From Ana Mendieta to Stephanie Syjuco, a chain of contemporary artists mounts a cross-cultural, multigenerational resistance to Western colonialism

Published with Colby College Museum of Art.

In the late 19th century, independence movements against Spanish colonization were separately gaining momentum on these islands. Following the Spanish–American war of 1898, the US occupied Cuba and exerted colonial control over Guam, the Philippines and Puerto Rico. Connecting generations across oceans, Imagining an Archipelago features artists such as Pacita Abad, Zilia Sánchez and Carlos Villa juxtaposed with those who came after them, creating an intertwined commentary. The interpretive framework of an archipelago―an expanse of water containing a chain of islands―emphasizes these 40 artists’ different yet related strategies toward the critique, defiance and navigation of conditions brought on by continental empires. Essays, poetry, artworks and artist discussions in English, Spanish, Filipino and CHamoru provide a platform for solidarity, healing and celebration at the intersections of cultural and political self-determination, indigeneity, migration, climate crisis and resilience.
Artists include: Zilia Sánchez, Carlos Villa, Pacita Abad, Ana Mendieta, Daniel Lind-Ramos, Juan Sánchez, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Juana Valdés, Teresita Fernández, Edra Soto, Miguel Luciano, Beatriz Santiago Muñoz, Stephanie Syjuco, Amber Robles-Gordon, Maia Cruz Palileo, Martha Atienza, Mariquita ""Micki"" Davis, Enzo Camacho & Ami Lien, Isa Gagarin, Camille Hoffman, Gisela McDaniel.