Mi Estrella
This first piece on my thesis has two characters hovering over the Puerto Rican flag and fields, Donald Trump and Jennifer Gonzalez, while staring at the main character, a “jíbaro”, Puerto Rican farmer/local. I wanted this to represent the United States collecting another star to their flag and how they hold power over Puerto Ricans. Puerto Ricans have nothing to lose by separating from the United States and it is sad to see our people think we are too little on our own. A lot of people end up moving to the US because of infrastructure and employment problems that the government of the United States will not fund. When hurricane Maria happened Donald Trump blocked 24 billion fund aid from getting to Puerto Rico which resulted in the death of many people.
Hurricane María happened seven years ago and to this day the island is still suffering. Jennifer Gonzalez is the new governor of Puerto Rico, also a massive Trump supporter. These two people could care less about Puerto Rico and how it can better itself. They are both really corrupt and the island will have to suffer for another four years, or nonetheless whenever Puerto Ricans as a community unite and demand change. As of now it is just a never ending cycle of corruptness and helplessness. For this piece I made a mosaic in color, except the flag is black and white. When the Puerto Rican flag is portrayed that way it means resilience. This piece was inspired by one of the songs I talked about in the beginning. There’s a verse that says “Mi estrella es muy grande no cabe en la de los gringos” which translates to “my star is too big it does not fit in the flag of Americans” more or less.