Puerto Rican Prisoner of War

About the Work

From the Artist

Puerto Rican Prisoner of War evokes the weight of alienation, apartheid, racism, and sexism under colonialism. Even when there are beautiful flower patterns and floating spirals representing infinity and life. The tension exists especially with the heart representing the center of life and a photo of a bare-chested woman, who looks like she is about to be shot by a firing squad, with a Puerto Rican flag covering her identity.

The [fragility of] her situation represents and symbolizes the many Puerto Rican men and women who are presently in United States prisons for their involvement in the Puerto Rican independence movement. The photograph and the heart connote a vulnerability regardless of the pretty surrounding which is in constant movement. Identity also plays into this art as an element that can, at times, suffocate when under colonial domination and negative prejudice and manipulation.
_{—Brandywine Workshop and Archives records}

Puerto Rican Prisoner of War, 1994, was printed in an edition of 95 as an offset lithograph with hand-coloring. A semi-naked female is covered by a flag in the center. The flowers stand in stark contrast to the woman, who has been stripped of her identity and clothes. According to Juan Sanchez, this print represents the precarious position of political prisoners involved in the Puerto Rican Independence Movement. Sanchez's work advocates for Puerto Rican independence and opposes North American policies, all while referencing numerous sources and memories. It combines lush, painted surfaces with drawn petroglyph-like forms and collaged elements (including photographs, photocopies, and letter transfers). Sanchez combines various types of information, both formally and conceptually, through documentation, symbolism, and language.
_{—Adapted from Brandywine Workshop and Archives records and "Fresh, Human and Personal: Signature of Brandywine Workshop," Three Decades of American Printmaking: The Brandywine Workshop Collection (Manchester, VT: Hudson Hills Press, 2004)}