Sanamos en Comunidad (2022)
“Sanamos en Comunidad” (Healing in Community) is the result of a community impact project focused on developing a sense of hope and reconciliation in the face of the COVID-19 emergency that the Puerto Rican community was facing.
During the months of July to December 2021, the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico (MAPR) and the Office for Socioeconomic and Community Development of Puerto Rico (ODSEC) joined forces to carry out a series of art therapy workshops that would provide healing to children in the municipalities of Loíza, Canóvanas and Carolina.
The workshops allowed the development and strengthening of socio-emotional skills in these students, demonstrating how art can teach us to manage our emotions and communicate our collective and individual experiences. The practical approach was in art therapy as means to facilitate tools that would allow them to recognize and express their experiences of COVID-19, with the mission of seeking healing with the community. A total of 240 girls and boys from the first to sixth grade enjoyed the visit of the MAPR team in their community and received a total of eight hours of workshops in four days of activities inspired by Puerto Rican art and works from the permanent collection of the Museum.
This exhibition demonstrates this effort culminating in a selection of the artistic works of the participating students from the following schools and institutions: Escuela Elemental Jobos (Loíza), Taller Salud (Loíza), Centro TAU (Loíza), Boys & Girls Club (Carolina), Escuela Mediania Alta Elemental (Loíza), Escuela Francisco "Paco" Dávila (Canóvanas), Escuela José Severo Quiñones (Carolina), Escuela de Bellas Artes de Carolina, Residencial Lagos de Blasina (Carolina), Escuela Jesús Maria San Román (Carolina), Escuela Guillermina Rosado de Ayala (Loíza) y Residencial Los Mirtos (Carolina).
The curatorial process involved selecting a series of works that the children produced during the art therapy workshops. The exhibition is divided in 5 sections, featuring different mediums like collage, sculpture, oil pastel, and acrylic paintings. Additionally, a 3D SketchUp Model was created to aid the exhibition design and preparation process.
This exhibition inaugurated the Cecilia Orta Allende Gallery at the Center for Innovative Education (CIE) of the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico. All the families of the participating children were invited to the inauguration.
Due to their age, the artists names are kept anonymous.
Curator, graphic & 3D exhibition designer: Jayling Drowne Rodríguez
Cecilia Orta Allende Gallery - CIE Museum of Art of Puerto Rico
The Sanamos en Comunidad exhibition is organized by curator Jayling Drowne Rodriguez and the Center for Innovative Education (CIE) of the Museum of Art of Puerto Rico.