no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria

Nov 23, 2022–Apr 23, 2023

A ship consumed in a large plume of blue and white smoke, against a smoky gray sky.
A ship consumed in a large plume of blue and white smoke, against a smoky gray sky.

Gamaliel Rodríguez, Collapsed Soul, 2020–21. Ink and acrylic on canvas, 84 × 112 in. (213.3 × 284.5 cm). © 2021 Gamaliel Rodríguez. Courtesy the artist and Nathalie Karg Gallery NYC. Photograph by Gamaliel Rodríguez

no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria is organized to coincide with the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria—a high-end Category 4 storm that hit Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017. The exhibition explores how artists have responded to the transformative years since that event by bringing together more than fifty artworks made over the last five years by an intergenerational group of more than fifteen artists from Puerto Rico and the diaspora. no existe un mundo poshuracán—a verse borrowed from Puerto Rican poet Raquel Salas Rivera—is the first scholarly exhibition focused on Puerto Rican art to be organized by a large U.S. museum in nearly half a century.

While Hurricane Maria serves as a focal point, the exhibition is defined by a larger context in which the aftermath of the storm was further exacerbated by the chain of events that preceded and followed this (un)natural disaster, including the austerity measures implemented by the PROMESA law (also known as La Junta); the deaths of 4,645 Puerto Ricans as a consequence of the Hurricane; the protests during the Verano del 19 (Summer of 2019) that led to the ouster of governor Ricardo Rosselló; the string of earthquakes; the COVID-19 pandemic; and much more. As a response to these constant existential threats, the exhibition offers a platform to the artists and the ways they have forged paths through the wake of these legacies.

This exhibition is organized by Marcela Guerrero, Jennifer Rubio Associate Curator, with Angelica Arbelaez, Rubio Butterfield Family Fellow, and Sofía Silva, former Curatorial & Education Fellow in U.S. Latinx Art.

Please read about the exhibition’s accessibility information before visiting no existe un mundo poshuracán.

Leadership support for no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria is provided by David Cancel and the Mellon Foundation.

The exhibition is part of the Whitney's emerging artists program, sponsored by

Generous support is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Judy Hart Angelo, the Elaine Graham Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts, and the Whitney's National Committee.

Significant support is provided by Further Forward Foundation, the Kapadia Equity Fund, and The Keith Haring Foundation Exhibition Fund.

Additional support is provided by Furthermore: a program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund. 

Curatorial research and travel for this exhibition were funded by an endowment established by Rosina Lee Yue and Bert A. Lies, Jr., MD.


En Español

La exposición no existe un mundo poshuracán: Arte puertorriqueño después del huracán María coincide con el quinto aniversario del huracán María, una tormenta de categoría 4 que azotó Puerto Rico el 20 de septiembre de 2017. Explora cómo los artistas han respondido a los años de transformación desde ese evento, reuniendo más de cincuenta obras de arte realizadas en los últimos cinco años por un grupo intergeneracional de más de quince artistas de Puerto Rico y de la diáspora. “no existe un mundo poshuracán”, es un verso prestado por el poeta puertorriqueño Raquel Salas Rivera. Ésta es la primera exposición académica centrada en el arte puertorriqueño organizada por un gran museo estadounidense en casi medio siglo.

Si bien el huracán María sirve de punto principal, la exhibición se define por un contexto más amplio en el que las consecuencias de la tormenta se vieron exacerbadas por la cadena de acontecimientos que precedieron y siguieron a este desastre (in)natural, incluidas las medidas de austeridad aplicadas por la ley PROMESA (también conocida como La Junta); la muerte de 4,645 puertorriqueños como consecuencia del huracán; las protestas durante el Verano del 19 (Verano de 2019) que llevaron a la destitución del gobernador Ricardo Rosselló; la cadena de terremotos; la pandemia del COVID-19; y mucho más. Como respuesta a estas constantes amenazas existenciales, la exposición ofrece una plataforma a los artistas y las formas en que han forjado caminos a través de la estela de estos legados.

Esta exposición está organizada por Marcela Guerrero, Jennifer Rubio Associate Curator, junto con Angélica Arbelaez, Rubio Butterfield Family Fellow, y Sofía Silva, anterior becaria de curaduría y educación en arte Latinx de Estados Unidos.

Accede al catálogo en español de la exposición.

Por favor, lea la información de accesibilidad de la exposición antes de visitar no existe un mundo poshuracán.

El patrocinio principal de no existe un mundo poshuracán: Arte puertorriqueño después del huracán María es proporcionado por David Cancel y la Mellon Foundation.

Esta exposición es parte del programa de artistas emergentes del Whitney, patrocinado por

Se ha recibido el generoso apoyo de la Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Judy Hart Angelo, Elaine Graham Weitzen Foundation for Fine Arts y el National Committee del Whitney. 

Una contribución significativa ha sido provista por Further Forward Foundation, el Kapadia Equity Fund y la Keith Haring Foundation Exhibition Fund. 

Apoyo adicional es proporcionado por Furthermore: un programa del J. M. Kaplan Fund.

La investigación curatorial y los viajes para esta exposición fueron financiados por una donación otorgada por Rosina Lee Yue y Bert A. Lies, Jr., MD.


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Fractured Infrastructures

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Hurricane Maria was as much a man-made disaster as a natural one. Years of governmental neglect and a financial crisis exacerbated the storm’s physical impact on the landscape, and hindered Puerto Rico’s response to the hurricane. The nation’s debt had been growing since the mid-2000s and reached historic levels in 2015. To address it, in 2016 the United States Congress passed into law the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA or, ironically in Spanish, “promise”), which has since imposed austerity measures. These actions have resulted in funds being directed toward debt repayment rather than to public services and maintaining livable wages in Puerto Rico, further impeding recovery. 

These artworks interrogate the ways that the hurricane also laid bare Puerto Rico’s dated infrastructures, which failed residents when they were at their most vulnerable. The fragile electrical grid, for instance, left thousands without power for months after the storm and remains unreliable today. In early 2020, Puerto Rico experienced earthquakes and aftershocks that compounded the effects of disinvestment and the earlier damage from Maria, causing significant harm to schools and homes, particularly in the southern region of the main island. It was to these precarious homes, often still needing repair, to which many had to return a few months later to quarantine from the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • A tall tower with vegetation growing around it.
    A tall tower with vegetation growing around it.

    Gamaliel Rodríguez, Figure 1832 PSE, 2018. Acrylic and ink on paper, 50 × 38 in. (127 × 96.5 cm). Private collection; courtesy Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York

  • A tall tower with vegetation growing around it.
    A tall tower with vegetation growing around it.

    Gamaliel Rodríguez, Figure 1828 LMM, 2018. Acrylic and ink on paper, 50 × 38 in. (127 × 96.5 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York




  • A ship consumed in a large plume of blue and white smoke, against a smoky gray sky.
    A ship consumed in a large plume of blue and white smoke, against a smoky gray sky.

    Gamaliel Rodríguez, Collapsed Soul, 2020–21. Ink and acrylic on canvas, 84 × 112 in. (213.3 × 284.5 cm). © 2021 Gamaliel Rodríguez. Courtesy the artist and Nathalie Karg Gallery NYC. Photograph by Gamaliel Rodríguez

  • A weatherworn building with grass and a barren tree.
    A weatherworn building with grass and a barren tree.

    Rogelio Báez Vega, ID. Escuela Tomás Carrión Maduro, Santurce, Puerto Rico—New on the Market, 2021. Oil, beeswax, and gold pigment on canvas, 60 × 84 in. (152.4 × 213.4 cm). Courtesy the artist

  • A shipping container rests on green grass on a day of clear blue skies.
    A shipping container rests on green grass on a day of clear blue skies.

    Rogelio Báez Vega, Paradox of the New Landscape IV, 2018. Oil on canvas, 48 × 96 (121.9 × 243.8 cm). Private collection

  • Green plants grow in front of a building and other structures in this painting. The sky behind is golden yellow.
    Green plants grow in front of a building and other structures in this painting. The sky behind is golden yellow.

    Rogelio Báez Vega, Paraíso Móvil, 2019. Oil on canvas, 55 × 70 in. (139.7 × 177.8 cm). Courtesy Francis J. Greenburger Collection, New York

  • A worn red, white, and blue sign with text and images of Puerto Rican and American flags attached to a wooden post with wires attached to it.
    A worn red, white, and blue sign with text and images of Puerto Rican and American flags attached to a wooden post with wires attached to it.

    Gabriella Torres-Ferrer, Untitled (Valora tu mentira americana) (detail), 2018. Hurricane ravaged wooden electric post with statehood propaganda, 116 × 118 × 122 in. (294.6 × 299.7 × 309.9 cm). Private collection; courtesy the artist and Embajada, San Juan

  • A patio with screen walls, plants, and seating.
    A patio with screen walls, plants, and seating.

    Sofía Córdova, still from dawn_chorus ii: el niagara en bicicleta, 2018. Two-channel video, color, sound, on unistrut mount; 105 min. Courtesy the artist and Kate Werble Gallery, New York

  • A many in a wooded area faces the camera with his face covered in cloth.
    A many in a wooded area faces the camera with his face covered in cloth.

    Sofía Córdova, still from dawn_chorus ii: el niagara en bicicleta, 2018. Two-channel video, color, sound, on unistrut mount; 105 min. Courtesy the artist and Kate Werble Gallery, New York

  • Person on a patio jumping.
    Person on a patio jumping.

    Sofía Córdova, still from dawn_chorus ii: el niagara en bicicleta, 2018. Two-channel video, color, sound, on unistrut mount; 105 min. Courtesy the artist and Kate Werble Gallery, New York

  • A red sculpture in a bright gallery.
    A red sculpture in a bright gallery.

    Installation view of no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art In The Wake Of Hurricane Maria (Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, November 23, 2022-April 23, 2023). Edra Soto, GRAFT, 2022. Photograph by Ron Amstutz

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Black and gray rocks float in space with a pixelated blue and yellow graphic in the background.
Black and gray rocks float in space with a pixelated blue and yellow graphic in the background.

Frances Gallardo, Aerosoles (Aerosols), 2021–22. Color pencil on laser-etched paper, 12 × 17 5/16 in. (30.5 × 43.9 cm). Courtesy the artist

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in the Whitney's collection

View 13 works

In the News

“…honors the past to shine a light on the future.” —The New Yorker

“It’s charged up and irrepressible.” —New York Times

“…I gleaned the constant back-and-forth of independence and statehood movements, the problems of government corruption, and the richness of creative force that seems to underlie and transcend all of this.” —New York Magazine

“Guerrero is redefining what we consider “American art”...” —The Cut

“…there is no “normal” for Puerto Rico to return to... it’s the artist’s job to imagine new ways forward.” —The Guardian

“El arte puede plantear posibilidades, y Guerrero aspira a que esta muestra motive acciones políticas y sociales para cambiar el rumbo del país.” —El País

“Los artistas de la exhibición buscan analizar las fracturas que dejó la tormenta en la estructura misma de la política, la cultura y la sociedad de Puerto Rico.” —Telemundo 47

“There is a tragic beauty here tempered by sadness and mixed with hope.” —ABC 7 New York 

“On display isn't just art. It's resistance.” —CNN Style 

“The goal of the art exhibition is to combine sentiments of anger and struggle in the aftermath of the storm but also sadness and mourning with a touch of hope for the future.” —NBC 4 New York

“El arte puede ser el faro que nos haga vislumbrar un mundo poshuracán.” —The Washington Post

“The goal of the art exhibition is to combine sentiments of anger and struggle in the aftermath of the storm, but also sadness and mourning with a touch of hope for the future.” —NBC 4 New York

“The works on view mourn the impoverishment of local institutions – schools, universities, hospitals – yet they also lend tacit or active support to the new grassroots organizations that are creating parallel infrastructures of self-governance.” —Frieze

“...the show’s strength is in its ability to complicate those images through art that is at times highly personal…” —Hyperallergic 

“...a moving and powerful statement about how Puerto Rican artists have survived and resisted, in the process creating new forms of community, protest, and art.” —ARTnews

“As the exhibition reminds us, even a calamity can breed nostalgia.” —Financial Times

“The work seeks to highlight the fractures in the structure of Puerto Rico's politics, culture and society, all strained even more following the hurricane.” —CBS News New York

Update: Current Conditions 

Hurricane Fiona made landfall on September 19, 2022 and struck Puerto Rico’s southwest coastal municipalities leaving millions without power and inundating communities. The storm arrived five years after the island experienced the devastation of Hurricane Maria. 

To learn more about Puerto Rico’s ongoing disaster recovery efforts through accessible data and a directory of initiatives and organization, please visit The Disaster Resources Hub, a project of EL CENTRO, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College. 

Access the Disaster Resource Hub

 

Actualización: Condiciones Actuales

El huracán Fiona tocó tierra el 19 de septiembre de 2022 y azotó los municipios costeros del suroeste de Puerto Rico, dejando a millones de personas sin electricidad e inundando comunidades. La tormenta llegó cinco años después de que la isla experimentara la devastación del huracán María.  

Para saber más sobre los esfuerzos de recuperación de desastres en curso en Puerto Rico a través de datos accesibles y un directorio de iniciativas y organizaciones, por favor visite: The Disaster Resources Hub, un proyecto de EL CENTRO, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies de Hunter College.

Accede a la página de recursos para desastres

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