Ponce Massacre

1997
Oil/ collage on canvas
34" x 51"

This image represents my interest in examining and reinterpreting American icons. I find the use of American political cartoons to instigate nationalist and, later, imperialist sentiments to be extremely revealing. Within this composition is a copy of "The Bloody Massacre" by Paul Revere, based on the Boston Massacre of 1770. He borrowed the composition from another artist who had printed the image with biblical text. Revere revised the image, incorporating his own anti-colonial text, however the actual massacre that took place was of a lesser scale than the one depicted in his work. In the spirit of borrowing and radicalizing imagery, using Revere's composition, I substituted the image with that of the massacre that took place in Ponce, Puerto Rico on March 21, 1937. Unlike the exaggeration that Revere incorporated into his work, mine is based on a photograph, an actual account of what took place. I painted it with a monochromatic palette and finished it with an ochre glaze to suggest the appearance of an old newspaper clipping. Studying the newspaper image for the painting was a haunting experience. In scaling the composition and sketching it onto the canvas, I took notice of young children who were directly in the line of fire. (Tears are often another paint medium of mine.)

On Palm Sunday, the Nationalists had planned a parade for families and the residents of Ponce to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico (March 22, 1873). Though they had received a permit from the mayor, the US-appointed police chief ordered that it be revoked at the last minute. The Nationalists continued with their march. Shots fired by the police resulted in the death of 21 people and more than 100 wounded. Although the police insisted that it was a shoot-out between the two groups, that was not the case. An investigation conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union found that none of the Nationalists present at the event were armed. It is the report of these findings that appears as the text in the painting.

Today the building featured in the painting on the corner of Marina and Aurora Streets in the downtown area of Ponce is a museum. It is called La Casa de la Masacre de Ponce. With the recent lay offs of the infamous Fortuño administration in Puerto Rico taking affect in November of 2009, many cultural institutions such as this one have lost staff and run the risk of being closed. The museum houses a permanent collection of images documenting the Ponce Massacre as well as various leaders of the Nationalist Party. It also has on display images and information surrounding the infamous "carpeteo" or repressive government files surveillance of independence supporters. My tio Julio, the oldest of my father's brothers remembers the events of the massacre which he experienced as a young child. Both my parents families hail from Ponce.