Novenario reflects on the relationship to mourning offered by Puerto Rican contemporary artists as part of the recovery from Hurricanes Irma and María, while situating mourning and loss at the center of contemporary art practice as transformation in the history of art production in Puerto Rico. It showcases the rich relationship that abounds in the Caribbean to ritual, community solidarity, and self-representation challenges related to the regions’ particular histories, and traumatic events—like colonialism, slavery, environmental upheaval, and the devastation caused by storms and hurricanes. The artists’ collaborations include a community choir, a movement guided tour through the visual art exhibit, and documentary video of “dead” practices around the work of an older generation of practitioners.

Novenario is a multi-media, visual art and performance event set to take place in the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in San Juan, Puerto Rico between April-September of 2021. The collaborative is a group of women who hail from the visual arts, experimental vocal performance, dance, and writing, under the organization of Lydia Platón. They are looking to co-create a performance narrative around the project that can have its own life outside of the exhibit parameters.