(San Juan, Puerto Rico – 30 de junio de 2023) The “Lánzame a la Selva” art exhibition is a look from the inside at the life in the Luis Llorens Torres public complex captured by children and youth participants of Boys & Girls Club of Luis Llorens Torres Club. Emerging artists were inspired by the poem “El Negro” by Luis Llorens Torres. The art work are exhibit at the Oller Room of the San Juan Museum until July 9, open to the public free of charge during regular museum hours.
“This is the purest way to let the world know what Llorens really is, what youth really is”, expressed the educational coordinator of the Boys & Girls Club of Llorens Torres, Eunice Soto. This space does not leave behind the realities of scarcity, poverty, lack of education and violence that our children and young people experience in their communities. However, the beauty of this art work is that within everyday life in art there is always a space to reinvent that reality and show another alternate reality,” Soto said.
“During the opening, which was emotional, it was important to see their own joy in identifying their art work and seeing it exposed, illuminated, and with its technical sheet. Our commitment is to disseminate this, to continue collaborating with social and community-based organizations such as Boys & Girls Clubs of Puerto Rico, and for the museum to also be a showcase to exhibit not only the best of Puerto Rican art, but also the best of the emerging art of childhood and youth”, expressed Luis Moisés Pérez, director of the San Juan Museum during the opening on Wednesday, June 28.
The exhibition includes different expressions of art, from masks, photographic installation, collage, audiovisual piece, painting, drawing and sculpture, for a total of 17 art works. The art pieces were worked on during workshops and programs offered by the Llorens Torres Club to its participants after school hours and during the summer program. These programs are possible thanks to the collaboration of allies such as the Department of Education, Department of Public Housing, the theater company Y no había luz, A Friends Foundation and the San Juan Museum. Allies who, as Eunice rightly mentions, believe in “art as the only alternative to eradicate violence”.
For those who wish to contribute and support the mission and vision of the organization, they can make donations through donar.bgcpr.org or through ATH Móvil using pATH/BoysandGirlsClubsdePR.