Otra Vez! 43rd Annual Three Kings Day Parade!

For the second year in a row, I lent a hand to my friends at El Museo del Barrio for their amazing, over-the-top annual event - Three Kings Day Parade & Celebration. This year being their 43rd, was entitled, Nuestros Barrios Unidos: Celebrating our Collective Strength, honoring New York City's immigrant and migrant communities of past and present. The parade is a beautiful tribute to Puerto Rican, Caribbean, Latin American and Latinx cultures, and the el Barrio neighborhood. It also helps to keep the cultural and religious tradition of the Three Kings, Dia De Los Reyes (AKA the Epiphany) alive. 

Being that I did it last year, I was asked once again to assist on the Facebook Live filming, hosted by Rhina "La Reina del Barrio" Valentin. I never knew that doing PA work would be interesting to me, but it was great fun to do it with Rhina and her comrades, J Spock and Frank as we ran through the parade filming all of the fun and grandeur featuring giant puppets, live camels and  performances by Bomba Yo, Annette Aguilar & the Stringbeans, Fogo Azul, and Wabafu Garifuna Dance Theater.

The Three Kings event starts early with a breakfast and awards ceremony honoring the Kings, Madrinas and Padrinos -  which includes addresses from local elected officials. Next is the main event - the colorful parade - marching from 106th and Park all the way up to La Marqueta (which has an after party of it's own). And finally, the after-party back at El Museo featuring Los Planeros de la 21 live in concert.  

Here are the Facebook livestream video links:

Morning Interviews with Kings at El Museo
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/1450379748460129/
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/2611331682277352/
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/2420506244881531/
Bomba Yo! Parranda at El Museo
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/1076140599393044/
Entire Honoree Award Ceremony at El Museo
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/2473881856261387/
Entire Parade Route
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/1092045801131851/
After Party at La Marqueta
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/516221649008235/
Live Concert with Los Planeros de la 21 at EL Museo
https://www.facebook.com/elmuseo/videos/471484240179219/

Backstage with El Museo Executive Director, Patrick Charpenel; Director of Communications, Rose Mary Cortez; Grand Marshall, Marcos Saavedra; King Emeritus, Jesus "Papoletto" Melendez; and some of the Madrenas and Padrinos.

Rhina Valentin (playing double-duty as a Madrina "Celia Cruz" and Facebook Live Hostess) with "King" Elba Cabrera. 

Before an interview with Univision TV.

Rhina being interviewed by MC Victor Cruz.

Bomba Yo

Honoree breakfast award ceremony.

"King" Elba Cabrera speech 

"King" Elba Cabrera

"King" Julissa Arce

Madrinas and Padrinos

Start of the parade route

Rhina with Public Advocate, Jumaane Williams

Rhina with Bomba Yo

Rhina with Fogo Azul

Three Kings

At La Marqueta

A parranda at la Marqueta

(all photos by me - see more on IG @whippedhoney)

Radical Art Roundup

I can't believe we're already halfway through 2019! I haven't been every good about keeping up with my blog posts, because from January to June I was working, attending grad school and doing an internship too. I may have bitten off more than I could chew. But now it's summer - I'm taking it slow and catching up on some of my more creative interests. Even though I've been busy, I did squeeze in time to see some great art, some of which I'd like to share. The common thread in each of the three group art exhibitions featured below are the strong social justice themes employed by the curators while also choosing aesthetically compelling works.

I'll start with the show I saw most recently, Radical Love at the newly opened Ford Foundation Gallery (on view June 11th through August 17th, 2019). This show curated by Jaishri Abichandani and Natasha Becker completely knocked my socks off.

"Love, in the context of this exhibition, is defined by a commitment to the spiritual growth and interconnectedness of the individual, their community, and stewardship of the planet. Guided by the powerful words of bell hooks, 'Were we all seeing more images of loving human interaction, it would undoubtedly have a positive impact on our lives.' The works in Radical Love are grounded in ideas of devotion, abundance, and beauty; here, otherness and marginality is celebrated, adorned, and revered."

Exhibiting artists: Sue Austin La Vaughn, Belle & Jeannette Ehlers, Maria Berrio, Raúl de Nieves, Omar Victor Diop, Vanessa German, Jah Grey, Baseera Khan, Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, McCallum & Tarry: Bradley McCallum & Jacqueline Tarry, Rashaad Newsome, Ebony G. Patterson, Jody Paulsen, Thania Petersen, Lina Puerta, Faith Ringgold, Athi-Patra, Ruga Nep Sidhu, Rose B. Simpson, Imani Uzuri, Lina Iris Viktor.

Another exhibit I saw recently was Race, Myth, Art, and Justice at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, curated by Grace Aneiza Ali and C. Daniel Dawson (November 15, 2018 - June 15, 2019).

"The exhibit explores intersecting ideas of race, myth, art, and justice through the lens and unique interpretations of twelve inter-generational photographers. Via innovative contemporary art practices, the photographers engage with the premise of “race” as a social construct rooted in myth, while simultaneously interrogating its profound implications and indignities on our 21st-century lives"

Featured Artists: Kwesi Abbensetts, Faisal Abdu’Allah, Terry Boddie, Jonathan Gardenhire, John E. Dowell, Jr. Adama Delphine Fawundu, Deborah Jack, Zoraida Lopez-Diago, Radcliffe Roye, Stan Squirewell, Ming Smith, Deborah Willis. Featured Writers:  Patrick Bova, Garnette Cadogan, Christopher Cozier, Tao Leigh Goffe, Claude Grunitzky, Natalie Hopkinson, Oneka LaBennett, Bárbaro Martínez-Ruiz, Pamela Newkirk, Seph Rodney, Niama Safia Sandy, and Brittany Webb.

Last but not least, I really enjoyed having the opportunity to see part of El Museo's permanent collection at Culture and The People: El Museo del Barrio, 1969-2019 (on view April 11 – September 29, 2019), curated by Susanna V. Temkin, and co-organized by Noel Valentin, El Museo’s Permanent Collection Manager.

"In celebration of its 50th anniversary, El Museo del Barrio presents Culture and the People: El Museo del Barrio, 1969-2019, a two-part exhibition featuring selections from the Permanent Collection and a timeline contextualizing the history of the institution with related archival materials. The exhibition will reflect on the institution’s activist origins and pioneering role as a cultural and educational organization dedicated to presenting and preserving Latinx and Latin American art and culture. The exhibition borrows its title from an essay penned by one of the Museum’s founders and its first director Raphael Montañez Ortíz, who outlined his concept for the institution in a 1971 article published in Art in America."

Featured artists: Adál, Ignacio Aguirre, ASCO, Myrna Báez, Diógenes Ballester, Tony Bechara, Charles Biasiny-Rivera, Tania Bruguera, Roger Cabán, Rodríguez Calero, Luis Camnitzer, Martin Chambi, Papo Colo, Felipe Dante, Margarita Deida and Piedro Pietri, Ana de la Cueva, Milagros de la Torre, Perla de León, Bartolomé de las Casas, Marcos Dimas, Nicolás Dumit- Estévez, León Ferrari, Antonio Frasconi, Coco Fusco, Carlos Garaicoa, Domingo García, iliana emilia garcía, Arturo García Bustos, Flor Garduño, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, Beatriz González, Félix González-Torres, Muriel Hasbún, Pablo Helguera, Ester Hernández, Gilberto Hernández, Carmen Herrera, Lorenzo Homar, Graciela Iturbide, Alfredo Jaar, Ivelisse Jiménez, Charles Juhász-Alvarado, Shaun “El. C.” Leonardo, Richard A. Lou, Miguel Luciano, Antonio Maldonado, Carlos Marichal, Hiram Maristany, Antonio Martorell, Héctor Méndez Caratini, Raphael Montañez Ortíz, Arnaldo Morales, José Morales, Rachelle Mozman, Francisco Manuel Oller y Cestero, Pepón Osorio, César Paternosto, Dulce Pinzón, Miguel Rio Branco, Rubén Rivera Aponte, Arnaldo Roche-Rabell, Félix Rodríguez Báez, Freddy Rodríguez, José A. Rosa Castellanos, Fernando Salicrup, Juan Sánchez, Jorge Soto Sánchez, Taller de Gráfica Popular, Rubén Torres-Llorca, Nitza Tufiño, Rafael Tufiño, Patssi Valdez, Vargas-Suárez Universal, Rigoberto Torres, and the Young Lords Party.