Decorative Plates

This series of decorative plates presents text and images from Life Magazine (March 8, 1943), portraying Puerto Rico through narratives of overpopulation, race, poverty, and class. The article describes the “cesspool of Puerto Rico [as] festering in our backyard for over 40 years.” Transferring this colonial imagery onto domestic objects confronts the historical representation of Puerto Rico within U.S. popular media.