Anaida Hernández

Anaida Hernández's symbols act as translational devices that depend on the viewer's perspective. In effect, Hernández's iconography forces us to extract personally comprehensible meaning as we navigate a seemingly unfamiliar terrain. Though her imagery may seem like a secret language, Hernández is willing to share her decoding system as long as we are willing to participate. To fully appreciate Hernández's work, we must accompany her on a journey across the boundaries of geography, class and ethnicity, move through themes of gender and identity, and be unafraid to violate the borders between tradition and invention." -Raina A. Lampkins-Fielder, Whitney Museum of American Art

Anaida Hernández, a native Puerto Rican, is renowned for her art reflecting human rights and identity. Currently living in New York, she earned her BA in 1974 at the University of Puerto Rico and later earned her MFA in 1977 at La Escuela San Carlos, Autonomous National University (UNAM) in Mexico City. Hernandez's immense talent is exhibited in her many constructions, sculptures, paintings and prints which compel her audience into active engagement.

Her exhibition, Juegos Ilegales (Illegal Games), employs the use of games to explore the experiences of newly-arrived immigrants in a foreign land. The casino style interactive games serve as a metaphor for immigration and cultural obstacles. She impressively mixes this serious issue with an element of humor to demonstrate the risk, luck and persistence necessary to survive in a new society.

Hernández's interactive works have made strides in the redefinition of contemporary roles between artist and viewer. Her exhibit Memories of Silence, organized by The Bronx Museum of the Arts, invites the viewer to open dresser drawers to discover the secrets, memories and personal stories revealed inside. Shared Secrets, a similar project done in conjunction with immigrants from Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Italy, Mexico and the Dominican Republic, exhibited at The Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York, encourages viewers to unzip fabric covering a box to participate in each individual story.

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