A Grand Tour of Latin History and Heritage

Latin American art, culture, food and music have never been more popular. More than a fleeting fad, contemporary interest in all things Latino is fueled by a significant Hispanic population expansion regionally and nationwide. Because Seton Hall is close to New York City and Newark, its campus population reflects the expansion of Hispanic cultures and peoples in the region. In Fall 2004, 9.3 percent of undergraduates and 4.2 percent of graduate students were Latino/a.

To celebrate the “Latin Moment,” both on campus and in American culture at large, Seton Hall presents Voces y Visiones (Voices and Visions): Highlights from El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection. On exhibit through May 13 in Walsh Library Gallery, Voces y Visiones provides a comprehensive grand tour of Latin American history and culture, from pre-Colombian artifacts (circa 1200 A.D.) to the vibrant, contemporary Latino art of today.

“Voces y Visiones showcases unique, thought-provoking works of artistic achievement from Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latin American cultures,” explains Jo Ann Cotz, director of Walsh Library Gallery. “The objects exhibited are as varied as the subject matter. They include traditional Mexican masks and Andean and Caribbean textiles and devotional objects, as well as works by contemporary and conceptual artists.”

El Museo del Barrio was founded in 1969 in Manhattan’s Upper East Side as a cultural center for the Puerto Rican residents of East Harlem. More than three decades later, that small museum has evolved and expanded to become New York’s leading Latino cultural institution and the only museum in New York City specializing in Latin American culture and heritage.

Voces y Visiones marks the first time Walsh Library Gallery has hosted a national touring exhibition of this magnitude from an internationally renowned cultural institution. Sponsored in part by a grant from the MetLife Foundation, Voces y Visiones opened at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, New York, in fall 2002.

Since the exhibition opened at the gallery on January 24, visitors have commented to Cotz about the beauty and variety of the displays. Lithographs, photographs, silk screens, iris prints, mixed-media installations, oil on canvas and linoleum block prints are just a handful of the media the artists used to create the different works.

“We hope all visitors will make a personal connection with the artwork,” Cotz expresses. “Many visitors of Latino heritage enjoy seeing objects they are familiar with on display — for some it has evoked very personal memories.” Cotz remembers one student visitor who, while viewing the Santos de Palo section, reminisced about her great-grandfather, who was a santero (saint carver) in Spain and Puerto Rico.

Jeanette D’Onofrio, a graduate student in museum studies and student-curator at the gallery, says La Cama (The Bed), a mixed-media installation, is one of the pieces on display that sparks a lot of interest. “It’s the only piece you can see from the window, so it attracts a lot of people to the gallery.” La Cama, created in 1987 by Pepón Osorio from Puerto Rico, is a four-poster bed the artist created as a shrine to his former nanny and family housekeeper. Ornately designed with bright colors, beads, gems, ribbons and photos, the bed also features a miniature, doll-like figurine on each of the four posts that spin to music from Swan Lake when the sound is activated.

For more information about Voces y Visiones and Walsh Library Gallery, contact Cotz at (973) 275-2033.

RELATED LINKS:

  • Walsh Library Gallery
  • El Museo del Barrio

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