The Clemente Soto Vélez Center and ABC No Rio Present HISTORIETAS: LATINX COMICS AS ALTERNATIVE HISTORIES
The Clemente Soto Vélez Center and ABC No Rio Present
HISTORIETAS: LATINX COMICS AS ALTERNATIVE HISTORIES
NEW AND ARCHIVAL WORKS FROM THE 1980s TO PRESENT
On Occasion of ABC No Rio’s 45th Anniversary
On View at The Clemente
107 Suffolk St, New York, NY
April 6 – May 31, 2025›
Opening and Slideshow Presentation
April 6, 2pm – 6pm
Medar de la Cruz, The Diary of a Rikers Island Library Worker, 2023.
New York, NY – March 28, 2025 – The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center and the art and activism center, ABC No Rio, are pleased to present Historietas: Latinx Comics as Alternative Histories, a multigenerational exhibition of comic art from 1980 to the present that highlights the medium as a tool for documenting Latinx history and for challenging dominant cultural narratives. On view from April 6 through May 31, 2025, Historietas runs concurrently with celebrations of ABC No Rio’s 45th anniversary, celebrating nearly half a century as a collectively-run community center for art and activism on the Lower East Side.
Curated by the Peruvian-American artist Carlo Quispe, Historietas presents excerpts, prints, and comic books by seven Latinx comic book creators—Ivan Velez Jr., Sandy Jimenez, Ivan Monforte, Sharon Lee De La Cruz, Medar de la Cruz, Daisy Ruiz, and Quispe himself—who explore diverse narratives of the Latinx experience in New York, including: navigating adolescence in the Bronx, confronting the pandemic, working as a library attendant at Rikers Island, and grappling with mental health.
Quispe has been involved with ABC No Rio for more than 20 years as an editor of the annual comic book zine World War 3 Illustrated and as a volunteer. His 2010 comic Food Not Wars, on view in Historietas, follows volunteers at a food bank held at ABC No Rio as they salvage leftover groceries and serve the Lower East Side.
The Clemente and ABC No Rio have also seen three decades of collaboration; The Clemente is currently hosting ABC No Rio’s offices, zine collection, and archives while their new building is under construction, and has previously hosted the organization’s performances, exhibitions, screenings, artist studios, and special events.
In tandem with Historietas and their 45th anniversary celebrations, ABC No Rio will present ABC NO RIO 45 YEARS at the Emily Harvey Foundation at 537 Broadway from April 5 through 27. This exhibition will feature works by artists who have supported ABC No Rio’s mission to nurture oppositional culture, as well as photographs, ephemera, samples from its extensive zine library, and other archival material documenting the organization’s history. The Emily Harvey Foundation aligns with ABC No Rio in supporting a non-elitist conception of art.
On April 28, from 3-6 PM, The Clemente will host a roundtable discussion in their Flamboyan Theater, “Uptown/Downtown: When Boroughs Collide (DEI Warriors on the Culture Front),” exploring ABC No Rio’s history of collaboration with experimental cultural centers and the intersectionality that arose from artists moving between boroughs throughout the eighties. The roundtable will feature Lisa Kahane, Joe Lewis, Jane Dickson, Frank Morales, Betti-Sue Hertz, Libertad Guerra and Amy Starecheski. Invited respondents John Ahearn, Charlie Ahearn, John “Crash” Matos, and Yasmin Ramirez will offer critical reflections, personal insights, and responses to the main roundtable discussion. Drawing from their diverse backgrounds and areas of expertise, each respondent will contribute to deepening the conversation and highlighting key themes raised during the dialogue. Photographer Lisa Kahane will complement the discussion with a slideshow presentation on Fashion Moda, a Bronx-based art space that served as a vital second home for many ABC No Rio-affiliated artists.
Historietas is supported by The Clemente and LxNY as part of its ongoing Historias initiative, conceived by Libertad Guerra with Sofía Reeser del Rio, who has played an integral role in shaping the project from its inception. Historias is a multiphase celebration and recontextualization of the Latinx cultural community’s foundational contributions to New York City. The three-year citywide presentation of cultural programming, art commissions, and scholarship is the largest initiative in The Clemente’s thirty-year history.
Historietas: Latinx Comics as Alternative Histories will be on view on The Clemente’s fourth floor from April 6 through May 31, 2025. An opening reception and comics slideshow will be held on Sunday, April 6 at 2pm. For more information about Historietas and Historias, visit The Clemente’s website.
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About ABC No Rio
ABC No Rio is a collectively-run center for art and activism known internationally as a venue for oppositional culture. ABC No Rio was founded in 1980 by artists committed to political and social engagement and we retain these values to the present.
ABC No Rio seeks to facilitate cross-pollination between artists and activists. It is a place where people share resources and ideas to impact society, culture, and community. It believes that art and activism should be for everyone, not just the professionals, experts, and cognoscenti.
About The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center
Founded in 1993, The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center is a Puerto Rican/Latinx multi-arts institution with an inclusive and international vision rooted in NYC’s Lower East Side/Loisaida. The Clemente engages diverse audiences in heritage preservation, neighborhood history, and cutting-edge multicultural experimentation, emphasizing the humanities’ role in bridging civic and cultural life.
As a downtown cultural mainstay for three decades, they focus on cultivating, presenting, and preserving Puerto Rican and Latinx culture while embracing a multi-ethnic and international perspective. Committed to operating in a polyphonic manner, The Clemente provides affordable spaces to artists, small arts organizations, and independent community producers, reflecting the rich cultural diversity of the Lower East Side and New York City. Guided by their namesake’s values of culturally grounded multigenerational leadership, local empowermmoent, and mutuality, The Clemente is a collaborative hub for creating and co-producing multidisciplinary contemporary work.
The Clemente is a proud co-founder/partner of LxNY Consortium and the Coalition of Small Arts NYC (CoSA NYC).
About LxNY
LxNY | Latinx Arts Consortium of New York is a collaborative peer network dedicated to knowledge exchange, resource-sharing, and collective action towards systemic change. Formed in 2020 by organizations serving Latinx communities and artists across New York City, LxNY aims to transform the historical underfunding of Latinx arts by advocating for the equity-driven missions of our cultural institutions, nurturing our deep relationships with community, and stewarding our hard-fought legacies into the future. Advancing cultural work as essential work, LxNY honors the expertise of our multigenerational arts leaders and culture bearers, harnessing their collective experience to better serve the city’s diverse cultural landscape.
The LxNY Historias Working Group comprises six organizations within the Consortium that will play key roles as programmatic partners and advisors for the initiative. This group is represented by the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (Pregones/PRTT), People’s Theater Project (PTP), Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC), Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), and New Latin Wave.
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For images, further background, or interviews, please contact:
Katrina Stewart
Senior Account Coordinator, Visual Arts
Blue Medium
T: +1-212-675-1800
Fernando Salazar
Communications Manager
LxNY