Caribbean: Crossroads of the World

The exhibition Caribbean: Crossroads of the World has just opened at El Museo del Barrio, the product of almost a decade of shared labor between this institution, the Queens Museum of Art, and Harlem's Studio Museum. It presents the aesthetic evolution of Caribbean art over the last four hundred years.

At the same time, the show explores the economic transformation of the region and emphasizes the impact that the introduction of modern production systems for the cultivation of sugar, tobacco, and bananas, as well as the growth of the energy and tourism industries, have had on the region's culture, both as a source of wealth and as a source of conflict.

The exhibition is structured in five sections: Patriot Acts, Fluid Motions, Kingdoms of this World, Shades of History, and Land of the Outlaw. The first section deals with the role that Creole culture played in the formation of the national discourses in the countries of the Caribbean basin, and reminds us of the way in which its artists and intellectuals confronted a traditional aesthetics of indigenous origin.

The second section examines the geopolitical complexities of a region comprised of a multitude of islands where human and natural forces clash, and where the establishment of commercial routes has often camouflaged the imperialist ambitions of foreign powers. On its part, Kingdoms of This World explores the dazzling variety of visual systems, idioms, cultures, and religions that exist in the Caribbean and their role in the development of local folklore, while Shades of History reviews the weight that the notion of race has had in the region's history and visual culture, especially after the Haitian Revolution of 1791, when belief in the existence of a specifically Caribbean ethnic group sparked fiery debates about human rights and national identity.

Finally, Land of the Outlaw scrutinizes our dual view of the Caribbean as a utopian space of pleasure and as the scene of illicit activities. That image projected outwardly intertwined foundational myths and media-based stereotypes that are already entrenched in popular culture.

Caribbean: Crossroads of the World is open to the public and can be visited through January, 2013.