Colby College Museum Showcases Art Of US Colonialism

(MENAFN- USA Art News) An exhibition titled“Imagining an Archipelago: Art from Cuba, Guam, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Their Diasporas” at the Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, explores themes of colonialism, migration, and identity through the work of over 40 contemporary artists and collectives.

The exhibition, which runs through June 6, 2027, opens with four key works that encapsulate its ambitious conceptual framework. Among them is Cuban-born Zilia Sánchez's painting, featuring white marks on a gray-black ground that evoke abstraction, figuration, and cosmology. Félix González-Torres's 1990 piece,“Untitled (USA Today),” invites viewers to consume candies in patriotic red, white, and blue wrappers. A 2023 concrete poem by CHamoru scholar and poet Craig Santos Perez spells out“Archipelagoes resemble constellations,” with its letters spaced to mimic an archipelago or a star pattern. Additionally, Juana Valdés's 2000 photograph series,“On the Malecón,” documents a Havana performance where paper boats made from torn 19th-century novel pages were set adrift, following a mass migration of Cubans to the United States due to economic hardship.

These islands, though geographically distinct, share a history of unwilling integration into the United States' colonial expansion. All were brought under US control at the conclusion of the War of 1898, also known as the Spanish-American War, ceded by Spain as part of the Treaty of Paris. Curator Jessamine Batario, however, emphasizes that the exhibition avoids reducing these places and their art to a simplistic sameness. Instead, it seeks to foster“archipelagic thinking,” a concept introduced by Édouard Glissant, which encourages considering relationships and solidarity from the viewpoint of distinct yet connected islands.

The exhibition is divided into two floors, one organized regionally and the other thematically. The Philippines section prominently addresses migrant labor, which contributes nearly 9% of the country's GDP through remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers. Here, Thea Canlas's 2023 work,“Export Quality (Value Studies: Uniforms),” features factory laborer and maid uniforms crafted from delicate piña cloth, typically reserved for formal attire. A newly commissioned projection by Jerome Reyes,“Those who care for everyone/ The Anointed salvaged/ That save all except themselves/ Who tends to you,” forms a poem acknowledging Filipino healthcare workers' critical role and sacrifices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Carlos Villa's 1996 sculpture,“Where My Uncles Went,” references Filipino migrant workers, or“manongs,” who arrived in the US during the 1920s and 1930s, depicting them as an“Invisible Man” through a floating fedora in a shadow box.

Two works, Teresita Fernández's 2020“Archipelago (Garland)” and Sara Jimenez's 2026“the seas breathing us in and out,” both envision the ocean as a connector. Fernández's piece is an alternative“map” of fused Caribbean island coastlines, while Jimenez's ceramic and textile installation alludes to the historic maritime route between the Philippines and Mexico. The exhibition also addresses US militarism through works such as Beatriz Santiago Muñoz's 2014 video,“Ojos para mis enemigos,” which follows a man in a crumbling US Navy base in Puerto Rico. Sherwin Rivera Tibayan's 2025 panels of found photographs,“Untitled Collage Frame #1 and #2,” depict Filipinos in the US Navy. Miguel Luciano's 1998 doctored Cracker Jack box,“Cracker Juan,” critically highlights the exploitation of Puerto Ricans by the US military with phrases like“Highest Combat Fatalities in US!” and“Citizenship Prize Inside.”

Another section dedicated to food includes Maia Cruz Palileo's 2014 paintings,“Still Life with Banana Catsup” and“The Old Table,” alongside Edra Soto's 2020 video,“Happy Hour, La Hora Feliz.” This video shows the artist preparing snacks from American processed foods that, as its soundtrack explains, replaced Puerto Rico's traditional island-grown crops. Other works, such as Daniel Lind-Ramos's 2018–19“Vencedor: 1797,” commemorate Black Puerto Ricans who defended against a British invasion, while Reynier Leyva Novo's 2012 resin casts of weapons from Cuba's 19th-century independence wars,“The Desire to Die for Others,” explore themes of sovereignty. Batario initially planned a fully thematic show, but artists suggested viewers might lack geographical and cultural familiarity with the featured places. This observation underscored the exhibition's necessity, particularly in light of contemporary American expansionist ambitions.

Source: Hyperallergic

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