Including Fast X, The Little Mermaid and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3
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How a violent practice rooted in colonialism is being subverted
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March 18 – April 29, 2023
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Joaquin Phoenix stars in Ari Aster's three-hour sprawl of angst and despair
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From an era-spanning epic to a tale of the super-rich, here are our 2023 picks
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The "unusual and stylish" Drops of God is based on a Japanese Manga series
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Why the 50-year-old vampire film Ganja & Hess is only now getting its due
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The inadvertent downside of novels and films about global warming
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How two men are rescuing its great antiquities from around the world
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Why artist Scott Covert has devoted himself to finding famous people's graves
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Edra Soto’s work likely appears familiar to you. Though the Chicago-based artist has been commissioned for numerous public artworks in recent years, that is probably not the reason why. Instead, it is simply because her decade-long project, “GRAFT,” draws on architectural motifs—repeating stars, circles, and other shapes— ubiquitous in Puerto Rico that have since been exported all over the world.
In her work, Soto, who was born in Puerto Rico, highlights the cultural appropriation of these patterns, which were originally found on cast-iron fences outside homes in Puerto Rico.
“You can find them everywhere,” Soto told ARTnews recently, ahead of two solo exhibitions opening this month. “You can find them at Starbucks, at a department store. I realized they exist all over the world. They’re not only exclusive to Puerto Rico. But the story that I’m telling is the story of Puerto Rico.”
When visitors arrive at Puerto Rico’s San Juan Airport, among the first things they encounter is Spanish colonial era architecture. One element, the garita (an overhanging turret or sentry box), has even been incorporated into the logo of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, in essence becoming a symbol synonymous with the island, according to Soto. But, for her, that symbolism is inextricably connected to Puerto Rico’s status as an unincorporated territory of the United States and as the world’s oldest colony.
“This is a colonial and military architectural element that lives in Puerto Rico,” she said of the motifs.
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