REPEOPLE:
THE TAINO CULTURE
I'm a Dominican American Artist that dove into the history of the Dominican Republic to bring awareness to the genocide of the Native Taíno people at the hands of Christopher Columbus. This was the second poster of my three triptych series that in total was 9 posters. This set of posters represents the repeopling (meaning to people again) the Taíno culture by the Spaniards. Through their deaths came the establishment of Christianity that to this day has roots in the Dominican Republic. Christopher Columbus was honored with a crossed shape lighthouse in present-day covering the true culture that was first established on the island.
Media: paint, & graphics
Size: 24 by 36
Year: 2018
Rooting back to finger painting for the visuals of this piece to show native symbols used by the Taíno people. Their culture has been so served that there is little to nothing left to represent their life. Using the history that was documented in Puerto Rico through the years, I used the symbols to bring the culture to life. I wanted the imagery to be as raw as possible to relate back to cave drawings and to prehistoric times due to the lack of cultural context that can be provided for this culture. Making my main goal to not appropriate this culture but to respectfully represent it.
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SEVERED LINEAGE:
THE TAINO NATIVES
This was the first set of posters I made for this 3 triptych series. Repersenting the twist of fate the Taíno people faced, when the Spaniards cut off their lineage. The Taíno lineage was severed to the point that there aren't any direct decedents of these indigenous natives. The posters relay the dismembered pieces of the Taíno people that were a result to revolting against the Spaniard conquest. The conquest that started in the Dominican Republic led by Christopher Columbus, led to the genocide of these natives from the Caribbean.
Media: pencil, & graphics
Size: 24 by 36
Year: 2018
I was inspired by a mixture of textbook graphics that displayed the torture inflicted on the Taíno people, along with influences from Renaissance anatomy drawings. I wanted to represent a Taíno arm without any trace of misrepresentation due to the respect I wanted to uphold for these lost people and culture. Keeping it down to core anatomy in pencil sketch to serve as a metaphor
for the disembodiment of the tortured natives.
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ENGRAVED:
ERASED LANGUAGE
For the last set of three, I wanted to use the Taíno language, the little I was able to find. These words describe the evolution of culture at the hands of the conquerors. I used high contrast black and white visuals to emphasis the pain and destruction of the culture of the Taíno natives. "NI TAINO" meaning upper class, "NABORIA" meaning lower class, and "SUBSERIES" which is what the natives were left to be by the Spaniards that riped their culture apart.
Media: carving, & graphics
Size: 24 by 36
Year: 2018
I used the back of my bristol pad to carve out the original Taíno language "Ni Taíno," meaning Taíno upper class. Using an Exacto knife I wanted to emphasis the tare away of language and status inflicted by the Spanish conquerors.
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