Uses everyday objects to make art pieces.

Materials: used everyday objects to make pieces

Cultural background: Afro Puerto Rican

Location: Loiza, Puerto Rico

Age: 73

Family: Grew up with artisans

Interest: Neighbor Castor Ayala who is a famous mask maker grabbed his own work and others and made those pieces well known by selling them.

It's by Maria Magdalena a Cuban-born artist

Age:66

Campos-Pons: works primarily in photography, performance, audiovisual media, and sculpture.

The origin: she grew up in a vibrant Afro-Cuban community with a strong direct, and intimate connection to the legacy of slavery and Yoruba culture. leading her to become an artist. She is considered a "key figure" among Cuban artists who found their voice in a post-revolutionary Cuba.

2. This piece is from a series of embroidered artworks titled "El Barrio Bodega" in 2013.

3. The concept is that the artist collects discarded plastic bags from city streets and elevates them through intricate, colorful embroidery.

4. The theme of the piece is that it explores consumer responsibility, environmental conservation, and the balance between convenience and excess

5. The art style is the process of combining aspects of painting, sculpture, and installation art.

The painting created by Afro-Latino artist Wifredo Lam, is called "La Guerra Civil" which shows the emotional impacts of war. The painting is meant to depict and show the chaos and suffering caused by the conflict and wars. "Wifredo Lam, “La Guerra Civil,” 1937, shows a scene of Fascist troops slaughtering Spanish citizens. The painting a chaos of swipes and blotches in a dimensionless space conveys the bad-dream emotion of a world in a state of emergency." (Guarionex Rodriguez)

Artwork Title: Untitled (1982)

Post Description:
This artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat shows powerful themes about identity, race, and social issues. His style uses bold colors, symbols, and words to express his experiences as an Afro-Latino artist in the U.S. His work represents Afro-Latino culture by bringing attention to marginalized communities and showing their struggles and creativity.

Why I chose this artist:
I chose Basquiat because his art is unique and meaningful. He helped bring visibility to Afro-Latino identity and used his art to speak about inequality and culture in a creative way.

Clara Ledesma was a Dominican born American (In Santiago, Dominican Republic). Studying under Yoryi Morel at his academy. She would study painting and later enroll in the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo. Being the first woman to enroll and graduate the school in 1948. She would become a teacher at that same school after graduating in 1949, having her own exhibition not too long after in 1951. It was a success and the proceeds of the exhibition would allow her to travel to Europe and further her education.

Ledesma’s paintings explored different styles from Surrealism and Abstraction to Expressionism. Bright colors, themes of birds and oceans filled her portfolio. Along with the feeling of magic and playfulness that characterized her art. The one I picked was my favorite due to its use of red and linework that gives the woman a unique shape. There is a delicate amount of detail put into this painting.

Born: December 22, 1960

Died: August 12, 1988

Age at death: 27 years old

Jean Michel Basquiat was of Afro-Latino heritage, with a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, and much of his art was inspired by the city’s urban culture and street life. He first became involved in graffiti art, tagging buildings in Manhattan under the name “SAMO”, which eventually led to his career in the gallery world.

In Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump (1982), the johnnypump (fire hydrant) is a key symbol tied to his childhood in New York City. It represents innocence and community but also hints at deeper themes of resistance and oppression within the city’s harsher realities.

Description:
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an Afro-Latino artist of Puerto Rican and Haitian descent. His painting Warrior (1982) shows a powerful crowned figure that represents strength, resistance, and Black identity. Basquiat often used crowns in his work to honor Black heroes and cultural figures.

Artist: Harmonia Rosales

Origin: Afro-Cuban American

I chose Harmonia Rosales, an Afro-Cuban American artist. I selected her artwork The creation of god because it stands out visually and also has a powerful message.

In this piece, Rosales presents women in a central and powerful role, which challenges traditional ideas of race and representation in art.

Artist: Julia López

Origin: African

I chose this piece because my grandma and my uncle are both artists and frequently paint landscapes and flowers.

Julia López was born in 1936 and earned money posing for well known artists.

She became an artist by posing and working for well known artists and being professional. Although she was poor, her skill was recognized and she built connections that allowed her to succeed in life and enjoy her work.

Artist is Jorge Soto Sanchez

Jorge Soto Sanchez was born in Harlem New York in 1947 and died in 1987 he was only 40 years old when he passed away. This painting was a part of a movement called taller Boricua in the late 60s, early 70s. The movement was to spread art through harsh communities or communities that didn't get looked at and used music and cultural art to spread awareness,

Artist Name- Cheryl Handy

I chose this piece of art because to me it shows 2 cultures in one. I personally love seeing when 2 different cultures share both their traditions and experiences. I especially like all the little details shown like the skull face paint which many hispanics do on the day of the dead and all the colors that just pop out and compliment each other very nice.

Artist Name-Juan de Pareja

I chose this piece of art because Juan de Pareja was of African descent. He was enslaved by a painter, which then led to him to become a master painter. He painted himself in this "biblical" type of way to assert his status as a professional artist and a free man.

Artist: Clara Ledesma (1924 - 1999)

Origin: Dominican Republic

Description: Clara Ledesma born in Santiago de los Caballeros. She was known especially for her bright and vibrant use of colors, dawning almost a watery affect seen especially in her backgrounds. Most paintings would include a figure, ranging from a face to a mermaid, drawn with black paint or ink onto the colorful background. I was drawn to her art style because there's something liberating about her approach to art. It feels like visible freedom in what one thinks or personal interests. It brings a kind of serenity to one's mind and I really like that about her works and the level of detail in her paintings is something you need to focus closely to catch.

Artist - Emilio Sanchez

This painting was created by Emilio Sanchez, who was a Cuban artist, and this painting is a view of a cane field. He always loved to paint areas that people overlooked. He mentions how “You see all these places that are completely stark, they’re unpopulated and the house carries itself, as if the house were a person; you can give it a lot of human quality."

Artist: Celia Cruz

Origin: Cuba

Celia Cruz [1925-2003 ]stood out as the most influential female figure in Afro-Cuban music. Her flamboyant style, powerful projection, and the warmth of her voice resonate. She was born in Havana, Cuba, the second oldest in a family of fourteen children, and often sang the younger ones to sleep. Her African ancestors were forcibly brought to the island to work in the sugar fields. Her father was a railroad stoker and wanted Celia to become a teacher. She had other ideas and, as a teenager, won first prize in a radio singing contest. Drawn to Cuba’s strong salsa sound, she connected to music that blended African rhythms with more traditional Spanish music. Celia was determined and went on to study voice, piano, and music theory at the National Conservatory of Music in Havana.

Origin: Afro-Latina / Afro - diaspora identity

Title: Stop Telling Women to Smile

This artwork is part of a public art series that addresses issues of identity, gender, and social justice. Tatyana Fazlalizadeh uses portraits and text to challenge how people treat women in public spaces. Her work reflects culture, identity, and the experiences of marginalized communities. It helps bring visibility to voices that are often overlooked.

Artist: Manuel Mendive

Origin: Cuba

Manuel Mendive (1944-) is an Afro-Cuban artist. Born in Havana in 1944. His family practiced La Reglda de Ocha. He gained knowledge of artistr from his young years. He praises his Yoruba roots in 1956 he had graduated from San Alejandro Academy of Plastic Arts in Havana. Since the beginning of his artistic career Mendive has been in group and solo art exhibits. His first ever one man show was held in the Center of Art in Havana, in 1964. 4 years later he was awarded with the Adam Montparnasse prize for his painting exhibit at the Salon de Mai. He is a well known tht has gained many awards throughout his years also releasing books.

Name: Clara Ledesma

Origin: Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic

The reason I chose this art piece by Clara Ledesma is because of the geometric style she uses with it and the color that she uses to make the things she wants to stand out, stand out. It looks like this specific Art piece is about what she's seen and what her people do.

By: Scherezade Garcia

Scherezade Garcia is an Afro latina artist born in the Dominican Republic and now lives and works in the U.S. She is known for her work about migration, identity, and history, especially colonialism. Besides being an artist she is also a professor and educator who teaches Caribbean art and history, bringing more visibility to Afro latino culture.

The artwork I chose represents the experiences of the Afro Latin American community with the ocean as a symbol. Throughout the "Liquid Highway" series, the sea represents migration, memory, and identity. This symbolizes both slavery's painful past and the movement toward a better life in America. Her work raises awareness and representation of Afro Latin communities by showcasing their stories and contributions.

Artist: Firelei Báez

Origin: Dominican Republic (Afro-Latina)

In this painting there is a woman as the main focus. The woman has big flowing hair that looks like it’s moving. It kind of looks like she is dancing or expressing herself. This shows freedom and her culture. The artwork uses strong shapes and details. It also shows identity and pride. I think the painting shows how strong and beautiful Afro-Latina women are.

Title of Artwork: The Jungle (1943)

The Jungle depicts humans mixed with animals and plants in a sugarcane field. The painting shows strange figures, making the painting seem intense. The painting represents Afro-Cuban culture and African traditions in Cuba. The sugarcane represents the hard work and slavery of the past. The painting represents the struggle of identity, culture, and the past in Africa.

Artist: Harmonia Rosales

Origin: Afro-Cuban American

Harmonia Rosales is an Afro cuban American artist born in Chicago and currently lives in Los Angeles. Shes a self taught painter who began her career by focusing on the representation of Black women in classical art. Her work is heavily influenced by her Cuban heritage and the Orishas which are deities of the Yoruba Religion. She creates art to provide her daughter.

Rosales became interested in art by studying the technical perfection of Italian Renaissance masters, But she felt a "void" when looking at the works because they only featured white figures. So she decided to use her skills to "decolonize" the images, replacing the central figures with Black and Afro Latina women to assert their place in history.

Analysis : I picked this because it reimagines Michelangelo’s "The Creation of Adam". By changing the traditionally white male figures God and Adam with Black women, Which centers around Black womanhood The use of cracked textures to make it feel old which in my opinion shows that its a fact as old as the original painting.

Artist Firelei Báez
Origin Dominican Republic, United States

Firelei Báez's art focuses on Afro Caribbean identity and challenges the way history is usually told. In this piece she mixes patterns and flowing snake like inter twine to show how colonization shaped identity but didn’t erase culture. Her work highlights Afro Latino experiences that are often ignored and brings more visibility to those communities. It connects to the idea of representation because she’s basically reclaiming history through art.

Artist name: Edouard Duval Carrie

Artist Origin: Haiti

The word dechoukaj means uprooting in Haitian. It represents from a time when people rose up after dictatorship and tried to remove corruption. The black figure burning in a tire shows the violence and revenge wanted in that time. Also, the makout refers to a violent militia which is under Francois Duvalier.

I choose this because the art so vivid and unique that it shows how much anger and their emotions they had during this time period. The details and how you see symbolisms to Haitian culture. Shows how there could be hope even in violence to have a change.

Wifredo Lams The Jungle is a Seminal that explores Afro-Cuban identity, spirituality, and the legacy of colonialism. It depicts a dense, claustrophobic landscape of sugarcane and, instead of a natural jungle, hybrid figures, embodying a "psychic state" that merges human, animal, and divine forms. The painting also shows four hyprid figures, part human, part animal in a jungle.

Name: Firelei Baez

Origin: Dominican

This painting explores colorism and discrimination based on skin tone. The title references the “paper bag test,” a historical practice used to judge people’s worth by how light their skin was. Firelei Báez uses layered imagery to challenge these ideas and highlight Afro-Caribbean identity.

I like this artwork because Baez stood up for all the people that suffered racism and using bold colors and intricate designs, Báez reclaims identity and challenges those harmful ideas.

Piece: "Mask Series: Havana, 2016"

Origin: Cuban-born, New York-based artist Alexandre Arrechea’s work explores the intersection of art and society, taking particular delight in confounding the questions of form and function posed by architecture. He was a founding member of the storied Cuban artist’s collective Los Carpinteros, responsible for some of the most important drawings and installations to emerge from Latin America in the last twenty years. Arrechea’s work in mediums including sculpture, video, and installation continues to deconstruct and re-envision the visual syntax of architecture and the environment with humor and élan; his highly visible and dynamic projects include Nolimits (2013), a series of ten monumental sculptures installed along the Park Avenue Malls in New York City.

Name:Untitled (1981)

Origin: Haitian and Puerto Rican (Afro-Latino, born in Brooklyn, New York)

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an Afro-Latino artist whose work explored identity, race, and inequality in the United States. His painting Untitled (1981) uses bold colors, symbols, and text to reflect the struggles and experiences of Black communities. His work challenged traditional art spaces and helped bring visibility to marginalized voices, especially Afro-descendant and immigrant communities.

Origin: Afro-Latino (Haitian father, Puerto Rican mother), born in the United States.

This famous painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat depicts a chaotic skull in bold colors and patterns. Basquiat used it to explore identity, race, and the human condition, especially from a Black perspective. It represents what’s inside a person, like thoughts, pain, and history. His style mixes street art reflecting his roots and experiences. Painted in 1981, it became one of his most iconic works and helped redefine modern art.

ARTIST: YAMILA SARMIENTO

I chose this piece of art because I like how it shows the Cultural pride as they depict this woman have her hair in Afro and overall general appearance.

Name: Blue Eye

Origin; Alexandre Arrechea is Cuban born and as his artist career went on he was part of a group called "Los Carpinteros" where later in 2003 he left to continue his solo work, this piece that I am showing represents what type of art he likes to produce. As well as I believe it goes with this quote that is part of him "The eye of power watches everything and everyone, and everyone watches everyone else and themselves."

Origin: Dominican Republic

Amara La Negra is a singer actress, dancer, author and entrepreneur known for her advocacy of Afro-Latinas. She is a singer and her music blends Pop, R&B, and Hip Hop. She is a known activist against discrimination and colorism in the entertainment industry.

Origin: Afro Latino born in New York of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent

A lot of his work explored themes of race, identity, politics, classism, and colonialism, and their impact on American society. Basquiat's art is most known for its bold lines, thick textures, and bright colors, and thick textures. This famous painting was served as a tribute to jazz musician Charlie "Yardbird" Parker, and it features a black and blue bird figure surrounded by symbols of commerce, death, and social commentary. One of the reasons I chose this artwork is because I have actually seen it before due to it being featured on the cover of The Strokes' 2020 album The New Abnormal. 

Ledesma is an Afro Dominican artist, she attended the National School of Fine Arts (one of the first women in attendance). She continued studying throughout the years and eventually began to teach.

Afro Dominican

The artwork here is something that interests me because it brings a form of emotion and complexity, something that says “coming alive”. Eilen is someone that works on various arts and fills her pieces with passion.

Painting Name: I am from where you vacation

This is from a series of collages and paintings. This painting depicts scenes in a tropical landscape, which focuses on the theme of polarized realities between Caribbean locals. She did this to challenge the idea of the Caribbean as "the paradise". The artist originated from the Dominican Republic. She is know for exploring Caribbean culture and identity. Which is often her drawing on her upbringing and experiences within her homeland. This painting is very beautiful to me and it tells a story, so that is why I choose it.

-Mikaela Gutierrez

Artis: Harmonia Rosales

Harmonia is an Afro-Cuban American artist born in Chicago. Her work focuses on decolonizing the traditional art historical canon. She was raised in a multicultural household with Cuban, Jamaican, and Jewish roots and was inspired to paint after noticing the lack of representation for Black women and children in classical Renaissance masterpieces. By blending traditional oil painting techniques and gold leaf with Afro-Cuban Santería motifs and Yoruba deities, she reimagines iconic European imagery to empower marginalized identities and center the Black female experience as divine.

Artist: Juan de Pareja

I chose this art piece from Juan de Pareja because it marks how Pareja went from being a enslaved assistant of Diego Velázquez to becoming a independent artist. This was many of his surviving works, this work when entering the United States after being acquired by the Ringling Brothers in the 1920s. I really liked the bright coloring the artwork, because it shows a fusion of both Spanish and Venetian artistic traditions.

Painting: “Clara Ledesma fantasy boat scene”

(afro Dominicana)

Clara Ledesma was born in the Dominican Republic who blends the work of surrealism, magical symbolism with Caribbean culture. These paintings, along with her earlier work show deep roots to her Dominican culture and traditions. This painting is interesting to me because of the symbolism that is spoken through her artwork. The boat being a way to symbolize a journey and along with the colors to signify the joy of the journey.

Origin: Afro- Cuban artist from Cuba

I chose The Jungle by Wifredo Lam. Lam was an Afro-Latino artist from Cuba. His painting combines Afro-Cuban traditions with surreal and modern art. The artwork uses unique shapes and figures to show culture and identity.

USA (1980)

Artist: Jean-Michel Basquiat

This painting shows an artist’s workspace, full of bright colors, scattered paint supplies, and big bold faces on the walls. The style is messy but full of energy, and it looks a lot like the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, who was an Afro-Latino artist from Puerto Rico and Haiti.

His art mixed street graffiti with deeper messages about race, identity, and life in America. Basquiat’s work is famous around the world, and he used his art to both celebrate and criticize America. It also shows how an artist’s environment can be part of their creative process. Talking about it could help show how art can be powerful, even if it’s not “perfect,” and how it can reflect someone’s identity and experiences.

USA (1980)

Artist: Jean-Michel Basquiat

This painting shows an artist’s workspace, full of bright colors, scattered paint supplies, and big bold faces on the walls. The style is messy but full of energy, and it looks a lot like the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, who was an Afro-Latino artist from Puerto Rico and Haiti.

His art mixed street graffiti with deeper messages about race, identity, and life in America. Basquiat’s work is famous around the world, and he used his art to both celebrate and criticize America. It also shows how an artist’s environment can be part of their creative process. Talking about it could help show how art can be powerful, even if it’s not “perfect,” and how it can reflect someone’s identity and experiences.

I chose Untitled (Skull) by Jean-Michel Basquiat because his artwork reflects identity, race, power, and history. His Afro-Latino background significantly influenced his work, and he frequently explored the experiences of Black people and people of color through bold images and symbols. I think this piece is powerful because it shows emotion and challenges people to think about society and inequality.

Artist: Wifredo Lam

Origin: Cuba

Afro-Cuban painter Wifredo Lam had ancestors from Africa, China, and Spain. His art mixes modern European styles like Surrealism and Cubism with Afro-Caribbean culture, especially Santería. He was very close to artists like Pablo Picasso, which helped him develop his own unique style.

One of Lam's most famous paintings is The Jungle. It has deformed, mask-like human images combined with plants and animals. This shows how African spiritual traditions and Caribbean identity have come together. The painting also shows ideas about colonialism, identity, and resistance.

Artist: Jean-Michel Basquiat

Origin: Haitian and Puerto Rican

I chose this painting because I find this artist very intriguing because of his unique hair style. Which his hair style was the hair that inspired the Weeknd to have that pineapple looking hair. Riding with Death by Jean-Michel Basquiat is a pretty dark painting he made in 1988, right before he died. It shows this skeleton-like figure carrying a person on its back, which can feel kind of unsettling. The way it’s painted looks messy and simple, but that actually makes it feel more emotional and real. A lot of people think it represents how close Basquiat felt to death at the time, or how nobody can really escape it. It’s not super detailed, but that almost makes it hit harder because it feels raw and honest.

Name of piece : carnaval greeting card

Origin : Dominican Republic

I chose this art piece because I liked how Dominicana made the art with different vibrant colors while incorporating the representation of traditional carnival celebrations. The use of bright saturated colors, the depiction of iconic carnival characters with the the,e they go based off of and the overall lively, festive atmosphere reflect the cultural richness and historical significance of Dominican carnival.