Date of Award

2026

Document Type

MA Project - Open Access

Project Type

MA Project - Curatorial Proposal

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art Business

First Advisor

Judith Prowda

Second Advisor

Maria Sancho-Arroyo

Abstract

The Caribbean is a region with a complex history, from the displacement of Indigenous communities to the forced migrations of the transatlantic slave trade and the arrival of indentured laborers from Asia. This has produced a region where questions of identity and belonging remain constant. Caribbean Sensibility explores how artists form the Caribbean and its diasporas navigate these complexities, transforming histories of displacement into creative expression. The exhibition draws on Trinidadian scholar Patricia Mohammed’s concept of a “Caribbean sensibility,” an emotional and aesthetic orientation based in hybridity. It is “the dissonance between a seemingly imported religion and our homegrown private rules and practices.”1 This exhibition highlights how art becomes a means of expressing cultural identity across borders. El Museo del Barrio provides an ideal venue for this exhibition. Founded by artist and educator Raphael Montañez Ortiz in 1969, the museum appeared from the Puerto Rican and Caribbean diaspora in New York as a response to exclusion from cultural institutions. Its mission is to celebrate the art and culture of Puerto Rico, Latin America, and the Caribbean, aligning directly with the goals of this exhibition. Caribbean Sensibility emphasizes this message through shared experiences of migration, religion, and transformation.  The exhibition spans four sections, Homeland and Diaspora, Religion, Performance and Ritual, and Visibility. Each section highlights how artists translate lived experience into visual language. Every artist selected exemplifies diverse identity expressions. In Homeland and Diaspora, works by Miguel Luciano, Firelei Báez, Rafael Tufiño, José Bedia, Vladimir Cybil Charlier, and Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful reflect the tension between memory and migration. Religion examines how spiritual syncretism, embodied in the works of Mario Carreño, Wifredo Lam, and Yelaine Rodriguez, serves as a foundation of collective identity. Performance and Ritual include artists like Malene Barnett, M.P. Alladin, and Nari Ward, whose practices transform movement and material into forms of healing. Finally, Visibility addresses representation and belonging through the works of Che Lovelace, Edouard Duval-Carrié, Tufiño, and Raful, who challenge how Caribbean people see and define themselves within global narratives. Together, these artists’ works show that Caribbean identity is constantly evolving. The exhibition celebrates this, showing how Caribbean artists draw from everyday life to construct new modes of visibility, a testament to the resilience of Caribbean culture. By staging Caribbean Sensibility at El Museo del Barrio, the exhibition reaffirms the museum’s role as a bridge between homeland and diaspora. Every generation has a different artistic language. This exhibition captures the diversity in expression and frames the Caribbean as an integral part of New York’s culture and history.

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