set that the U.S. published in 1898 to celebrate their acquisition of all these colonies, not only Puerto Rico but Hawaii and Guam and the Philippines,” Delano explained.
The book’s black-and-white photos show normal scenes, like several adults and children standing outside a home with horses. The publisher’s caption reads: “The farming class is about on par with the poor darkies down South, and varies much, even in race and color, ranging from Spanish white trash to full-blooded Ethiopians.”
The examples of racism and exoticism don’t let up throughout the exhibit.
Another image shows a woman laying on a hospital bed as medical staff hoists up her newborn baby. The historical caption reads: “In the mountain town of Comerío, an illiterate countrywoman adds a boy to the crowded island.”
The more modern images show the mass sterilization of Boricua women in the latter half of the 20th century, the nationalists who hung a giant Puerto Rican flag from the Statue of Liberty in the ‘70s, and the aftermath of 2017 Hurricane Maria.
“This is not an easy exhibition. It's meant to challenge you and to make you think. There's nothing here that you'd want to put over your sofa I don't think, on purpose,” Delano said. “I will readily admit that the exhibition is a call to decolonize.”
One wall of the gallery is just a series of Boricuas waiting. Men wait to enlist in the U.S. Army to fight in World War II. Women are in line at a factory during the years of Operation Bootstrap, which aimed to attract U.S. industrial investment on the island through tax exemptions and cash grants starting in 1947. Hurricane Maria survivors wait for hours for a pump at a gas station.
“Because it's a work of art and it's not a historical exhibition, I can do things like this — like people waiting in line …You can find books about the diaspora, and you can find books about militarization,” Delano said. “I can’t find a book about people waiting in line, certainly not photo books or any history books.”
Food as a form of colonialism
Those born on the island might recognize the name of the exhibit from a popular beverage in Puerto Rico: Old Colony. The grape soda with a Revolutionary War soldier logo is made and sold in Puerto Rico.
“We grew up drinking this, and we never thought about the meaning of the name, right?” Delano said. “We don't have grapes, but what we do have is one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world, and this is filled with sugar — or corn syrup now.”
One can of Old Colony grape soda has 56 grams of added sugar. By comparison, grape flavored Fanta has 44 grams.
“So, it's kind of a sick joke,” Pablo said, “but humor is a necessary tool for surviving colonial oppression
Other popular nonperishable food items make appearances in the gallery, like corned beef and a can of export sodas, the crackers originally brought to the island by the U.S. military.
The Connecticut connection
The exhibit in its current form was first displayed in early 2016 at the Alice Yard art gallery in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Through the several international exhibitions since then, The Museum of the Old Colony has been updated with major historical events for Puerto Rico, like President Donald Trump’s infamous throwing of paper towels during a visit in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and the ousting of then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló.
Delano also customizes some pieces based on location. One case collects mostly Western movie-style depictions of what Puerto Rico’s Native people, the Taíno, may have looked like. But it also has, special to Connecticut, a box from New Britain's Borinquen Bakery. The local business is named after the Taíno’s original word for the island and has the Taíno sun deity as its logo.
In a heavier, modern section on government surveillance, Hartford native Victor Gerena, the never-found suspect in the ‘83 Wells Fargo robbery, can be spotted amongst the FBI’s most wanted. The heist scored Gerena and the Los Macheteros, a militantly pro-independence group in Puerto Rico, $7 million for the movement.
The Old Colony moves on
The Museum of the Old Colony is on display at the New Britain Museum of American Art through July 5, the day after the United States’ Independence Day.
Next, it moves to El Museo de Arte de São Paulo in Brazil. While Delano is honored to be featured in such a large, international museum, he says his ultimate goal is to take the “museum” home — not to his state of residence, but to the island.
“For me, it's very important — somehow and at some point — for this to be in Puerto Rico, even if it means that I donate it to the museum there,” Delano said. “El Museo de Arte Contemporáneo I think is doing amazing work and is where I think it belongs.”
