Multidisciplinary artist Jo Cosme and writer Beverly Aarons discussed the impact of US imperialism on Puerto Rico at a Grocery Studios event on January 18, 2025. Cosme, originally from Boricua, highlighted her VR experience Welcome to Paradise" and the lenticular series Battle for Paradise, which address the dual realities of Puerto Rico as a tourist paradise versus a US colony facing structural neglect and displacement. Cosme also discussed disaster capitalism, the privatization of beaches, and the importance of reclaiming indigenous heritage. The event emphasized the need for global awareness and support for Puerto Rican artists and activists. You can listen to the event or read the transcript.
Beverly Aarons 00:35
Thank you. Welcome everyone. My name is Beverly Aarons. I'm the founder of artists up close, we tell stories. We tell artists stories before they're famous. And it's the honor of me, for me to sit here Joe, Joe's like, bless you now, to have this event with Joe Cosme and to talk about this important topic, I want to thank the grocery studios, Janet and Demi for making this possible and accepting our request to come here and have this event, and thank all of you for coming. And so the way that this is going to work is that Joe is going to introduce herself first, then we'll have a conversation between Joe and I, and then we'll open it up so that we can have an interactive conversation where you can add your thoughts, you can ask questions, and make this more of a discussion than anything else. Okay, okay, let's get started. Okay, so as you already know, my name is Joe Cosmere. First of all, thank you all so much for coming here. Thank you Beverly and Janet and Demi for helping facilitate this.
Jo Cosme 01:53
So yes, I am a multidisciplinary artist from borique, also known as Puerto Rico. I moved here, like around 2018 which is a year after Hurricane Maria, exactly more or less in search. Yes, normally people move out of unstable countries the search for a better life, more job, and then being here, I was, like, shocked with the lack of understanding and knowledge in regards to how US imperialism looks like in the case of boricu Puerto Rico. So I got re inspired. I had quit making art because I had no time or money for it, and then here I got the opportunity, and was lucky enough to get a bunch of grants and access to things that made me be able to go back to making art and decided to work on this topic to help educate. It was also like a way of me to navigate my own survivor guilt and displacement, displacement issues. I was like, What can I do outside of Puerto Rico? I could be helping them out while being so far away. How can I continue fighting? How can I continue resisting? How I can continue you know that activism work, so doing this type of art is what helped me navigate all of that. So that's why you oh and sorry. So what you see here is just like a like a very small version of a way bigger body of work.
Beverly Aarons 03:16
And if you could just take us through each piece here, we have
Jo Cosme 03:24
Welcome to paradise. Here the VR experience. Tell us, tell us about this piece first with the correct with this one. So the multimedia series is called Welcome to Paradise, viva, Puerto Rico libre, because I am playing with the duplicity of like what a from an outsider perspective, is expected to see as Puerto Rico like a paradise versus what we experience on the ground, where there is a lot of like, need and claiming of liberation and Viva Puerto Rico libre just translates to Long live a free and sovereign Puerto Rico. So it's like those two things in one, in the title for the whole series, starting here. So this is like two works in one, the VE gigante. The ve gigante would be a folkloric mask that we inherited from our West African indigenous Taino and Spanish times, well, it has like been reclaimed for by the oriquoi, in turn, into a different symbol now, so now in current times, it just represents, like a symbol of cultural resistance against double colonization, which started with the Spanish and now with the North America, or us so. And then I turned it into inflatable. Because, to me, like, we know this symbol very well, and how it like, encompasses, like, a lot of resistance against these things. But then with the you know, when cultural appropriation happens, a lot of things lose their meaning. So it's kind of like a cynical take on, like Disney World version of. A very important symbol for us. So that's why it's inflatable. And then the VR would be la playa son del pueblo, or the beaches belong to the people. It comes from a protest chance that we still are doing in all the many beaches in Puerto Rico who are trying to be privatized for touristic or settler reasons. So I went to Puerto Rico, and I had a 360 camera stuck on the ground. Got a 360 view of the beach, and a beach that is currently actually like, not very well known for people who are not from Puerto Rico. So it's, yeah, it's one of those few beaches that we can go, and we are still a majority a lot of other beaches, we are a minority now, and we feel foreign in our homeland. So I kind of wanted to, like, take a nod also to just what Manifest Destiny looks like in like old paintings. Is a 360 version of that. But then I juxtaposed it with a protest chant, kind of saying like, this is not for you to be taking from us. So it's like, again, those two things like the what consumerist voyeuristic perspective of the beach paired with the reality of what is going on on the island. So that is this, and you have three particulars in the back here, yes. And first off, how many is in the complete body of work? Currently there's six. There will be more. Okay, so we've got three of them back here. If you could just tell us what people are looking at when they see this. Yes. So the lenticular series is titled battle for Paradise.
Jo Cosme 06:41
So I again, step playing with the two realities in one, funny enough, when I have lived in Puerto Rico my entire life, and I didn't know that there were a gated neighborhoods within gated neighborhoods that are majority North American. So I I, how do you say illegally snuck in, broke in. I don't know. Anyway, I have from France. We figured it out, got in there, and I just went in with my camera, took all these photos, ran out, and then paired it with what I am used to seeing every day. There's a lot of these photos, actually, that are taken after the hurricane in 2019 2020, 2022, and the houses still look the same. The streets look the same. There's many houses without roofs still. So I was just bearing, like, why? Like, what is paradise like? Kind of questioning like, how can people call a place paradise? From the local population is, like, more than half in poverty, and this is the thing that we live every day. We don't have access to the pretty pristine beaches like we do to some, but others we have lost because of privatization, which is illegal too. So it's kind of like, Why? Why do you call this paradise and we cannot. Why can you come visit and get the best out of my own land? But I cannot. Like, what? How do you call that paradise? So who can afford paradise? Who can afford humanity, you know? So that's what the lenticular series is encompassing.
Beverly Aarons 08:06
In our previous conversation, you talked about how, after the hurricane, and that just the hurricane, all the challenges that Puerto Rico faces,there's a phenomenon that's called Disaster Capitalism. Can you talk a little bit about what disaster capitalism is and how it has impacted you as someone who's indigenous or Puerto Rico
Beverly Aarons 08:40
Boricua
Jo Cosme 08:41
Boricua anyway, so thank you. Sorry. Do a shout out. So, okay, disaster capitalism. So Disaster Capitalism is something that was coined by a philosopher of political social sciences called Naomi Klein. She's from Canada.
Jo Cosme 09:08
I have two books to shout out, which is Shock Doctrine is a little bit bigger. But then if you want to only read about disaster capitalism, in regards to Puerto Rico, she wrote another book called by which is where I got my name inspired for that anticourse battle for Paradise, disaster capitalism in Puerto Rico is the name of the book. It's both in English and Spanish, really small, easy to read anyway, so that's where a lot of this came from as well. Reading those books inspired me. So Disaster Capitalism is a term now referring to when a land loses monetary value, and people come and settle and take up land. This happened very recently in Hawaii with the fires, and he's a it happens in many other places as well. In the in the case of Puerto Rico, it happened clearly after the hurricane. It happened happening a little bit before then, but after the hurricane, it kind of just like exactly. Surveyed. It like people just like started coming in a corrupt government also is offering incentives for North American interests, so they don't have to even pay taxes and stuff like that. So whereas we pay the higher taxes if we were a state, they don't pay anything. So it just creates an uneven ground for us to be able to even coexist. There's a lot of power dynamics in play when it comes to that. And then, because of that, also when they come in, they think they own the place. So they come to us and be like, well, I own you. And this type of, really, this type of dynamic happens very often, like they literally have said this to my friend's face. They I, when I come visit all my friends have like, hundreds of stories like that, and I feel like it's only getting rapidly worse with time. So I don't know if I even answered the question, but absolutely okay,
Beverly Aarons 10:53
we had quite a layered conversation about this. Yes, you talked about how people come in and take possession of the land, including the beaches, yes, which is something you speak to in the VR experience, correct? And really your particulars also,but also, we discussed how people come in and rewrite the story of the people, right? We had a conversation about your experience as someone who is indigenous of a Ricoh but who is also an artist, and how you had to discover that indigeneity. Can you talk a little bit about that discovery and also how that impacted your work and your perspective as an artist.
Jo Cosme 11:49
Okay, so in Puerto Rico, we're not really like some of us do grow up with like my grandpa, for example. He is very like into Santeria. He practices like West African and Taino you know, things. And he was also like, yeah, so I grew up with a little bit of that. But then when you grow up in the in the colonial school, you are taught to always look up to America, like the US, and disconnect yourself from that, like indigeneity and like non claim and in like, to your own identity, to your own land. And I feel like I was reading, listening to podcasts in Hawaii, where it was kind of similar, where you're, like, a with a blood quantum, and also, like, in other ways of how the colonial system makes you, like, disconnect to that identity. So it's better, easier to take up the land, because you yourself lose your own identity. So, like, if you don't have that a power to claim what is, like yours or your land, then then it's easy to be like, yes, yes. Like, concept blur. So it's kind of the same thing as we did. Was like, dinos, for example, they had, like, not only a physical genocide, but a paper genocide as well, where, after a while you couldn't even identify as a tiny or indigenous so. So that's been embedded in our own system for all this time now this new generation, myself included, we're trying to relearn all of this and have power and that reclamation of our like indigenous heritage and and land. And I feel like that is also part of why now a lot of more people are, like, more a confident taking up the streets, taking up the land, and being like, No, you are you are foreign here. You do not have a claim to this. So with all these people coming in, so, for example, in Puerto Rico, we say gringo go home. But it's not very different from saying land back. It's the same. It's just go away. Also, the Tainos are another not federally recognized tribe, which is also part of like how it's easier to take your land if you don't even recognized as a nation. You know, in the case of Puerto Rico, we're not we're not nothing, we're not like our own country, we're not a state. We're like floating so it's just very like it's so nuanced and complicated. But I hope, I hope I'm doing a good job at explaining it.
Beverly Aarons 14:09
Just to clarify, and I'm sure everyone probably knows this is in this room, but Puerto Rico is a territory of the US, right? So let's just clarify that. But even that is something that has been made invisible. Can you talk about that experience of people here on the mainland, right, not actually being able to connect to the idea, the reality that the people in Puerto Rico, or that the Puerto Rican land mass is is a territory of the US. Tell me about that extent.
Jo Cosme 14:52
So Puerto Rico is a colony. It's just fancier. Term is used, Commonwealth. Territory, but it is a colony. The UN made it illegal for nations to have colonies. I can't remember exactly the date, because I'm terrible with numbers, but it happened, and because of that,they changed the wordingso they wouldn't get their wrists left. But nothing changed. It's still a colony. And that is why, when I saw history books quote Puerto Rico to be the oldest colony. It comes from that, because it never stopped. It was colonized by the Spanish, and then it got just transferred onto the US, and it has never stopped. So since the 1500s it never stopped being a colony in the US, for example, if you look up on Google the insular cases, you will find that these territories, which is like five, all of us, are classified as a how do you Say? I'm gonna paraphrase, is they called. It's not savage tribes that are not fit to self govern you. That is still to this day, since 1900s if you look it up, it is still under that all Guam Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virginia islands, all of us, like are under that and actually, that is also why I did that piece over there with the car T Spencer. Part of my like, Reclaiming my own background and history, has been doing all this research that we're not even taught on Puerto Rico, even even less so in the United States. So Ihave l ike finding more and more information. We don't know that in Puerto Rico, the insular crisis, I only found out because I finally had the privilege of time to sit down and read and research. But while when you're in Puerto Rico, you're just surviving all the time, you don't have time to be like reading unless you you have access to it
Beverly Aarons 17:02
isn't isn't it also true, I think we talked about this, that on the island, you were not able to access books about the history, Right? Tell us about how you came here and discover a lot of this history you know outside.
Jo Cosme 17:26
So there are old, old books that you can find in the public library, in the public school, a university, but that's, that's, that's it, if you like, your entire life in high school, all you know is the US is the best. They're gonna save us. That's all we hear. So when you unless you already have a family, that is very like proliferation and you know, but that is, it's not very common. And as we all know, like you take away the education of the people, you can control them better. So I feel like that is the case in Puerto Rico. They keep us uneducated on purpose.
Jo Cosme 18:03
And so there's a lot of power in looking, seeking this information. So but on the other hand, a lot of this history is told by word like word of mouth. So going to a bar, even you like, hang out with elders, going to the mountains, stuff like that. Some people have a lot of stories, and you hear them, and then you can, kind of like trace the dots, which is also why I did that card the card dispenser is kind of like a way to, like the word of mouth and tell us, tell us what's in the card dispenser so that people can expect, yes. So the card dispenser. Now there is a lot of more books that you can find, but I also had to find them after there is now a new book called Puerto Rico national history. It's new. It's also in English and Spanish, and I have starting from the dino times up a little bit after the hurricane. So it's a lot of information, but it's not that big of a book. Anyway. That card dispenser is a lot of the research that I was doing to learn, but then I I figured I'd also spread the knowledge, because I feel like that is meant for everybody. So it's titled The history of forgetfulness, called, coming from a Spanish expression like Toria de reveal, which is kind of like with because of that lack of documentation and access to that, or if there is, there's like, a lack of access to it, easy access, you tend to forget what happened. So there's this notion of like, like, it happened a long time ago, you know, but it didn't really and it's happening all over again. So, and then, for example, it's like, settlers coming in and being like, No, I'm investing in this land. I'm doing good for you. It's kind of like, hasn't this happened, like, many times over and over again, in different ways. This is just a modern version of the same thing. So for me, that doing that, it was like I was tracing the the like, filling in. Gaps, really, of the history books, both in Puerto Rico and the US, of the reality of what it is to be impacted by US imperialism in the case of Puerto Rico. And then on the cards as well, I have a QR code at the bottom. And then through that QR code, you have access to all of the cards, so you can read all of them, and then also all of the podcast, books, articles, YouTube, videos, whatever form that you like to consume your like education on a list that I made, and then also another list that is meant for a donation of time or money to grassroots organizations in Puerto Rico trying to rebuild. So all of that is on in those cards.
Jo Cosme 20:45
And one other thing I wanted to touch on is the documentary that you have streaming, if you could just briefly tell folks what they can expect and what that documentary is showcasing. Yeah, so the documentary is done by another Boricua from the island. Her name is Bianca growlau, and she's an independent journalist. So, as we all know, Independence journalists are like the most reliable source. So she is has been English and Spanish. Have a YouTube channel and a podcast like saying all this information that is happening currently, and so through bad bunny, because that bunny is such a, like, worldwide, known celebrity right now, he kind of did this trap of, like, I have this music video of four minutes, and then all of a sudden, boom, a documentary. And then this documentary is by Bianca, and the documentary is about the current problem with the US influx of like gentrification. What, how the settling and the tourism has been partaking in the in the Super Rapid gentrification and pushing out of the native communities and like so the documentary and the Airbnbs all this stuff. So the documentary, like, talks about that, and it's horo aqui vive gente, which is like people still live here because of sin Puerto Rico as a paradise or a vacation resort. People forget that people live there is not just a place to go consume and
Beverly Aarons 22:24
there's also another interesting aspect to this is that because of the lack of investment, the lack of recovery assistance and support, many people have left Puerto Rico right, yourself included, at least for now. Yeah, and we talked in our previous conversation a little bit about the impact of that, if we can unpack that a little bit, tell me, as an artist, leaving the place that you grew up in and coming here to talk about your experiences there, what? What has that been like for you? Because it's almost like you're coming outside of yourself, right? To talk about something that it's just like a fish coming out of water, to talk about water, you know, like, I imagine, I don't have to imagine, actually, I know you're older, yeah, but if you could share and talk about what that experience is like for you,
Jo Cosme 23:29
Oh, wow. It's been, it's been a journey, as they say now, so stepping out was was dramatizing. It was it was hard, struggling with displacement and survivors guild is is not easy. But the silver lining in that is that, as I mentioned now, I had the privilege of time. And with the privilege of time came being able to process everything I went through with the hurricane and before and my family, the i We have suicide rates are super high. We have a lot of friends. I've lost a lot of friends because of that. Family members that have died because of medical my practices, because they're not a lot of doctors, so I have, first hand, have to experience all the, yeah, the lack of bodies in Puerto Rico to keep us healthy, and the colony just slowly kills you. It is we are now also saying that we feel that there is another Puerto Rico has been ongoing with an ethnic cleansing for since the beginning, and it's just happening all over again, because, like part I was reading about genocide, and part of genocide is also displacing a mass of people from their land, as was happening in Puerto Rico. And currently, Puerto Rico is mostly an An archipelago of older folks with no access to medical things. So it's, yeah, it's sad, and I feel like that's also how bad money now released the album with culture, culture, culture, because he's like, we don't want to, want to disappear. We're like, holding on as much as we can. So when I came here to answer your question, I had a kind of a similar thing a little bit before this album release, was like, I wanted, I was like, I felt like, desperate to, like, cling on to what is me? Because everything in Seattle feels so like, like cold, not just the weather, but like, everything was so so, so different from what I'm used to, culturally speaking, socially speaking, legal like, everything is so different that I just, like, had to cling on to, like, to my but boricuan is to Puerto Rico, you know, to my people as much as I could, because, like, I didn't want to lose myself, because the code switching alone already makes you lose yourself a lot, you know, in the second language is like, No, you can't be too loud. You can't be too aggressive, you know. So it was really intense to mold and dilute my personality to fit into Seattle. But what came from that also is, after I got I got over that depression. Now I'm just like, I don't care deal with it. And, yeah, that's why I've been doing a lot of reading. I've been trying to find power in that, in my identity and and try to find empathy and understanding and more people to help us out.
Beverly Aarons 26:38
I want to go back to the artwork. And like I want to go back to the artwork and talk about how this, when this first came together, and why you decided to put this collection of work together.
Jo Cosme 26:58
So this all started after COVID. Um, I did not want to do art anymore, and then I met Hanako, who's a local artist. She's somewhere around here. Yeah, shout out to Hanako. Hanako, when I met her, she was pretty like, established here, and she started talking to me about grants and residencies and art calls. And I was like, what is that? What I went to art school in Puerto Rico, but we never get taught that. I was like, what people pay you to work for what? Damn so I was like, who knows, you know? And then I got really lucky, and I got started getting funding, and I this whole project. I just didn't even have, like, a portfolio for it, because I used to be a photographer, and so I mostly have photographs from, like, my photo journalism work, and also some of the art stuff that I did and like, kind of like, created it as a concept, and that's what I used to say, like, but I'm working on this other thing, and luckily, people could see the vision behind it. So they started funding me with grants and and I went off to some residencies in Massachusetts, Bremerton, I just came back from one in Colorado. And so with that, I was able to to do all of this, because without those brands, there was no way. Yeah, and then just wanting to represent Puerto Rico over here and have people just hear us out.
Beverly Aarons 28:41
It's interesting, because if you had remained in Boricua,
Jo Cosme 28:48
what again? Yeah, sorry, no, you're good. It's a new word.
Beverly Aarons 28:55
Maybe you wouldn't have had access to those resources. That's kind of the irony, right? Oh, yeah. But in that displacement, yeah, you were able to get access to these resources. Can you talk a
Jo Cosme 29:09
little little bit about that? Yeah, it's kind of heartbreaking, because I would rather be back home, um, I also feel like this work wouldn't have the same impact there, because we all know it. So it's kind of I am grateful. Like it's strange to say I'm grateful to have been displaced and re traumatized, but I am, in a way, because I learned so much, and I learned to appreciate, also, as cliche as it sounds, what I had I the only reason why I'm not there right now is because not only is it really hard, but also I just want to finish this chapter, and I want to be able to travel with this show and show it in other places, in the US, to then close it in Puerto Rico. And obviously my dream is to come back we all. Dream and wanting to come back. So I hope, I hope, eventually I'll be able to come back. I want to live in a mountain. But yeah, yeah, I definitely very grateful for the opportunities that I have had here and the support that I have had here.
Beverly Aarons 30:20
And earlier, you said that you were thinking about giving up on art. Why was that?
Jo Cosme 30:26
I didn't like the it was too a lot of the art where else we all know is very vain. It's very superficial, it's very clicky. It's a cool kids club, and I don't fit in there, like, especially in the US, like, where I just, I hope I have social anxiety, let alone a second language or in another culture is too much. And so I was just like, oh, I guess in Puerto Rico, I couldn't do it. I didn't have the funds of the time. And then we hear, I was like, how where am I gonna start? And that's why Hanukkah was so essential when she showed up in offering me, like schooling me and how to write for grants in English and and all of that. Oh, so sorry. I kind of like, yeah, what was it? My bad coming at
Beverly Aarons 31:22
right? Out right now, when we talked earlier, when we talked so we actually interviewed Joe months ago. Yes, and that interview, the article for that is going to come out. But I fell in love with her work, what she was doing, the importance, because I have a parent who also is from an island that was a colony, in many ways, still is right. So there's something that really touched me about that so. But when we had our conversation, part of that conversation was the technical challenges that you kind of faced like you wanted to do the VR experience, and then you had to kind of learn that. Tell me about the process of learning how to create this 360 VR experience for folks. Yes,
Jo Cosme 32:17
so I'm not very tech savvy, but I mean, I've had to learn. I'm not very tech savvy. I know photography, so as far as video, but like 360 sound, all this stuff, no, and I just, I come from a place as we although it's an island, it's a colony. So you learn, if we say sin exist, that in benta, it's kind of like, if it doesn't exist, you make it up. So I, that's my backbone. So I kind of, like, always like, well, if I ever I'll figure it out. Like, so I have this idea in the art thing. I'm like, I don't know how to sew, but I see it this way, so I'm gonna figure it out. And I never let anything your roadblock is like, I just try, try, try, until I get it. And that's also why I wanted to do multimedia, because I feel photography kind of was limiting me. So I was like, Well, I want to see this everywhere. I want people to be immersed there. How do I figure that out? And then, like, going to art shows and talking to people researching what's new and new media Virtual Reality pop up. And I was like, Oh, right. I was like, I remember in the 90s, I was like, starting in the video game department, and then, and then I was like, I wanted to make a 360 so I started, like, YouTube tutorials, so on, so forth. And that's how I do with everything. I'm kind of like, well, I don't know. I'll learn it. I'll figure it out nice.
Beverly Aarons 33:39
And with that, I want to ask everyone in the audience to just tell us the impact of this experience. How did this experience impact you as someone who maybe knows about Puerto Rico, who doesn't right? So let's just take one or two folks, okay, and then greenish shirt. This
Audience member 34:07
is the map is probably my favorite artwork, because, you know, from my knowledge of Puerto Rico history, I know that from 1898 Spanish. Word where the US got the Puerto Rican medicine from the Spanish people never get the chance to, like, depend independence, and I think I don't exactly know, like, the history now, but I think it's really straightforward, and it's like screaming for independence. And also, like, the message is really clear. And also a little bit about me, and also, I came from China, and. Been here for 10 years, and I can really understand a little bit about your background and all the struggles that you have, especially when you said you don't have any found in Puerto Rico, and how hard it is to be an artist and you have to get found in America. And I'm also doing, like, the internship for University of Washington study there. I'm an environmental studies major. I would really, I'm doing an art scene right now. Oh, and I would
Jo Cosme 35:32
really love to enter with you. Oh, Oh, damn, yeah. Thank you for that. That's right there.
Beverly Aarons 35:45
The greenish, greenish.
Audience member 35:48
First of all, thank you now so funny enough, thank you. I must focus the short film and the ad, pop numbers, perfect timing and ad while watching the documentary sponsored ad right after crying, I crying. Wow, no, this, this is perfect, coming from Bermerton. Just like, oh my god, horrible moment. I'm really, really powerful. I had someone tell me, why don't you go back home? Wait, what? Sorry. Someone told me, why don't you go back home? Okay, never had telecoms identified as American up until last week the album, though, but this, here in Washington, we're really far from happening. A lot of people forget we exist. But stuff like this, they need to see it or to understand why we are who we are. You know, people think you just have the flag to have it. You don't know it was illegal in 1948 until the US made the Puerto Rican flag. You see today, people don't know that, like you say, even the island, sometimes they don't. We need to spread the word, especially here, I don't know, like I was so excited Puerto Rican tear, because I've never seen it in Washington. Never seen us.
Jo Cosme 36:57
Yeah? So thank you. Yeah, thank you. I wanted to play it outside. Yeah.
Audience member 37:14
This is really perfect, right now is the perfect time to have Yeah, because people are paying attention. People see who Batman is they. See we sold out every single show that you do. It for residency sold out. Thank you. Super excited. Anything to support, right?
Jo Cosme 37:29
Yeah. Thank you very much for saying all of that and for coming from brand my friends. Oh, actually, before I forget, sorry, I have a show in November at Arts, at King Street Station. So there will be this and like, double the amount, and then I'm also curating. Part of it is going to be artists from the archipelago touching on the same subject for a whole lot of that as well. So y'all are invited November 6 this year.
Audience member 37:58
That's it. Question. Know the story of this? And do they know that this is a beach town?
Jo Cosme 38:06
Yeah, this is a beach town. I try to do part of I do like totalitarian stuff too, like T shirts, beach towels, tote bags with all these messages for the people in Puerto Rico to use as protest sign everywhere they go. If you put this in the beach, you see it's like, right there. You don't need to be like marching. It's right there. And then you can have it on your shirt. Now it's happening a lot more, even like other artists are also doing it. I'm part of that wave of artists. It's like, so people can have access to to everyday things and also continue fighting. So that's where that beach dowel comes from. Thank you so much.
Audience member 38:53
Thank you so much for doing this. I moved to the States when I was 16 years old, so I feel very much almost every day we definitely know, yeah, like, really, really hard that bunny has always I do get totally tied, really, like, reinvigorated, like, my desire to connect with, you know, my my heritage, but I have such A weird perspective when it comes to this piece, because to me, it looks whimsical, like you're celebrating, like a very much our culture, like beach culture, like all this stuff is so I mean, I look at it, I'm like, Yeah, I remember that shit that was so much fun. And then the mask that's part of our culture is such a good, such a strong symbol of our culture. I have no idea until you just mentioned that, that it's also a symbol of resistance. And I mean, so I, as you're explaining the work, I'm like, having all the fucking feelings, like going through all this other I had no idea what this is about, actually. So really effective, really beautiful. And, like, just. The way that I wasn't expected, expecting it all. But yeah, thank you so much, and I really hope you continue like doing these events. Yeah, everybody gets to learn more about what we're doing. Is resistance.
Jo Cosme 40:13
Yes. Thank you very much. Beautiful words. Thank you.
Beverly Aarons 40:22
You have another Oh, there.
Audience member 40:30
Thank you. This is amazing. We just recently done your work, and we're from Costa Rica, I think I know you.
Jo Cosme 40:47
Thank you for coming. Yeah, and
Audience member 40:53
we're from Costa Rica. We experience, of course, in our country, something very similar this political corruption, oligarchs owning all this land and selling it. Taking all this arrangement is terrible, and our people have lost a lot of land and access to food beaches, and it's and it's incredible when you're here, how little people know that, and just the whole history of Latin America and how the US has been involved in all the coups and all the dictatorships, and it's in some and again, you do this here, and it feels very refreshing, because kind of like this is a place to Talk about it, yeah? Because we all know it back home in the Irish communities, like, yeah, we're preaching to the same crowd. We're never going to have the political class that are the culprits of these things coming to our shows and, you know, paying attention to these things. So when you do things like this, it, you know, it's very helpful. Yeah, we're very grateful for being here today and thank you for the work. It's Thank
Jo Cosme 42:07
you. Thank you, Gracia. I also loved your documentary. Oh, my God. Thank you for that. Also related to it a lot.
Beverly Aarons 42:23
Great. Do we have another comment about the work, or a question in the back I can't see, so you guys have to be rip my eyes. I mean,
Audience member 42:41
Michael says, main thing that happened in Costa Rica, and I want to add that it's very interesting when you are here and you know somebody, and it's like, yeah, we're from Costa Rica, and they're like, oh yes, we've been there, right? Like, everybody, yeah, yeah, same, why are you going here? There is the Paradise, very important for us. Always very uncomfortable. Yeah, next to the paradise that you usually go, and we can't go that you were talking about. It's very interesting. Like, no, we are from the city, and it's happening all of these. And he's not like that, but you're like so it's for us, it's too important this too, because it's a way, obviously it's different the story, right? The colony of Puerto Rico, a different result with Costa Rica, but is the same. It's like people doesn't know just they go, and it's not that you can't go, obviously. But the problem is that when people go to Costa Rica, they know going in, and they are not going like to know what is going on in their communities, right? What is happening in that country? It seems like it's super rich, and it's like this central America country that is incredible, and there's no wars, but it's happening a lot. So it's the least that you can do when you are foreign, like we do here, right? Like to know about the culture and to know about what is going on in the government, right? Like, what are the politics here? So when you go there, you need to do that too. And the problem is that then, because here, obviously people have more money so they can buy the lands go to Costa Rica, to everything is private, that you can go to the beach right there is private access, and is illegal. You can't do that. So it's important to do the work here and to talk about that, because a lot of people doesn't know. And it's not just because they don't know. They give a shit about it. This. Because they don't know. So it's nice that you have thesepeople come.
Beverly Aarons 45:07
Thank you so much. Thank you very yes
Jo Cosme 45:10
on the dot.
Beverly Aarons 45:19
Just to kind of that comment brought something up for me, this idea of telling the truth about a place but also avoiding the trauma porn, right? How do you balance that in your word?
Jo Cosme 45:40
Yeah, I thought about that so much. Okay, so I always, when I do my work, I kind of am like, if this kind of like borderline trauma porn or what. So a lot of times I ask people who are not from Puerto Rico, what they are understanding from it. And that's also another thing I use Hanukkah for. She's learned everything through me. And then I like, what do you see when you see this? And she kind of, like, keeps me accountable. And like, oh, this may be read like, this way or the other way, and but at the end of the day, I've got a lot of like, when I ask that, a lot of times people say, like, I don't see, I see, I see the sadness. I see there's a lot of trauma, but I see a lot of hope. And so I feel like it is kind of a very fine line. But as far as I know, the people who are from the states who have seen it, when I ask that, I'm like, do you see trauma porn here? They always say, like, No, actually I kind of, I can see how you can see that. But actually I see a lot of hope, a lot of like, wanting to seek out, like, like, more attention to this and like, because I do have photos from the hurricane times I was not working as a photo generalist. I do not show those images. I show what we say see every day. And yeah, it may look like sad, but it is what it is. It is that we leave. So I also don't want to censor our reality, but I also don't want to do too much of it, because then Yeah, so there's like, a little bit of Yeah, like, yeah, thank you
Beverly Aarons 47:24
in your upcoming show, and also you, you've been working on an ongoing basis highlighting the stories of other Puerto Rican people. Can you talk a little bit about how doing that gives a fuller picture of the Puerto Rican experience, right
Jo Cosme 47:45
for the for the King Street Station. So, all
Beverly Aarons 47:48
right, so kind of moving forward just a little bit, just because I want to, because I feel like when we discussed, last time we had our conversation, last time you talked about connecting to other people on the island, for them to tell their stories too, and elevating those stories. So I want you to talk about how you're doing that now, and how you're going to be doing that when you do your show at Arts at key Street Station.
Jo Cosme 48:16
So, um, I experienced living in Puerto Rico. Up until 2018 I feel like I am now on the other side of now. I'm like the privileged one, because I live in the States now, and I have medical insurances and I have access, which I have none of that in Puerto Rico. And for that reason, I feel like this now, this other responsibility of uplifting the artist in Puerto Rico. There are so many. We're like, come on, like we're such a small little Archie pie logo. And then we have, like, we're like, a powerhouse in music and arts. And so, like, I want to continue celebrating that. It's like, we're here. We're still here. We're not just a giant hotel and and I want people to see what the people on the ground are experiencing. And then also, there's power in like, in many voices, you know, as a group. So I don't want I never saw my work as like, this is me as an artist. I actually would rather not even have to like, be like, Yes, this is me, the artist. I wanted to talk for itself, because for me, this is the voice of everybody that I know. It's not just me. I'm just one spec. There's a bigger problem, and I'm just a tool to get that message out there. So in that case, that's why I wanted to be like offer space to have all as many artists as I could, and many mediums for this show, so that people see, like a all of our perspective as a group, and then kind of, I see it also, kind of like bringing the protests, the marches, the people here, because we know it over there, but people don't know it here, and it's not even. In the new like, we're taken by the US and colonizer language, we're part of the US, and you never see us in the news, like the some tourists, like, blew up three businesses in Puerto Rico a few weeks ago and like that didn't pop up in the news until people in Tiktok and everywhere else were, like, talking about it, and then they picked it up. So, like, so that's why I'm like, Whoa. I'm gonna bring the protest to you. Then if you're gonna go to Puerto Rico and be like, hey, Pina Coladas, like, I'm gonna be like, No, look at this too. This is also happening. You can't just come here and, like, get the best out of us and not see us for who we are and what we struggle like, start to ignore our struggles. So that's why I want to bring everybody here, like all those artists.
Beverly Aarons 50:48
How many artists are you gonna
Jo Cosme 50:51
as many as I can? I don't know, but I have a big list. I totally my numbers and me are like enemies. But I'm going to Puerto Rican March. I'm gonna get more things, and I'm gonna go see artists in their studios and start scouting. So I think I can get as many as I can.
Beverly Aarons 51:10
And so we're we have maybe eight more minutes left, so I want to open it up for people who want to make comments and questions, but I'm also going to put a question out there so that you can have something to answer if you if you like, what did you learn today about the society that we live in, about Puerto Rico, about the US that you didn't know before you saw this work. I know someone mentioned something. You mentioned the fact that you didn't know this was a sign of resistance. Yep. Yeah. Anyone else, or if you have a question or comment on related to them. I think
Audience member 52:01
I also you from Spam
Jo Cosme 52:02
recognize you from spam. I was in spam, yes. Oh, cute, nice. Thank you for noticing.
Beverly Aarons 52:14
Does someone have a hand up? Anyone? Question, comment, I can't. I
Audience member 52:21
think it's really beautiful that you're here.
Jo Cosme 52:24
Thank you. So that's Wow,
Audience member 52:30
yes. I mean, I'm from New York, but it was hard from New York, let alone Puerto Rico and but, you know, I think that,you know, finding, like the,I don't know her, of Hanako, you had mentioned the woman that got
Jo Cosme 52:52
you, Hanako, she's right there at the door. And,
Audience member 53:00
you know, there are a lot of nice people, you know, it is a coldest city, you know, come together. And as you can see in this room, there's the Puerto Ricans just grasp, Oh, yeah. And, and, you know, and I think that you know that it's really, it just fills my heart. It really, really does to know that you're out here, that you're doing your art, that we can see your art, that we can see your messages and and we feel burned up on fire. What's going on Puerto Rico since before the hurricanes, hurricanes and the voices that have been coming from there, yeah, many blessings to you. Wow. Blessings to you too. Thank you so much.
Jo Cosme 53:49
That was beautiful. Thank you. Yeah, we gotta stick together. Let's go called Quito over there. I don't know how much. Okay, okay, okay, okay, the back of the hat. Just wanted
Beverly Aarons 54:12
Okay in the back with the hat.
Audience member 54:14
I just wanted to congratulate you on bringing eyes to this as you said, it's attention, like most of the US, media attention, and makes me feel so proud to actually have Puerto Rican .
Jo Cosme 54:37
He is also from Puerto Rico, we just met recently. Thank you for coming and thank you for saying you for saying that too.
Beverly Aarons 54:55
Anyone else? Oh.
Audience member 54:59
I'm just amazed at how many Puerto Ricans there are in here.
Audience member 55:04
Ah, me too. I'm also like, Whoa,
Audience member 55:05
I was here in the 90s, I was here from like 95 to 99 left for a while, came back, 2014 and it always felt like you were alone, like just alone. And every conversation, I mean, I'm sure you've all lived it too, every conversation is like, Alright, letnme tell you what Puerto Rico is. Let me explain. Okay, cool, now we can talk. It's always
Jo Cosme 55:33
just Yeah, yeah. It's draining. It's so drained.
Audience member 55:40
And it was always like we became Costa Ricans and we became, oh yeah, I Costa Rican and Mexican too. Costa Rica and Mexico, but yeah, it's like, we're not the same. Oh
[audience crosstalk]
Beverly Aarons 58:13
Thank you. So one final question for you before we close out, what does liberation look like? Yeah,
Jo Cosme 58:31
land sovereignty, self sustainability. You know, Puerto Ricans like, like Boricuas like calling the shots in Puerto Rico, no more corruption, you know, like in the US, just like leaving us finally open the ports, yeah, Jones are Get the fuck out. Like, just, yeah, auto determination, self determination, yeah, yeah, I don't know. It says yeah, I yeah, he's
Beverly Aarons 59:13
but you're on that road.
Jo Cosme 59:14
Oh yeah, n I don't know, but I definitely do not want the US there anymore.
Beverly Aarons 59:25
So I want to thank everyone for coming. First off, I want to thank you for accepting my invitation.
Jo Cosme 59:31
Yeah, thank you for having me. Thank you. It was great.
Beverly Aarons 59:36
Your work is amazing. Thank you. It's so important. And I want to thank everyone. Oh, wait. Oh, you have a, okay. Oh, this
[audience crosstalk]
Audience member 1:00:19
The latest elections the government of like
Jo Cosme 1:00:21
Jenny Frankel, yeah, yeah.
Audience member 1:00:26
The fact that the pro independency candidate got so much closer than any other candidate, oh yeah, gotten like, to me as somebody who states that I saw those I clung to those results, even though, you know, he didn't win. But I come to those results in light of the other results here in the, you know, mainland, because I was like, It's possible, like the the grassroots efforts can make a difference. They don't have to have the 2% vote, the majority of people, is being represented like I felt hope. But then I check with my cousins back home, and they're like, Man, I know. Like, nothing's gonna change next time they're saying the pro Commonwealth party is gonna get the next election. I and, of course, like, I'd love your take on that, because going from like, oh, there's hope, to like, hearing people on the ground saying, girls,
Jo Cosme 1:01:22
I just, I'd love to hear what you have to say about that. So there's a lot of grassroots organizations that have been on the ground, like going everywhere on the island to re educate on how we don't need the US to save us. And that is just a myth there's and it has proven that it has worked. Like, collectives, like stuff like that. Matria, they do all this stuff. There's so many. They're all on the list, actually. But anyway, so I think that, also witnessing what happened with Maria, a lot of people also woke up with that, because it was like, damn, they really don't care about us. Hey, the first time, like, we get like, abandoned, like that, they close the border, all that stuff, kind of like, let them die slowly. So people really woke up with that experience. And now the newer generations are also, like, educating our elders, who have been, like, scared, like, with the monster of, like, socialism, communism, all this stuff and like, like, are you talking about? You know, like, so like they that's why that Mao, which is the pro independence candidate, got so far too that Mao also went on a tour. Like, even scouted for diaspora, diaspora communities to also find a way to vote. I voted in Puerto Rico, but also the elections in Puerto Rico were stolen. You can research it a lot of a ballot box set because they were locked away or, like, reappeared out of nowhere, stuff like that. It's just what happens. Yeah, so, like, We honestly feel like that. Now, did win, but the election got stolen, so I don't know what that's going to look like in four years from now, if there's going to be a better process. But for example, the machines were so old that the papers would not even read them, and then there were blackouts on some of our instances. So a lot of regions were not even counted because there was no electricity. Like that. All happened in this election, so I don't really think that party actually won. I think they really stole it, but the people are definitely waking up, which is hopeful. I just
Beverly Aarons 1:03:34
have a little announcement when you're done, okay, I just want to check in and make sure there are no other questions before I do my close out, and then Janet does our close out.
Audience member 1:03:48
I was gonna circle back You asked what we learned? Yes, I love your lovely questions. Thank you very thoughtful. Learning a lot. I'm just trying to process it, your expression, your voice, your point about not just coming and seeing or taking the best of us, all of us. Thank you for being here. Thank you for pulling this many people together. Yeah, thank you all for showing up. What you're doing is a powerful tool when we think about organizing and making this better. And your question about what I learned coming out of this being much better friends. So
Jo Cosme 1:04:23
that's beautiful. Thank you,
Beverly Aarons 1:04:26
great. Thank you so much once again, thank you for doing this with me and being incredible. And if you want to know more about artists up close, if you want to come to future events. If you want to read our articles and listen to our podcast, there is a card for artists up close with a QR code there by the door. Please grab that on the way out. And we also have a sign up list. Anyone who signs up on the list will get. Three months free for artists up close to read our articles at no cost and listen to our podcast. I have that here. You can come up here and sign it and thank you. Thank you so much.
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