El Cuartel de Ballajá (the Ballajá Barracks in English) is without doubt one of the most recognizable buildings within the Outdated San Juan space in Puerto Rico. It was a part of a Spanish navy block that included El Morro, a big fortress that stood guard over its part of the coast for the aim of recognizing and defending in opposition to invading forces. Spanish troopers held navy workouts there, together with barracks seurity and weapons storage duties, when the Island was a Spanish colony. The constructing has a number of entry factors, all resulting in a giant open courtyard that you could possibly match a small military in. It’s an awesome area to highlight native expertise, specifically via theatrical occasions, artwork galleries, people dance, and markets. Actually, to make use of El Cuartel to spotlight Puerto Rican creativity signifies an try to strike on the location’s colonial and exchange it with one thing that pushes again in opposition to its oppressive legacy.
Edgardo Miranda-Rodríguez is contributing to this cultural resistance effort with a brand new exhibit centered on the current and way forward for his creation La Borinqueña, now on show on the third flooring of El Cuartel. Titled “The Artwork of La Borinqueña,” the exhibit acts as one of many inaugural actions for Humanidades Puerto Rico (Humanities Puerto Rico in English), a non-profit group invested in supporting tasks involving the humanities. It’s now open to the general public Thursday via Saturday from 11:00AM-4:30PM. It’ll run until August twentieth of this yr.
“The Artwork of La Borinqueña” options a few of the authentic comics most iconic pages and covers, that includes the works of legends like George Peréz, John “Crash One” Matos, and Ken Lashley. When you’ve been following Miranda-Rodríguez’s books, you’ll discover greater than sufficient to like right here. When you’re new to the world of La Borinqueña, then the exhibit is basically a heat welcome right into a fantasy world that has one foot firmly planted within the complexity of Puerto Rican id and the opposite on the richness of the Puerto Rican expertise from the Island to the Diaspora.
One notably thrilling facet of the exhibit is its motion determine showcase. It accommodates prototypes of the primary line of figures Miranda-Rodríguez launched alongside the most recent addition to La Borinqueña’s group of allies: V-G1GANTE. This can be a Mazinger-inspired mech impressed by Puerto Rico’s personal vejigantes, characters from native folklore that sport masks with horns and fangs that initially meant to scare individuals into going to church. It appears to be like superb. Those that go to El Cuartel will get a detailed take a look at it.
Edgardo Miranda-Rodríguez is a grasp promoter of his work. Indie creators ought to take observe. Miranda-Rodríguez has constructed La Borinqueña into an establishment, brick by brick. It has taken a whole lot of steps to get his character to the purpose it’s at. She’s already been featured on the Smithsonian and in chocolate bars, impressed cosplay and graffiti artwork, and been the main voice in a fundraising comedian e book known as Ricanstruction meant to assist victims of Hurricane María (which hit the Caribbean in 2017). She simply will get larger and extra necessary every step of the way in which. This newest exhibit builds upon the mission, and its present keep at El Cuartel de Ballajá is a delightfully loud achievement that factors to an excellent louder future.
Right here’s a take a look at V-G1GANTE:
