Hagudeza Rullán-Fantauzzi’s exhibition, Mi Isla y yo, draws a parallel between the Puerto Rican people’s yearning for territorial sovereignty and the struggle for bodily autonomy. This theme echoes the upcoming semi-quincentennial celebration, yet feels increasingly out of reach for many.

A central element of the exhibition is Rullán-Fantauzzi’s exploration of the Puerto Rican flag. In her photographic work La Guerrera (2024), the artist is painted in the historical sky blue, red, and white of the flag. This choice carries significant weight, as it references the 1948 Gag Law (Ley de la Parada), which criminalized the public display of the flag. The artist connects this historical suppression to contemporary resistance against trans visibility, suggesting that both are attempts to control identity and sovereignty.

Mi Isla y yo demonstrates how symbols persist and how patterns of oppression repeat across eras. Ultimately, the exhibition suggests that recognizing these patterns is essential to breaking negative historical cycles and offering a path toward personal and collective liberation. 

About the artist

Born in 1995 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, and raised in Philadelphia’s Fairhill and Kensington neighborhoods, Hagudeza Rullán-Fantauzzi is an Afro-Boricua Trans woman artist. Her interdisciplinary practice combines movement, film, sculpture, installation, and abstraction to create layered works inspired by personal and collective histories. Mi Isla y yo features 10 works by the artist created since 2023.