Pasado y Presente: Art after the Young Lords
The Nathan Cummings Foundation (NCF) in partnership with the Loisaida Center, is pleased to announce the opening of Pasado y Presente: Art After the Young Lords, an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Young Lords Organization in New York. The show will be on view at the Nathan Cummings Foundation offices from May 3 through October 25, 2019.
Active between 1969 and 1975, The Young Lords described themselves as a revolutionary party fighting for the liberation of all oppressed people. Their spectacular demonstrations, artful self-presentation, and masterful deployment of DIY media via their newspaper, Pa’lante, brought international attention to demands voiced in black and brown communities across the United States for cultural equity, equal rights for women and the LGBTQ population; communal control of housing, healthcare, education, sanitation; and independence for Puerto Rico.
Spanning different generations, nationalities, and ethnicities, the artists displayed in Pasado y Presente represent a creative community that is connected to the Young Lords by their passion for art in the service of social justice and vanguard aesthetics.
Curated by Yasmin Ramirez, the exhibition displayed at NCF illuminates the influence that the Lords have had on activists and artists far beyond their six years as a formal organization.
Featured work includes documentary photographs of Young Lords activism by Máximo Colón and Luis Carle and vintage posters from Taller Boricua, an East Harlem print collective that was allied with the Young Lords. Additional artists on display at NCF and Loisaida Inc. include: AgitArte, Pepe Coronado, Sophia Dawson , Marcos Dimas, Hatuey Ramos-Fermín, Miguel Luciano , Carlos Jesús Martínez Domínguez, Shellyne Rodríguez , Adrian Viajero Roman, Juan Sánchez, Nitza Tufiño, Rafael Tufiño, Anthony Rosado, Valor Y Cambio, Pelén Obesa, Karen Revis, Scherezade García and Alex Fernández.
Parallel to the exhibition, Pasado y Presente will have a presence at the Loisaida Center during the show by AgitArte, Coronado Print Studio, Scherezade García, and Valor y Cambio that explores migration, movement, intra-diasporic Caribbean identity in NYC, alternative economies, story-telling, and decolonial narratives. On Sunday, May 26, several artists participating in Pasado y Presente will take part in interactive urban interventions during the 32nd Annual Loisaida Festival. Additionally, NCF and Loisaida will host a series of public programs investigating topics such as the history and influence of the Young Lords in New York, feminist and LGBTQ activism in Latinx communities, cultural production and organizing in Puerto Rico post-Maria, the intersection of environmental justice with anti-displacement efforts in NYC’s poor and working-class neighborhoods.
To set up an appointment to visit the exhibition, please contact exhibits@nathancummings.org. For more information on Loisaida, NCF, and schedule updates on public programs visit http://loisaida.org and https://nathancummings.org.