Marta Pérez García: Bearing Witness

The Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center is excited to host Bearing Witness, an exhibition by artist Marta Pérez García on display in the atrium of HJ Patterson Hall from September 15 through October 15, 2026. The exhibit is open weekdays during business hours (9AM-5PM).

Marta Pérez García began her series of sculptural female torsos, Restos-Traces, in response to the escalation of domestic violence against women during the COVID-19 pandemic. These myriad bodies–amorphous and skeletal, militant and maternal–honor the victims and survivors of gender-based violence everywhere but especially in Puerto Rico, where rates of femicide remain persistently high. “I think our survival stories are written on our bodies,” Pérez García reflects, and her torsos betray the psychic and physical scars of violence with intimacy and poignance. Constructed from handmade paper and inlaid with various materials, including metal wires, bones, and nails, the bodies both bear witness to the lingering trauma of their abuse and project new narratives of self-empowerment.

Additional Events:

Sept. 15, 1–4pm — Drop-in papermaking workshop outside H.J. Patterson Hall with Marta Pérez García

Sept. 15, 4pm — Opening reception, part of NextNOW Fest