Lisette
Otero Lewis

El Tercer Espacio

Growing up in the United States, I have always felt a sense of cultural displacement as I navigated between my Puerto Rican heritage and the dominant American culture. My work aims to capture how this experience can be both disorienting and empowering. I use a lyrical style, which combines elements of documentary photography with a more personal and emotional approach, to create both honest and evocative works. As a teenager, I did not see myself as Puerto Rican or Latina. Still, as I get older, I am coming to a reckoning of how I, through my ancestry, once was a Puerto Rican, but because of my birth in the United States, my customs lean more towards Americanism. I am part of Puerto Rico but an outsider; I am not an Islander; colonial Americanism dictates my being. These pieces reflect the dynamic and layered nature of hybridity which can be both disorienting and empowering. The work incorporates traditional motifs, colors, and imagery from my Puerto Rican heritage. It aims to celebrate and preserve the rich culture and traditions passed down to me while connecting with other members of the diaspora who share similar experiences and identities.

" I cannot truly identify with white or black; I have the right to identify with whatever race or nationality approximates my emotional feeling and physical characteristics. If I feel comfortable being of Spanish extraction, that's what I"ll be." L. S. Gonzalez