Your Lat-Am Caribbean Show Preview

The Stamford Art Association will be debuting its 2nd Annual Lat-Am Caribbean Show in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month on Thursday, September 24th from 5:30-7pm at the Townhouse Gallery.

The show is curated by SAA Gallery manager, art educator, artist and author Valeria Ochoa. Lat-Am Caribbean showcases multiple interpretations and expressions of the Lat-Am Caribbean theme in different media types. Pictured above, is photography by Douglas Beardsley, Haiti Masquerade. The image is striking: the subject’s bright green face paint gazing at the viewer with a sultry pose, contrasting with her purple and blue ringlets. The woman in the photo reminds me of a Caribbean version of the Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West.

Los Guardianes del Coqui by Jose Soto greats visitors as they ascend the staricase to the second floor. The coqui is a small “culturally significant” tree frog in Puerto Rico that is named after its “cokee” chirping sound. This frog is embedded in Puerto Rican folklore,
and the creature is considered the guardian of the forest. In the artwork, the coqui is protected by the masked figures or vejigantes “symbolizing different regions and cultural expressions of Puerto Rico” and they are “conceived as guardians of cultural identity.”