Las Caras Lindas

Las Caras Lindas explores the visual and social impact of Latin music album covers during the period when the vinyl LP was a dominant format of entertainment, paying critical attention to issues of identity, sense of place, African roots, faith, rhythm, dance, and the body, as well as graphic aesthetics, through representations of Hispanic people and cultures as they are presented to the consumer, with an emphasis on Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York. Themes of oppression and resistance, suffering and pleasure, erasure and pride, and utilizing creativity to fight against colonization, marginalization, and poverty are opposites held in tension and constant flux in these humble squares.