Craft Crossroads & Pepón Osorio (El Museo del Barrio) – Repeating Islands

As part of their Something Beautiful: Reframing La Colección series, this week, El Museo del Barrio will reveal a new section, “Craft Crossroads,” and a new artist spotlight on Pepón Osorio (with one of my favorite installations, “La cama”). [Free exhibition tours on November 11 and 12, 1:00-2:00pm and 2:30-3:30pm (EST).]

‘Craft Crossroads’ includes artworks that reclaim knowledge, labor, and skills that have been historically marginalized to challenge power structures and hegemonic value judgements. Together, they complicate the distinctions between so-called high art and popular culture, insisting on the centrality of craft.

Pepón Osorio’s artistic practice references cultural rituals and the dynamics of public and private spaces that are of special significance to his fellow Puerto Ricans. In the installation La cama, as seen above, a bedspread is covered with capias, mementos gifted on important occasions such as weddings and baptisms. This work is a tribute to Juana Hernández, the woman who served as spiritual guide and caretaker to Osorio throughout his childhood.

For more information, see https://www.elmuseo.org/plan-your-visit/