We recently connected with Joseph Kattou and have shared our conversation below.

Joseph, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

It is often that an Artist finds themselves explaining their work, and that often goes double for an artist from a historically underrepresented group in fine arts and education. As a New York Puerto Rican artist I often find myself explaining my work from multiple angles for the average viewer to connect. I often need to educate on the historical references, the cultural nuances and other aspects that are immediately apparent to many of my Latino viewers.

Early on in my artistic journey I felt put in the hot seat any time someone would demand a complex and researched explanation with sources on the core of my artwork on anti-neocolonialism or even work simply about my heritage. The emotional labor of investing oneself in the viewpoint of the minority other was not interesting to them, despite the fact that I had seen them connect immediately with work by creators of similar backgrounds to them.

I even once found myself being asked “why do you care about ‘those people’?” by a professor of mine who thought I was engaging solely in the aesthetics of Puerto Rican art as anthropologic interest born from a good vacation rather than actually being Boricua myself.

I could go on for pages and pages of instances like that one in which I found myself asked to justify not only my art but also justify my existence and coddle their discomfort with being faced with my insistence on taking up space in their aesthetics forward art world.

I realized fairly quickly that I was burning myself out for the sake of their comfort, that their critiques were less about my work and more about how my existence contradicted their convenient worldview on the topic of Caribbean culture in the face of their participation in its neocolonialism and gentrification.

Once I realized that I was burning myself so that others wouldn’t have to do a shred of self reflection or experience even the faintest discomfort I saw it for what it was. A bad faith situation. Questions not asked in good faith, critiques given with the purpose of diminishing their discomfort as the viewer at my cultures expense were all designed, perhaps even subconsciously on their part, to attempt to hammer me into the box that the wider American culture has created around Caribbean culture. One where our art is craft based souvenir, not fine art, our narrative is spoken over in favor of stereotypes of smiling service. Through being misrepresented by others who had no interest in actually seeing me grow my potential and self motivating myself to seek out connections and community in conversation with my work I turned the negative into my greatest asset.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Sculptor primarily, I work in higher education and I love to research. I became hooked on Vejigantes at a young age, when I would stare at the one my uncle kept in his home. the mask’s purple horns and orange beak-like maw truly captured my attention. I didn’t think about them again until 2020 when the concept of a mask was being demonized by a certain demographic. I rediscovered the Vejigante as a story telling medium rich in political, religious and racial history primed for use as a vehicle to talk about contemporary Puerto Rican issues.

I want my viewer to view me as a story teller and a creator with convictions. I do not shy away from the truth of my subject matter, or the radical aspect of joy woven into a Boricua identity resisting the machines of neocolonialism and cultural gentrification.

I take pride in this approach, as well as the rich history of master Vejigante artisans with which my work could not exist (such as the multigenerational makers, the Ayala family of Loiza) from whom I pull lessons and tradition. Pride is often the first thing that comes to mind when a Puerto Rican stereotype is conjured. I aim to reclaim and wield that pride like many others in the Diaspora do.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

The best thing society can do to support creatives is to be in community with them. Creatives don’t just pop up with a full body of work and skills. Caring for the creative energy of those around you through various means (and yes that sometimes includes money, artists need to be compensated!)

Encourage people in community with you to try, if they have a passive interest, encourage it! If they are afraid of making bad art or not being good, tell them to make the bad art, its rarely as bad as they think and each time it improves.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Its not always going to turn out. When I teach new creators they are always concerned about the final work, I reassure them that the act of making is a radical step forward. Especially the early phases of their work or research, with which the process of doing can be way more important than the final image or object they make.

Not every pot will be fired, maybe one in 1000 photos taken will truly be worth editing and printing, and so on. Every Instagram painter definitely has a stack of used canvases and abandoned paintings just off screen waiting to be reprimed and reused. But you’ll never see that.

Make the ‘bad’ art, make the ‘cringe’ art, make the ‘cursed’ art. Just make!

This is the temptation that AI image generators provide. people who are unwilling to make the bad art before the good and actually embrace the learning process, they crave instant gratification. The hollow illusion of instant skill or ability.

Failure is something most artists know and have heard before. But it is still something that I see new and old artists alike still struggle with. I often suggest the short novella “Art and Fear” in extreme cases of self doubt. It’s ok to try something new with no expectations of success! I promise!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.josephkattouart.com/
• Instagram: @JosephKattouArt
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-kattou
• Other: Centro Center for Puerto Rican Studies
  https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/artists/joseph-kattou/

Image Credits

Credit Joseph Kattou