C olonial Portraits

Open now – March 31, 2024

PRAA Center, 3000 N. Elbridge Ave.

Colonial Portraits, Inc. (el Colonizado) is an experimental painting installation of portraits that have defined the face and identity of the Puerto Rican people. Each painting represents a defining moment in Puerto Ricoʼs long historical colonial struggle. Depicted are works by José Campeche (1751), Ramón Frade (1875), Rafael Tufiño (1922), Fransisco Rodón (1934), and Arnaldo Roche Rabel (1955) who painted the complex, and yet to be defined identity of the Puerto Rican people.

Students enrolled in P RAAʼs Studio Arts & Exhibition Apprenticeship Program researched the history of natural disasters and how our great painters captured the expression of the Puerto Rican (people). This generation of young aspiring artists, led by three established artists, edited and reproduced the works of six Puerto Rican masters by creating their own art in response to the adverse effects of hurricane María.

This exhibition first opened at the Chicago Cultural Center then traveled to Puerto Rico, and was exhibited at the Museo de las Américas and at Biblioteca Universidad Ana G. Méndez –Recinto Carolina