A transmedia art project about the experience of Hurricane María in the Puerto Rican Diaspora.

Image: Original poster art by illustrator Damaris Cruz for the Despojo project.

El despojo: ¿Alguien ha/Has Anyone? is a transmedia project by Puerto Rican women and nonbinary artists in the diaspora to address mourning, loss, rage, and healing in the wake of Hurricane María. It is a shared process of catharsis and healing, with a presence across multiple platforms (web, social media, and print), as well as a series of curated live events and site-specific installations.

The core of the piece is a 60-minute performance by a group of women and nonbinary Puerto Rican diaspora artists from a range of disciplines, directed by poet, writer, and cultural worker Yara Liceaga Rojas.

It mutates depending on the venue or platform it is presented in, but it includes the creations of:

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Neighborhood Salon Luminary Luana Morales,

• interdisciplinary artist Shey Rivera,

• multidisciplinary artist Anabel Vázquez Rodríguez,

• Lyric Coloratura Soprano Karish,

• healing arts group Seeds of Our Ancestors,

• political theater troupe AgitArte,

• Illustrators Nieves Pumarejo, Rosaura Rodríguez, Damaris Cruz, Poli Marichal and Emilio Guillermo,

• designer and transmedia strategist Sasha Costanza-Chock,

• and photographer and filmmaker Carla Cavina, among others.

On Saturday, September 21, 2019, El despojo: ¿Alguien ha/Has Anyone? premiered at CROMA, in Arlington Street Church, Boston, MA, as part of the Live Arts Boston 2019 program.

In October 2019, the project appeared in the Boston Center for the Arts’ Mills Gallery with support from the Run of the Mills micro-residency.

The project is a finalist for the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Creative City 2020 program; if secured, this grant will support the production of a participatory digital component and a public art installation.

Please join us as the project unfolds! In the future, we hope to launch an interactive storytelling platform where you will be able to share your experience; for now, you can support us on Indiegogo (and receive original prints by the project's illustrators), follow us on Facebook, and come to our upcoming events.