American Boricua Artist Talk with Omar Eaton-Martinez

Loisaida Center welcomes you to a special Artist Talk with Wanda Benvenutti, photojournalist of the current photography exhibition, American Boricua, and Omar Eaton-Martinez. In celebration of Black History Month, this conversation centers on Afro-Puerto Rican voices, lived experience, and the power of curating the everyday to challenge erasure and rewrite the narrative.

Black History is Puerto Rican History. From confronting anti-Blackness within our own communities to imagining a just cultural future, this dialogue honors the past while shaping what comes next.

Omar Eaton-Martinez is the Senior Vice President for Historic Sites at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and will join Wanda to discuss culture and the importance of accuracy and nuance in the experience of shared physical spaces. As American Boricua celebrates the Puerto Rican Diaspora throughout North America through a photojournalistic lens, Eaton-Martinez leads the preservation, interpretation, and overall stewardship of 28 historical sites across the country to tell the full American story.

This is an invitation to listen deeply, ask hard questions, and collectively build a more truthful and expansive understanding of who we are. Wanda Benvenutti ✕ Omar Eaton-Martinez in conversation at the Loisaida Center. This intimate gallery talk takes the form of a mutual interview, where Wanda and Omar speak with—and challenge—each other around the idea of “curating the everyday” as a way to disrupt the master narrative of Puerto Rican identity.

Monday, February 16, 2026 (Presidents Day Weekend)

Loisaida Center Theater (limited seating)

5:00 PM Doors & exhibition viewing

6:00 PM Conversation begins

Topics include:

• Puerto Rican identity beyond stereotype

• Afro-Latinidad and internal anti-Blackness

• Building a positive cultural future for the next 50–200 years

Introduced by: Pepe Flores, Loisaida community elder, co-founder of @lasaladepepe

Recorded live (YouTube + podcast format) #LoisaidaTV

Extended Q&A with artists, cultural workers, and the public. Space is limited (45–50 seats)

Registration required | Link: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/8qusv5r

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