I first learned the art of calligraphy at an after-school program in the 8th grade in East New York, Brooklyn. Later as an art student, I began incorporating calligraphy in my paintings, highlighting quotes of my featured subjects, song lyrics, poems and testimonials. Working with Taller Puertorriqueño in Philadelphia and El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem, I learned that calligraphy is prevalent in Puerto Rican art, used by print makers in the popular silkscreen and graphic traditions. The late Lorenzo Homar and his student, now Puerto Rican master artist, Antonio Martorell, along with José Alicea, are artists that I admire for their fusion of calligraphy with various media/ techniques as visual artists. With calligraphy I build more complex visuals and contextual narratives, honoring the legacy of my own calligraphy teacher and generations of Puerto Rican artists who have documented the triumphs and struggles of our homeland.
Click on the thumbnails below to view in a lightbox. Scroll below for full images with captions.
“The Fire Next Time” 2024, (Piri Thomas and James Baldwin), Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on polytab cloth, 30” x 36”. “And behold the rainbow that is you.” -Piri Thomas from the poem “Softly Puerto Rican” ; “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next time.” Inspired by a biblical verse and included at the opening to Baldwin’s “My Dungeon Shook” in the book of the same title as this painting…. This work juxtaposes literary figures Piri Thomas (Cuban and Puerto Rican), poet, novelist, activist born in East Harlem in 1928, and James Baldwin (African American), novelist, essayist, playwright, activist, born in Harlem in 1924. From Afro.Bori.Libertaria, my art series in collaboration with painter S. Damary Burgos.
“Dice África...,” (Africa says...) 2024. Yasmín Hernández. Acrylic and ink on polytab cloth, 36” x 30”. “Porque como dice África, ¡la lucha continua!” This is a double portrait of Dominga de la Cruz Becerril (Ponce, 1909-1981), a member of the Nationalist party, she is most known for giving Pedro Albizu Campos the title “El Maestro,” and for rescuing the Puerto Rican flag when it fell to the ground during the Ponce Massacre in 1937. A fierce revolutionary, she lived in exile in Mexico and Cuba where she was respected for her work towards Puerto Rican liberation. This work is inspired by the biography shared in the book Dominga Rescues the Flag by Margaret Randall and Mariana McDonald.
"Reclaiming the Matriarchal" 2024 (Melissa Rosario). Yasmin Hernandez, Portraits from the Trench series. Acrylic and sequins on black velvet, 29 ½ x 19 ½”. “The difference between repatriation and rematriation is that focus on reclaiming or restoring the matriarchal wisdom.” -Excerpt, Interview with Meli. One of the early voices lifting the term rematriation in the archipelago, Melissa, originally from New York, is the author of Beyond Disaster: Building Collective Futures in Puerto Rico and co-founder and co-director of CEPA, a healing justice project committed to decolonization.
"La bomba me sostiene" (Janía), 2024. Yasmin Hernandez. Portraits from the Trench series. Acrylic and sequins on black velvet. 29 ¾ x 50”. Wanting to be portrayed with her bomba barril, I decided to paint her reflection onto the drum itself: “En mis años de (re)matriar en esta tierra, he podido describir montes, costas y horizontes que mi abuela misma no pudo apreciar. Es ahí en esos momentos cuando observo un atardecer, cuando me sumerjo en un mar turquesa, cuando me acaricia la brisa de los montes es que descubro que mis ancestres tuvieron que irse para yo econtrarme aquí.” Translation: In my years of (re)matriating this land, I’ve been able to describe mountains, coasts and horizons that my own grandmother was not able to appreciate. It is there in those moments when I observe a sunset, when I immerse myself in a turquoise sea, when the cool breeze of the mountains caresses me that I discover that my ancestors had to leave for me to find myself here.
“Es aquí donde yo pertenezco” (Marisol) 2024. (Here is where I belong) Yasmin Hernandez. Portraits from the Trench series. Acrylic and sequins on black velvet, 30 x 25”. “El Huracán María fue el punto donde hubo esa transformación. De alguna manera fuimos libres, y creamos nuestros propios sistemas para seguir. Dentro de todo este caos, sí hay libertad. Todo ese dolor lo que hizo fue limpiar esa nube que no permitía que yo viera que yo soy de aquí, que es aquí donde yo pertenezco” (Hurricane María was the point of transformation. Somehow we were free, and we created our own systems to move forward. Within all this chaos, yes there is freedom. What all that pain did was clear that cloud that would allow me to see that I am from here, that it is here where I belong.) Marisol came to her interview wanting to center this kufiya gifted to her by her friend’s family who was visiting from Palestine. Puerto Rico has a Palestinian community. We share communities with the Palestinian diaspora displaced since the first Nakba of 1948, before and since.
"Inter-ocean, Cosmic Marine Species," 2023. Yasmin Hernandez. Portraits from the Trench series. Acrylic on black velour, 59 x 53 inches. "We, another interocean, cosmic, marine species of colonial refugees emerge like mermaids from the sea.” -Excerpt, Rematriating Borikén Manifesto. This painting combines portraits of Susimar, Max, Lilly, Leo, Janía, & Rosie, all on the rematriation journey, currently living in el oeste de Borikén. The first half left Puerto Rico and returned, the latter three moved to the archipelago from New York and Boston. This project, supported by a Fund for the Arts grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, uses abyss aesthetics to feature folks on their rematriation journey.
"Luisa Cósmica" 2022. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches. "Existirá el libre cambio pues estarán abolidas las fronteras y la verdadera Libertad reinará en este planeta. Procura tu ayudar con la práctica a la realización de estas..." (Free exchange would exist as borders would be abolished and true liberation would reign on this planet. Seek to help with the practice of realizing these...) Luisa Capetillo was a Puerto Rican labor organizer, writer, activist, anarchist and espiritista. She wrote Puerto Rico's first feminist text in 1911, Mi Opinion sobre las libertades, derechos y deberes de la mujer. History most remembers her for wearing pants and being arrested for doing so but the depth and breadth of her writing, which was eons before its time, is her greatest achievement. This work envisions her as a luminous spirit. The painting was created for a tribute exhibit on the centennial of her passing at Casa Ulanga in Arecibo.
“Ya yo vi la Luna” 2019, Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on canvas, 14 x 18”. I started this piece on March 1st, 2018, when the full moon coincided with the anniversary of the mission Lolita Lebron led in Washington that date in 1954 to protest US colonialism in Puerto Rico. Lolita served 25 years is US federal prisons as a result. I didn’t finish the piece until November 2019 when we commemorated the centennial of Lolita’s birth. It includes a quote from Lolita's interview with Dr. Consuelo Martinez-Reyes, “Ya yo vi la luna: la última entrevista a Lolita Lebrón." Contemplating her transition at over 90 years old she said “I will be able to better appreciate the air, the stars, the sun. I have already seen the moon.”
“Hermandad Bioluminescente” 2018. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on Canvas. 30"x24". This portrait of legendary Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (on the right) and her sister Consuelo chronicles their love across waters with excerpts of letters Julia would write to Consuelo and of her poems. “Looking at you is seeing myself whole in light, rolling in blue.” Their inter-ocean sisterhood between New York and Puerto Rico reminds me of my own experience having most of my family in the states while I am in Puerto Rico, and of the many families of the Caribbean islands and coastal communities displaced by the storms.
Water Protectors is inspired by my nebulas series and the bioluminescence in Bieké's waters. It envisions buffalo within the Standing Rock landscape as bioluminescent spirit warriors protecting the water that flows across these lands. Red and blue are references to hydrogen, oxygen in our bodies, our water, the cosmos. Included is the text: "Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money can't be eaten." Thelvia, who commissioned this work simply asked for a painting with these words (usually credited as a Cree prophecy in variations). I combined them with this vision of Standing Rock. Commissioned in the summer of 2017, I asked for an extension following Hurricane Irma. Two weeks later, Hurricane Maria hit. Needless to say, I didn't finish the painting until 2018, having gotten my lights back in January.
"Eso que llamamos la libertad", 2016. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on canvas, 30" x 24". Portrait of artist, poet, professor, former Puerto Rican political prisoner Elizam Escobar. I included a quote I heard during his presentation at a political prisoner conference in Mayagüez: "That which we call freedom is not a state of being, it is a practice." I painted him dressed in a nebula to reference the transcendence and liberatory practice embodied by Elizam in his art, actions, and words. Elizam left this realm in January of 2021.
“Soldaderas Remix Print” 2016. (Soldaderas Mural-Frida Kahlo & Julia de Burgos) Yasmin Hernandez. Archival Print on Rag paper. 11 x 17”. This is an anniversary print that I created of my Soldaderas mural, tribute to Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos. It includes one of my favorite quotes of Julia’s: “Si me muero no quiero que este trágico país se trague mis huesos. Necesitan el calor de Borinquen. Por lo menos para fortalecer los gusanos de allá y no los de acá. (If I die I don’t want this tragic country to swallow my bones. They need the warmth of Borinquen if only to strengthen the worms of over there and not the ones here.) She wrote these words to her sister in a letter in April of 1953 from Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt or Welfare Island to Puerto Rico. Just three months later, July 6, Julia de Burgos transitioned into the realm of ancestors in New York. Her remains were thankfully rematriated back to her beloved Carolina.
“Kahlografia”, 2013. Yasmin Hernandez. Ink on brown paper, 10" x 8". Portrait of Frida Kahlo featuring an excerpt from her journal. In it she discusses how nothing is more valuable than laughter. It is strength to laugh, lose oneself, be light.
Detail, “Play at Your Own Risk”, 2014. Yasmin Hernandez. Outlaw clothesline series. Mixed media on cotton bandana. 20" x 20" Tribute to my brother Joseph lost to cancer in 2010, featuring my poem "Forever big brother" and my self-portrait with my brother. (I imagine you complete and present/ My forever big brother/ I cement in my head my superhero vision of you that I crafted as a little girl/ You stand eternal, invincible, strong in that vision/ As you once were/ As you are now/ As you will always be be)
“Hear it Callin’ me back home” 2014. Yasmin Hernandez. Outlaw Clothesline Series. Mixed media on cotton bandana, 20" x 20". This tribute to my brother marks the moment of his passing, recalling how I played him the song "Babe I'm gonna leave you" by Led Zeppelin. With it I realized that he was informing me of his departure. He transitioned within a half hour. (Baby I'm gonna leave you...I ain't jokin' woman I've got to ramble...I can hear it calling me the way it used to do. I can hear it calling me back home.)
“Prophet”, 2010. Yasmin Hernandez. Luz series, Mixed media on paper, 18" x 12". Portrait of my brother as a young boy in Puerto Rico alongside a biblical verse found in a prayer book of his. It describes the selfless life he led. (The Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor and afflicted. He has sent me to bind up and heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound. Rom 10:15.)
“Indestructible”, 2010. Yasmin Hernandez. Luz series. Mixed media on paper 18" x 12". My brother took this photo of his hand with my son's hand when Gabriel was just 6 months old. My brother transitioned 6 months later, just after Gabriel's 1st birthday. In calligraphy I included the lyrics of Ray Barreto's "Indestructible" which sings that when beloved blood is lost, in new blood lies indestructible strength.
“Outlaw” 2010. Yasmin Hernandez. Luz series, Mixed media on watercolor paper, 18" x 12". Portrait of my brother dressed as an outlaw, alongside an excerpt from my poem "Brooklyn Bred Borica:" (Boricua outlaw brothers in leather and chains taken off their bodies and minds/ Turned into weapons of self-defense/ Rockin' punk patches patria banderas and bandanas on their foreheads and back pockets.)
Calligraphy detail. “Outlaw” 2010. Yasmin Hernandez. Luz series, Mixed media on watercolor paper, 18" x 12". Portrait of my brother dressed as an outlaw, alongside an excerpt from my poem "Brooklyn Bred Borica:" (Boricua outlaw brothers in leather and chains taken off their bodies and minds/ Turned into weapons of self-defense/ Rockin' punk patches patria banderas and bandanas on their foreheads and back pockets.)
“Boriken Aye” 2012. Yasmin Hernandez. Mixed media on paper, 33" x 22". Created as the poster image for the Puerto Rican Studies Association 20th anniversary conference. The image borrows the seashell from the indigenous fotuto and the Yoruba Eshu Aye to celebrate the Puerto Rican Diaspora. The calligraphy features quotes by Julia de Burgos, Martin Espada and Aurora Levin Morales.
“Valiente Norma.” 2009, Yasmin Hernandez. Bieké: Tierra de Valientes series, Mixed media on camouflage, 30" x 20". Portrait of the Vieques activist, poet, artist and breast cancer survivor, Norma Torres Sanes. The calligraphy features an excerpt from her interview in which she discusses the United States' co-opting of the term "America" as if they were all encompassing of it. She discusses the many Americans (north, central and south) that fall under the "Americans" title and clarifies how the US alone does not own rights to this term.
“Nuyorican” (Tato Laviera) 2006, Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on burlap, 60" x 40" This portrait of the late poet features the words of his poem Nuyorican. Written in Spanish, it speaks to a history of forced migration from Puerto Rico and the rejection that occurs when Boricuas of the Diaspora return to Puerto Rico and are criticized for how they speak, act, dress, how they are denied their own puertorriqueñidad.
“Jibara Julia” 2006. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on burlap, 84" x 39". Portrait of the legendary Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (1914-1953). This image depicts her as the liberator she described in her poetry. Featured in calligraphy is an excerpt from her poem Pentacromía: "Sería un obrero picando la caña/ sudando el jornal/ A brazos arriba/ los puños en alto/ quitándole al mundo mi parte de pan. (I'd be a laborer cutting cane, sweating the wage, arms up, fists high, taking from the world my piece of bread.)
“El Jíbaro” 2006. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on burlap, 84" x 39. Portrait of Musica Jíbara artist Andrés Jiménez. This portrait places the musician in a sugar cane field, machete in hand. Featuring an excerpt of lyrics to his song "Barlovento:" (Sopla viento traicionero del dolor donde no hay pan/ Pan del alma para el hambre de justicia y de igualdad..../ Viento mar de pescadores/ Viento tierra de labradores Viento sol salvadoreño/ que no quieren tener dueño/ Soplen vientos del Caribe que la historia así se escribe.)
"Querer ser libre" (Dylcia Pagán) 2006. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic, seashells and peacock feathers on canvas. 24" x 36". This portrait pf my dear friend and mentor, former Puerto Rican political prisoner and now ancestor, Dylcia Pagán. I painted her as I remembered during an afternoon we spent at the sea, behind her home in Loíza. This portrait hung in her living room until her unexpected transition into ancestorhood in 2024. The quote is of Ramón Emeterio Betances, (The desire to be free is to begin being free). I am ever grateful to the freedom she embodied and modelled for us all and to the fierce love she shined on me and so many of my generation, and beyond.
“The Fire Next Time” 2024, (Piri Thomas and James Baldwin), Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on polytab cloth, 30” x 36”. “And behold the rainbow that is you.” -Piri Thomas from the poem “Softly Puerto Rican” ; “God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next time.” Inspired by a biblical verse and included at the opening to Baldwin’s “My Dungeon Shook” in the book of the same title as this painting…. This work juxtaposes literary figures Piri Thomas (Cuban and Puerto Rican), poet, novelist, activist born in East Harlem in 1928, and James Baldwin (African American), novelist, essayist, playwright, activist, born in Harlem in 1924. From Afro.Bori.Libertaria, my art series in collaboration with painter S. Damary Burgos.
“Dice África...,” (Africa says...) 2024. Yasmín Hernández. Acrylic and ink on polytab cloth, 36” x 30”. “Porque como dice África, ¡la lucha continua!” This is a double portrait of Dominga de la Cruz Becerril (Ponce, 1909-1981), a member of the Nationalist party, she is most known for giving Pedro Albizu Campos the title “El Maestro,” and for rescuing the Puerto Rican flag when it fell to the ground during the Ponce Massacre in 1937. A fierce revolutionary, she lived in exile in Mexico and Cuba where she was respected for her work towards Puerto Rican liberation. This work is inspired by the biography shared in the book Dominga Rescues the Flag by Margaret Randall and Mariana McDonald.
"Reclaiming the Matriarchal" 2024 (Melissa Rosario). Yasmin Hernandez, Portraits from the Trench series. Acrylic and sequins on black velvet, 29 ½ x 19 ½”. “The difference between repatriation and rematriation is that focus on reclaiming or restoring the matriarchal wisdom.” -Excerpt, Interview with Meli. One of the early voices lifting the term rematriation in the archipelago, Melissa, originally from New York, is the author of Beyond Disaster: Building Collective Futures in Puerto Rico and co-founder and co-director of CEPA, a healing justice project committed to decolonization.
"La bomba me sostiene" (Janía), 2024. Yasmin Hernandez. Portraits from the Trench series. Acrylic and sequins on black velvet. 29 ¾ x 50”. Wanting to be portrayed with her bomba barril, I decided to paint her reflection onto the drum itself: “En mis años de (re)matriar en esta tierra, he podido describir montes, costas y horizontes que mi abuela misma no pudo apreciar. Es ahí en esos momentos cuando observo un atardecer, cuando me sumerjo en un mar turquesa, cuando me acaricia la brisa de los montes es que descubro que mis ancestres tuvieron que irse para yo econtrarme aquí.” Translation: In my years of (re)matriating this land, I’ve been able to describe mountains, coasts and horizons that my own grandmother was not able to appreciate. It is there in those moments when I observe a sunset, when I immerse myself in a turquoise sea, when the cool breeze of the mountains caresses me that I discover that my ancestors had to leave for me to find myself here.
“Es aquí donde yo pertenezco” (Marisol) 2024. (Here is where I belong) Yasmin Hernandez. Portraits from the Trench series. Acrylic and sequins on black velvet, 30 x 25”. “El Huracán María fue el punto donde hubo esa transformación. De alguna manera fuimos libres, y creamos nuestros propios sistemas para seguir. Dentro de todo este caos, sí hay libertad. Todo ese dolor lo que hizo fue limpiar esa nube que no permitía que yo viera que yo soy de aquí, que es aquí donde yo pertenezco” (Hurricane María was the point of transformation. Somehow we were free, and we created our own systems to move forward. Within all this chaos, yes there is freedom. What all that pain did was clear that cloud that would allow me to see that I am from here, that it is here where I belong.) Marisol came to her interview wanting to center this kufiya gifted to her by her friend’s family who was visiting from Palestine. Puerto Rico has a Palestinian community. We share communities with the Palestinian diaspora displaced since the first Nakba of 1948, before and since.
"Inter-ocean, Cosmic Marine Species," 2023. Yasmin Hernandez. Portraits from the Trench series. Acrylic on black velour, 59 x 53 inches. "We, another interocean, cosmic, marine species of colonial refugees emerge like mermaids from the sea.” -Excerpt, Rematriating Borikén Manifesto. This painting combines portraits of Susimar, Max, Lilly, Leo, Janía, & Rosie, all on the rematriation journey, currently living in el oeste de Borikén. The first half left Puerto Rico and returned, the latter three moved to the archipelago from New York and Boston. This project, supported by a Fund for the Arts grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, uses abyss aesthetics to feature folks on their rematriation journey.
"Luisa Cósmica" 2022. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24 inches. "Existirá el libre cambio pues estarán abolidas las fronteras y la verdadera Libertad reinará en este planeta. Procura tu ayudar con la práctica a la realización de estas..." (Free exchange would exist as borders would be abolished and true liberation would reign on this planet. Seek to help with the practice of realizing these...) Luisa Capetillo was a Puerto Rican labor organizer, writer, activist, anarchist and espiritista. She wrote Puerto Rico's first feminist text in 1911, Mi Opinion sobre las libertades, derechos y deberes de la mujer. History most remembers her for wearing pants and being arrested for doing so but the depth and breadth of her writing, which was eons before its time, is her greatest achievement. This work envisions her as a luminous spirit. The painting was created for a tribute exhibit on the centennial of her passing at Casa Ulanga in Arecibo.
“Ya yo vi la Luna” 2019, Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on canvas, 14 x 18”. I started this piece on March 1st, 2018, when the full moon coincided with the anniversary of the mission Lolita Lebron led in Washington that date in 1954 to protest US colonialism in Puerto Rico. Lolita served 25 years is US federal prisons as a result. I didn’t finish the piece until November 2019 when we commemorated the centennial of Lolita’s birth. It includes a quote from Lolita's interview with Dr. Consuelo Martinez-Reyes, “Ya yo vi la luna: la última entrevista a Lolita Lebrón." Contemplating her transition at over 90 years old she said “I will be able to better appreciate the air, the stars, the sun. I have already seen the moon.”
“Hermandad Bioluminescente” 2018. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on Canvas. 30"x24". This portrait of legendary Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (on the right) and her sister Consuelo chronicles their love across waters with excerpts of letters Julia would write to Consuelo and of her poems. “Looking at you is seeing myself whole in light, rolling in blue.” Their inter-ocean sisterhood between New York and Puerto Rico reminds me of my own experience having most of my family in the states while I am in Puerto Rico, and of the many families of the Caribbean islands and coastal communities displaced by the storms.
Water Protectors is inspired by my nebulas series and the bioluminescence in Bieké's waters. It envisions buffalo within the Standing Rock landscape as bioluminescent spirit warriors protecting the water that flows across these lands. Red and blue are references to hydrogen, oxygen in our bodies, our water, the cosmos. Included is the text: "Only after the last tree has been cut down, only after the last river has been poisoned, only after the last fish has been caught, only then will you find that money can't be eaten." Thelvia, who commissioned this work simply asked for a painting with these words (usually credited as a Cree prophecy in variations). I combined them with this vision of Standing Rock. Commissioned in the summer of 2017, I asked for an extension following Hurricane Irma. Two weeks later, Hurricane Maria hit. Needless to say, I didn't finish the painting until 2018, having gotten my lights back in January.
"Eso que llamamos la libertad", 2016. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on canvas, 30" x 24". Portrait of artist, poet, professor, former Puerto Rican political prisoner Elizam Escobar. I included a quote I heard during his presentation at a political prisoner conference in Mayagüez: "That which we call freedom is not a state of being, it is a practice." I painted him dressed in a nebula to reference the transcendence and liberatory practice embodied by Elizam in his art, actions, and words. Elizam left this realm in January of 2021.
“Soldaderas Remix Print” 2016. (Soldaderas Mural-Frida Kahlo & Julia de Burgos) Yasmin Hernandez. Archival Print on Rag paper. 11 x 17”. This is an anniversary print that I created of my Soldaderas mural, tribute to Mexican painter Frida Kahlo and Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos. It includes one of my favorite quotes of Julia’s: “Si me muero no quiero que este trágico país se trague mis huesos. Necesitan el calor de Borinquen. Por lo menos para fortalecer los gusanos de allá y no los de acá. (If I die I don’t want this tragic country to swallow my bones. They need the warmth of Borinquen if only to strengthen the worms of over there and not the ones here.) She wrote these words to her sister in a letter in April of 1953 from Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt or Welfare Island to Puerto Rico. Just three months later, July 6, Julia de Burgos transitioned into the realm of ancestors in New York. Her remains were thankfully rematriated back to her beloved Carolina.
“Kahlografia”, 2013. Yasmin Hernandez. Ink on brown paper, 10" x 8". Portrait of Frida Kahlo featuring an excerpt from her journal. In it she discusses how nothing is more valuable than laughter. It is strength to laugh, lose oneself, be light.
Detail, “Play at Your Own Risk”, 2014. Yasmin Hernandez. Outlaw clothesline series. Mixed media on cotton bandana. 20" x 20" Tribute to my brother Joseph lost to cancer in 2010, featuring my poem "Forever big brother" and my self-portrait with my brother. (I imagine you complete and present/ My forever big brother/ I cement in my head my superhero vision of you that I crafted as a little girl/ You stand eternal, invincible, strong in that vision/ As you once were/ As you are now/ As you will always be be)
“Hear it Callin’ me back home” 2014. Yasmin Hernandez. Outlaw Clothesline Series. Mixed media on cotton bandana, 20" x 20". This tribute to my brother marks the moment of his passing, recalling how I played him the song "Babe I'm gonna leave you" by Led Zeppelin. With it I realized that he was informing me of his departure. He transitioned within a half hour. (Baby I'm gonna leave you...I ain't jokin' woman I've got to ramble...I can hear it calling me the way it used to do. I can hear it calling me back home.)
“Prophet”, 2010. Yasmin Hernandez. Luz series, Mixed media on paper, 18" x 12". Portrait of my brother as a young boy in Puerto Rico alongside a biblical verse found in a prayer book of his. It describes the selfless life he led. (The Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the Gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor and afflicted. He has sent me to bind up and heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound. Rom 10:15.)
“Indestructible”, 2010. Yasmin Hernandez. Luz series. Mixed media on paper 18" x 12". My brother took this photo of his hand with my son's hand when Gabriel was just 6 months old. My brother transitioned 6 months later, just after Gabriel's 1st birthday. In calligraphy I included the lyrics of Ray Barreto's "Indestructible" which sings that when beloved blood is lost, in new blood lies indestructible strength.
“Outlaw” 2010. Yasmin Hernandez. Luz series, Mixed media on watercolor paper, 18" x 12". Portrait of my brother dressed as an outlaw, alongside an excerpt from my poem "Brooklyn Bred Borica:" (Boricua outlaw brothers in leather and chains taken off their bodies and minds/ Turned into weapons of self-defense/ Rockin' punk patches patria banderas and bandanas on their foreheads and back pockets.)
Calligraphy detail. “Outlaw” 2010. Yasmin Hernandez. Luz series, Mixed media on watercolor paper, 18" x 12". Portrait of my brother dressed as an outlaw, alongside an excerpt from my poem "Brooklyn Bred Borica:" (Boricua outlaw brothers in leather and chains taken off their bodies and minds/ Turned into weapons of self-defense/ Rockin' punk patches patria banderas and bandanas on their foreheads and back pockets.)
“Boriken Aye” 2012. Yasmin Hernandez. Mixed media on paper, 33" x 22". Created as the poster image for the Puerto Rican Studies Association 20th anniversary conference. The image borrows the seashell from the indigenous fotuto and the Yoruba Eshu Aye to celebrate the Puerto Rican Diaspora. The calligraphy features quotes by Julia de Burgos, Martin Espada and Aurora Levin Morales.
“Valiente Norma.” 2009, Yasmin Hernandez. Bieké: Tierra de Valientes series, Mixed media on camouflage, 30" x 20". Portrait of the Vieques activist, poet, artist and breast cancer survivor, Norma Torres Sanes. The calligraphy features an excerpt from her interview in which she discusses the United States' co-opting of the term "America" as if they were all encompassing of it. She discusses the many Americans (north, central and south) that fall under the "Americans" title and clarifies how the US alone does not own rights to this term.
“Nuyorican” (Tato Laviera) 2006, Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on burlap, 60" x 40" This portrait of the late poet features the words of his poem Nuyorican. Written in Spanish, it speaks to a history of forced migration from Puerto Rico and the rejection that occurs when Boricuas of the Diaspora return to Puerto Rico and are criticized for how they speak, act, dress, how they are denied their own puertorriqueñidad.
“Jibara Julia” 2006. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on burlap, 84" x 39". Portrait of the legendary Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (1914-1953). This image depicts her as the liberator she described in her poetry. Featured in calligraphy is an excerpt from her poem Pentacromía: "Sería un obrero picando la caña/ sudando el jornal/ A brazos arriba/ los puños en alto/ quitándole al mundo mi parte de pan. (I'd be a laborer cutting cane, sweating the wage, arms up, fists high, taking from the world my piece of bread.)
“El Jíbaro” 2006. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic on burlap, 84" x 39. Portrait of Musica Jíbara artist Andrés Jiménez. This portrait places the musician in a sugar cane field, machete in hand. Featuring an excerpt of lyrics to his song "Barlovento:" (Sopla viento traicionero del dolor donde no hay pan/ Pan del alma para el hambre de justicia y de igualdad..../ Viento mar de pescadores/ Viento tierra de labradores Viento sol salvadoreño/ que no quieren tener dueño/ Soplen vientos del Caribe que la historia así se escribe.)
"Querer ser libre" (Dylcia Pagán) 2006. Yasmin Hernandez. Acrylic, seashells and peacock feathers on canvas. 24" x 36". This portrait pf my dear friend and mentor, former Puerto Rican political prisoner and now ancestor, Dylcia Pagán. I painted her as I remembered during an afternoon we spent at the sea, behind her home in Loíza. This portrait hung in her living room until her unexpected transition into ancestorhood in 2024. The quote is of Ramón Emeterio Betances, (The desire to be free is to begin being free). I am ever grateful to the freedom she embodied and modelled for us all and to the fierce love she shined on me and so many of my generation, and beyond.