Disfraces Rebeldes

Disfraces Rebeldes (“Rebellious Costumes” in Spanish) reimagines the traditional confines of Puerto Rican and Nuyorican identity by investigating the vejigante—a traditional masked and costumed character in Puerto Rican festival culture—and its historical interweaving with Islam and al-Andalus. I created and photographed myself wearing vejigante costumes, whose designs are an exploration of these cross-cultural ideas and which reflect the idea of rebellion and disobedience to mainstream narratives of history, cultural exchange, and identity.