Portraiture as Activism- Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5QvmR-8Tes&feature=youtu.be

Fitchburg Art Museum

photo by Mark Teiwes

Nayda Cuevas Interview/podcast

Interview

https://soundcloud.com/user-693229167/nayda-cuevas-1

Puerto ameRican

My self published book is at the printers and will be available at the end of June 2017. Purchase will be made available soon, email me at naydacuevas@yahoo.com to be added to the list and receive a link to purchase.

The project as ben invited to showcase at the Abrazos Gallery at the Clemente Center in New York in the Winter, dates to be announced.

Puerto ameRican by Nayda A. Cuevas

What can I say about the Current state of the Beautiful place I was born, Puerto Rico? Many of us who have left the island may return to the island they once left as a child. Some do not return. I have been fortunate to visit every year, family and friends since I departed at the age of 10.

I call upon all my Puerto Ricans outside of the island and others to learn about Puerto Ricos’ history and relationship with the United States. I finally found my place in history and it’s a controversial history many outside of the island may be unaware of. Because if we were not taught in school or in our homes about this history, How else would we be aware of it?

My new Art project/ book will come out at time where people ask;

 What will happen to Puerto Rico? Statehood? Independence?

I think that before anyone can answer or give an opinion about this question people should read up on the long (100 years) of the political history between Puerto Rico and the USA.

Preview to my book Cover. COMING SOON!

Uncovering Suppressed Histories Between Puerto Rico and the US

As a child growing up, I only knew of a beautiful Puerto Rico, one with weekends spent at the beach of Dorado, hikes through El Yunque, and grandma’s cooking. I knew nothing of the dark history of the relationship between the United States and the island. Nor did I know that when, as an adult, I began looking into the tragic effects of that history on my very own family, I would be warned more than once to be careful who I spoke with and what use I made of the information I discovered. Apparently it could still be dangerous to look too closely into the events concerning the Nationalist in Puerto Rico.

It Wasn’t Our Choice: The Untold Histories Between Puerto Rico and the United States, Pop Up show by (me) Nayda Cuevas was an event that encouraged conversation about the creative process and journey that I embarked to uncover my family’s history. My soon to be released book, PUERTO ameRICAN is the artistic result in response to the historical findings and tells this story that has been hidden for so long. But rather than a general history, I introduces viewers to this period in PR and US relations through my personal narrative and artwork, which bring alive the actual players in the drama that occurred during Puerto Rico’s Nationalist movement in the 1930s and 1940s. 

 

Rafael Ortiz Pacheco 1936
 

I think about Angel Ramos Torres (my great grandfather) relationship with Ortiz Pacheco. They were compadres and in my search I could not find any information on Ortiz Pacheco after the attempted arrest in 1936. Historians note that after a year he returned to the island with no charges pending and was able to continue practicing law and become a judge in the town of Ponce. At a time of persecution and violence, fear and secrecy had been burned in the Puerto Ricans collective psyche. I suspect all of Ortiz Pacheco’s records were removed by the FBI as part of a deal he made to be an informant, how else would he be able to continue practicing law in PR?

My Families inheritance Document in 1948

Rafael Ortiz Pacheco was compadres with my great grandparents Angel Ramos Torres and Maria Otilia Peña. Here he is the one helping my great grandmother receive inheritance left behind by Ramos Torres after an unexpected "Car Accident."