‘Liminal,’ A Humboldt Park Art Exhibit, Showcases LGBTQ+ Puerto Rican Artists

HUMBOLDT PARK — All eyes were on Anaís Cezanné Caro on the opening day of her latest exhibit as she received a plethora of kisses, waves and hugs to celebrate her accomplishment.

Caro curated “liminal: LGBTQ+ Chicago-Boricua Imaginings,” which opened June 15 at the National Puerto Rican Museum, 3015 W. Division St. The show features 10 artists who created work that celebrates their Puerto Rican and LGBTQ+ identity.

The exhibition aims to push against nonacceptance in some Puerto Rican circles and reclaim Boricua queer pride, curators and museum leaders said.

“Seeing all of the [artists] coming together in community faith has been beautiful because sometimes there’s a separation of identities and there’s not one space that you feel comfortable in,” said Caro, curator and director of exhibitions at the Puerto Rican museum. “The fact that we have this space with all of these beautiful artists that are so diverse in so many different ways — gender, sexuality, where they were born — is so spiritual.”

The artwork in the exhibit showcases a spectrum of feelings on Puerto Rican and LGBTQ+ identity plus a brief history of queer Boricua advocacy in the city and how artists and advocates alike created their own futures and realities, Caro said. Paintings, multimedia, textiles, sculptures, audio storytelling and more are part of the show.

Featured artists are Vanessa Viruet, Sam Kirk, Sandra Antongiorgi, Robert Martinez, Rio Goodwin Perez, José Rosa, John Colón, Johnathan Rodriguez, Isabella Mellado and Caro.

The exhibit is the first one at the museum that also features Caro’s work. A floor painting of her footprints in a circle represents the non-linear experience of time for queer ancestors and people like herself, she said.

“liminal: LGBTQ+ Chicago-Boricua Imaginings” is the result of Caro’s research into the intersection of Puerto Rican identity and queerness in art and history. She and Veronica Ocasio, the museum’s director of education and programming, chose a blend of well-known artists in the community and those who are newer and don’t have a dedicated space to show their work.

“Many are new. This is the first time they are exhibiting, so to give them the platform, that’s what our museum is all about,” Ocasio said.

Robert Martinez, who grew up in Humboldt Park and now lives in Albany Park, is one such artist. He got tongue-tied when thinking about the significance of being part of an exhibit in his home neighborhood for the first time.

“It feels like being seen, and I feel cared for,” Martinez said. “I’m underscoring how important it is that this space, this exhibit exists with all the artists that are being shown. … It’s beautiful, a beautiful thing that happened.”

It was tough to choose only two collage works to be included in the show, but Martinez is grateful for the intention that guided the process — and for Caro’s help in picking one, he said.

One of the larger paintings on display is by Isabella Mellado, who lives in West Town and recently moved to Chicago from Puerto Rico. Being able to showcase her work — which highlights both of her identities — for the first time is a prideful, emotional experience, she said.

Mellado’s painting, created after a photo shoot with her family on the island, blends cultural Puerto Rican motifs like flowers, landscapes and a folkloric vejigante mask with queer notes that represent gender fluidity, like blue hair and an oversized yellow shirt.

“I don’t think I’ve ever truly been able to participate in an exhibition like this before,” Mellado said. “The experience of the diaspora is very similar to the experience of the queer community. They are two aspects of the [Puerto Rican] community, so the fact that this is a celebration of both identities, as opposed to the alienation of one, is pretty amazing.”

“liminal” runs through Feb. 15 and is free to view at the Puerto Rican museum.

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