Rafael J. Miranda Mattei, Sin titulo (Vistas del Cerro Maravilla), 18 x 24”, solvent ink on paper, 2024

By SUSAN GESCHEIDLE

El Schomburg opened in October 2023 in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood. Founded by Brenda Torres Figueroa—artist, educator, and curator—the center serves as a contemporary art space and cultural hub rooted in Chicago’s Puerto Rican community and inspired by the legacy of Afro-Puerto Rican historian Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. Located in a storefront with a black brick façade, the site features a mural of Arturo Schomburg and a Puerto Rican flag above the entrance.

“Grabaciones para un pais de memoria corta: Tracking Issues”, an exhibition curated by Alexis Figueroa of Trailer Park Proyects, presents the unique work of Puerto Rican artist Rafael J. Miranda Mattei, based in the United States. This exhibition celebrates a two-decade-long artistic and personal collaboration between Figueroa and Miranda Mattei. Notably, Miranda Mattei’s first visit to Chicago in 2013 was for a Trailer Park Proyects exhibition organized in Figueroa’s truck. Figueroa is interested in how Miranda Mattei’s artistic perspective has evolved over the past seven years, examining the impact of distance and new environments on his artistic journey.

Miranda Mattei is a mid-career artist and educator, whose work has been exhibited at various venues and museums in San Juan, New York City, Chicago, San Franciso, Madrid, and Buenos Aires. Living in New Jersey, he acknowledges the difficulties associated with being apart from friends and family in Puerto Rico and says this separation shapes his perspective and informs his artistic work, which continues to explore issues of identity and political representation. Miranda Mattei is presenting work at El Schomburg with the aim of engaging the Puerto Rican community in Chicago and aligning with the venue’s emphasis on Puerto Rican and Diasporic art.

Installation view

“Grabaciones para un pais de memoria corta” (Recordings for a Country With a Short Memory), offers a critique of the fragility of collective memory within colonial and diasporic contexts. Miranda Mattei ingeniously employs the term ‘Tracking Issues,’ referencing distorted VHS images, to symbolize fragmented and lost narratives. Building upon inspirations from Neo-Dada, Pop Art, and Neo-conceptualism, Miranda Mattei utilizes cynicism and satire to critically examine Puerto Rican society and government, addressing the profound impact of politics and media on collective memory. Miranda Mattei, Figueroa notes, is admired by peers as an “artist’s artist” for his singular vision and willingness to confront controversial subjects. While Miranda Mattei is wary of the political climate under Donald Trump, he boldly uses the environment to inspire more inclusive narratives of resistance and resilience. The exhibition’s relevance provides an astute commentary on the intersection of politics, media, and collective memory that resonates strongly within the current political climate.

Miranda Mattei’s artwork investigates the interplay among memory, narratives of past experiences, personal identity, history, and the lasting influence of prior events. If you remember the days of “Be Kind. Please Rewind,” Blockbuster video rentals, VCR players, or capturing important moments on VHS tapes with bulky camcorders, then this exhibition will resonate. Anyone who has ever made a curated mix tape or CD will relate to this work as a means of revisiting the obsolete physical media from the mid-1980s to the early 2000s, a period that deeply informs Miranda Mattei’s artistic vision.

Rafael J. Miranda Mattei, Sin titulo (Entierro de Munoz Marin) 18 x 24”, solvent ink on paper, 2024

Miranda Mattei’s choice to explore collective memory via ubiquitous but outdated media, like VHS tapes and CDs that once served as revolutionary accessible tools for capturing memories of significant events also highlights this particular media’s historical, personal, and political significance to Puerto Rico. It’s a link to past and present. His nine solvent ink prints on paper of scanned flattened VHS boxes, function as archives of Puerto Rican history. The visually striking 18 by 24-inch framed VHS prints, with their vivid colors and geometric forms, showcase a cornucopia of classic brands like BASF, Maxwell, Panasonic, Polaroid, Sanyo, Sony, and TDK. The display may remind viewers of their own VHS collections, whether stored, recorded over, or lost. As Figueroa observes, taping over or losing VHS tape content symbolizes lost memories, echoing Miranda Mattei’s focus on the fragility of memory—a point supported by University of Chicago research on the malleability of memory, which explores forgetting and the creation of false recollections.

Miranda Mattei reinterprets pivotal moments in Puerto Rican history through a unique artistic practice: hand-labeling VHS tapes with invented titles. These VHS prints bridge past and present, providing new insight into major events. Miranda Mattei’s work covers the devastating 1985 Mameyes landslide; the 1996 Humberto Vidal gas explosion; the funeral of influential political figure, Muñoz Marín; and the 1999 accidental death of David Sanes in Vieques from a United States military bombing error. He also captures the 1978 Cerro Maravilla massacre and its subsequent cover-up, where two young pro-independence activists were murdered in a police ambush; Karl Wallenda’s fatal high-wire walk in San Juan that same year; and Puerto Rican boxer Tito Trinidad’s triumph over De La Hoya. Through this artistic endeavor, Mattei visually reinterprets these events, fostering a connection between historical narratives and contemporary understanding.

Rafael J. Miranda Mattei, Man in Condado, 44 x 60”, India ink on hot press Arches paper, 2025

The exhibition features varied artworks, such as a 32.5 x 31.5-inch mixed media piece inspired by a CD mixtape. Another striking piece viewers will appreciate is an installation of twenty-two vivid-colored VHS tapes joined together with plexiglass, forming a dynamic half-rainbow arch across the wall.

Several new large-scale black and white works (44 x 60 inches), meticulously created with India ink on hot press Arches paper, are on display. These pieces reference the VHS print of Karl Wallenda’s 1978 San Juan tightrope performance and fatal fall, drawing inspiration from photos of the fall taken by Gary Williams, a San Juan newspaper photographer. The photos were featured in the April 3, 1978, Time Magazine article, “Sit Down, Poppy, Sit Down!” Miranda Mattei’s drawings of Wallenda evoke Robert Longo’s “Men in the Cities” black and white series, portraying sharply dressed figures in mid-motion against a stark white backdrop — an aesthetic that mirrors both Wallenda’s attire and form during his fatal descent. “Man in Condado” depicts Wallenda plummeting from below, dressed in black trousers and white-soled shoes, one arm visible – a chilling foreshadowing of his death. Miranda Mattei’s drawings are powerful, elegant, yet terrifying, imbued with the knowledge of the tragic end to the story. The local television station WAPA in San Juan captured the moment live, indelibly engraving it in the collective memory of those who witnessed the fall. Miranda Mattei’s art beautifully revives this somber chapter of the island’s past.

The exhibition offers an unfiltered view of Puerto Rico’s history, highlighting both its strengths and flaws. Though living in New Jersey, Miranda Mattei maintains a deep connection to his Puerto Rican heritage, portraying the island’s complexities beyond the idealized image of a sun-kissed Caribbean paradise. In doing so, Miranda Mattei deliberately refrains from comparing Puerto Rico’s corruption to that on the mainland, just as he avoids drawing parallels to how mainstream media sensationalizes stories to distract from less desirable topics. The exhibition demonstrates a consistent and unwavering perspective on Puerto Rico, acknowledging that these issues resonate beyond the island. This multi-media retro-esque exhibit is a nuanced and heartfelt love story embracing Puerto Rico’s complexities. Don’t miss the chance to experience this candid homage to Puerto Rico’s cultural legacy: “Be Kind. Please Rewind!”

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Grabaciones para un pais de memoria corta: 

Tracking Issues is on view thru September 19, 2025

at El Schomburg

2538 W. Division, Chicago

Hours by appointment. 

Call 15 minutes prior. 787–409–6983

Installation view