Creating the Future: Tierra Futura Exhibit at WaterFire

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The artists and attendees were alive with pure connection as the WaterFire gallery kicked off Shey Rivera Ríos’ “Tierra Futura” exhibit, last Thursday evening. 

Rìos, curator of and featured artist in the multimedia exhibit, hosted a chat with 22 other Puerto Rican artists as people gathered at the reception catered by nearby Little Sister Providence. 

Each of the artists, from Seattle to Puerto Rico to Providence, created their works independently, yet there are myriad common themes. Although many of the pieces were conceived before the exhibit was conceptualized, each turns its eyes to the Boricua past while looking directly into each artist’s present. 

Boriken, the indigenous name for Puerto Rico, was colonized by the Spanish in 1508. Boricua descendents have created a lament for their ancestors’ suffering, an homage to their current displacement, and a statement of intention. 

“We're creating the future,” says multimedia artist Leenda Bonilla. “We're creating the culture that will exist into the future.” 

Candida Gonzalez, a queer creator from Minneapolis, says of their fellow artists’ work: “It's incredible when a piece of art can just blindside you,”

Gonzalez’s piece features salt that they collected from the Puerto Rican salt flats, images of their ancestors screened onto white fabric, and gold chains to form a spell for abundance for the exhibit. 

“We've really hit this moment where we're coming together and thinking about, rather than focusing on our differences,” Gonzalez says.”We’re all Puerto Rican. What does it look like for us to have an abundant future for each other, for ourselves, for the land? 
And we need to come together and fight for that to happen.” 

Jo Cosme, a Puerto Rican photographer who was displaced from Puerto Rico to Seattle by Hurricane Maria, shares Gonzalez’s sentiment.

“It makes me think about how land is used,” Cosme says. “How land, from the colonizer case, is something that you can exoticize and exploit,We're so deeply connected to it.” 

Four of her photos are hung side by side. They feature glass windows, deep green wildlife, bare people grabbing for each other inside a refrigerator. Her descriptions make them even more personal.

“That window is glass, and I was not used to having glass windows. In Puerto Rico, it’s metal sheets that we open.,” Cosme says. “That window alone makes me feel really displaced. … I woke up every morning thinking, I moved here, but I keep feeling like I'm here momentarily. So this isn't really my home.” 

Despite the intense feelings her photography brings up, Cosme says, “It just nurtures our soul to keep working on it.” 

This appears to be true for every artist in the exhibition, past, present, and future. 

“I am so curious about how I can help my ancestors write new stories for themselves and how I can invite them in to create new stories for us,” says Gonzalez. “Because I definitely feel like they want…to be here. 
They want to be heard. They want to listen to us. They want to co-create.”

Rìos’ exhibit will be featured in Gallery Night Providence on Thursday, March 19, and on display at the WaterFire Arts Center until March 29.