<I>Poema Para Mami: Missing You</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2013
name: label: Created by
content: Juan Sánchez, American, born 1954
label: Subject of
content: Carmen Maria Colón, Puerto Rican, 1919 - 1987
notes: label: Description
content: This is a mixed media collage by Juan Sánchez to memorialize his mother. The overall collage is bordered in black. Along the left and right vertical borders are two red lines framing the collage. The background of the collage is black and gray images of a woman’s upper torso with her bare breasts exposed and her face covered with a faded blue/gray Puerto Rican flag, as representations of vulnerability and U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico.
label: Description
content: Centered within the collage and near the top is an imperfectly rectangular-cut white, floral lace pattern. At the center of the lace is a black and white photograph of the artist’s mother’s calves and feet, wearing worn, open toe sandals while standing on cracked pavement. Underneath the image is a poem written by Sánchez on paper with pencil. It has multiple erasure marks and uses past and present tense. The handwritten poem reads: [Your sad eyes always radiates(d) / smiles. Your hands always heal(ing) / and your soul (for)ever forgives(ing). / Your feet (always)righteously grounded / I was (am)so blessed But(now) / I’m missing you now mommy I / am so thirsty now / all that you are is(was) gone (the) joy].
label: Description
content: Centered and to the bottom is a sideways heart thinly drawn in red, yellow, green and blue. It is filled with a mosaic of red, yellow, green, blue, black, and brown squares. A few of these squares are outside of the heart. At the center of the heart is an imperfectly arch cut red, floral lace pattern with a prayer card depicting Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a title of the Virgin Mary. The prayer card belonged to his mother and sat near her bed. Underneath it is a row of five cowrie shells, an Afro-Caribbean spiritual symbol.
place: label: Cultural Place
content: Puerto Rico, United States, Caribbean, Latin America, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Catholicism
label: Topic
content: Colonialism
label: Topic
content: Families
label: Topic
content: Motherhood
label: Topic
content: Multilingual communication
label: Topic
content: Photography
label: Topic
content: Poetry
label: Topic
content: Prayer
label: Topic
content: Religion
label: Topic
content: Spirituality
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Portfolio/Series
content: UNKNOWN BORICUAS
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture purchased with funds provided by the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2021.71.2
objectType: label: Type
content: collages
label: Type
content: multimedia works
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Juan Sánchez, Guariken Arts Inc
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: mixed media: paper, acrylic paint and oil paint on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W: 35 1/2 × 37 1/4 in. (90.2 × 94.6 cm)