Public Art Movement Under Attack in Puerto Rico

By: NYC Delegation to the Puerto Rico Social Forum A flourishing grassroots public arts movement in Puerto Rico, combining elements of graffiti and the works of the great Latin American muralists, faces increasing censorship by the state. Although its origins can be traced much further back, the movement first captured media attention in November 2005, when an artists' collective, with the help of community residents, painted a gigantic likeness of the slain revolutionary leader Filiberto Ojeda Ríos on the side of Block A of the Manuel A. Pérez public housing complex in Río Piedras. The mural draws a connection between Ojeda's September 2005 assassination by the FBI with elements of state repression faced by residents in their everyday life, including surveillance cameras and police brutality. The Puerto Rican government, through its Department of Housing (which "owns" the building), attempted to have the mural painted over. The community mobilized to defend the mural, thus far succesfully. Another public housing mural has recently been bought some time thanks to a preliminary court order which prevents the Housing Department and the private management company (the administration of Puerto Rican public housing has been almost entirely privatized) from erasing it. The spraypaint mural, by the urban art collective NMK, adorns the side of one of the buildings in the Candelaria complex in the west-coast city of Mayaguez, and shows a young man being chased by a belligerent police officer, with the phrase "Being poor is not a crime" as backdrop. An earlier mural denouncing police brutality was arbitrarily painted over in early December. Community residents, with the support of the pro-independence grassroots group La Nueva Escuela and the Mayaguez chapter of the Puerto Rican Independence Party, protested the act of censorship, and have vowed to defend the new mural. Work on a third important mural actually began in September, shortly after students at the UPR Rio Piedras campus carried out an act of civil disobedience, obstructing the entrance to the recently re-opened campus theater during a gala event for wealthy patrons, denouncing the administration's plans to gradually privatize the theater and hand over control to four well-known showbusiness executives on a "board" lacking effective student representation. The enormous mural, entitled "Theater, Heart of the Arts," was painted on the side of the Theater itself, and depicts its front entrance flanked by literary and mythological motifs in allegory of past and present student struggles. A quote by German playwright Bertolt Brecht crowns the scene. The artists themselves, from the groups Colectivo Pro-Teatro and Vanguardia Artistica Universitaria, set up an encampment to protect the mural as it was being painted. Recently finished, the work of art is now threatened by the administration's stated intent to cover it up. Just days ago, six student leaders have been singled out and summarily suspended for their participation in the September action (which was carried out by over 150 students), even though a panel of inquiry headed by a former judge appointed by the administration itself, "recommended" that the sanctions not be carried out. Last, but certainly not least, members of several political and artistic organizations created a spraypaint mural underneath an overpass alongside Manuel Fernandez Juncos Avenue, in Santurce. The spraypainted work shows a colorful, caricaturesque crowd of everyday people holding signs allusive to several important social struggles, including spousal and child abuse, communities facing or undergoing evictions, garbage pick-up, and the murals themselves. A banner in front of the protesting characters asks the provocative question "Public...?" to underscore the connection between the attack on public art and the Puerto Rican government's neoliberal attempts to privatize everything. In an ironic, but predicatble twist of events, 13 of the artists were detained by the San Juan Municipal Police and later released. No charges have been pressed as of yet. We urge you to express your solidarity with this grassroots art movement, as well as the six suspended UPR students, by sharing this information with others, visiting Puerto Rico, or simply making public statements of support! More on each of the murals reviewed here (including contact info) at the following links: http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2005/12/11960.php http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2006/12/20533.php http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2006/12/20639.php http://pr.indymedia.org/news/2006/12/20663.php Manuel A. Pérez Candelaria. "Being poor is not a crime." UPR Theater. "The worst illiterate is the political illiterate. He does not see, does not speak, does not participate in political events. He does not know the cost of living, the price of beans, of fish, of flour, of rent, of shoes or medicine, depend on political decisions. The political illiterate is such an ass that he is proud and puffs out his chest, saying he hates politics. He does not know, the imbecile, that from his political ignorance is born the prostitute, the abandoned minor, the thief, and the worst of all bandits, the corrupt politician, lackey of national and multinational corporations. - Bertolt Brecht" Fernández Juncos Ave. "Let the murals stay," "Make them clean up the garbage, not public art," "Santurce is not for sale," "None of them deserve your vote," "No to domestic violence," "Freedom for Political Prisoners," "Piñones is not for sale!" All photos courtesy of www.indymediapr.com