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Stories about bold people changing the world.

Old San Juan.

This beautiful walled city on a hill was the gateway to the Caribbean for centuries.

Step into Old San Juan and you step into the past.

And then are promptly reminded of the present.

It's a totally unique place.

A collage of its local, regional, and international influences.

Near its center is a microcosm of the city itself.

A cultural magnet.

Puerto Rican artists, writers, dancers and all kinds of creatives are drawn into various orbits and their work collides.

These collisions contribute to the cultural collage that is Puerto Rico.

Transforming it, expanding it, taking it beyond the four stone walls that have made up the structure for hundreds of years.

It's a place dedicated to collaboration, community and Puerto Rican identity.

This place is Contrafuertes.

Contrafuertes is the gravitational point for our exploration of Old San Juan.

It's a self-managed volunteer driven, multidisciplinary art space, originally created by Charles Juhasz-Alvarado and now co-directed by him and his wife Ana Rosa Rivera.

Both are internationally renowned artist and full disclosure, my brother and sister-in-law.

To understand Contrafuertes, you need to understand them and their relationship to Puerto Rico and its culture.

This is no easy task.

The first stop is just outside Old San Juan at the Museo De Art De Puerto Rico, where we can learn a little bit about Ana Rosa's work.

Nobody's here.

But this is like what meant to be like this.

So the first time that it was shown, the performance was that the person were holding them.

And they would be clothed in the costume that you would come up with or something?

Yes, and doing movement.

Ah, no kidding.

So you will have live sculpture at the same time.

But don't tell them you see me do this.

[laughter] I wanted to do the manual labor that I learned from my grandmother.

I used the stainless steel wire, even though I am making reference to the past.

I wanted to represent the year that I live.

When I first look at it, it reminds me of like buttons and thread.

Mm-hmm, really?

Yeah.

That's interesting.

Yeah.

Human beings are people that change.

You think something today and yet you can change your thought if I paint something.

It's like a window with the sculpture.

I think I work more with the space and the body.

When you see the sculpture, you see it in one way, then if we go around-- Even little steps the whole thing, the shadows and the perspective.

You really do need to make your way around to really consume it.

This desire to explore space and engage people with her work leads us across the bridge into Old San Juan proper.

La Perla is one of the most unique communities on the island and was established in the early 19th century between the walls of the city and the Atlantic Ocean.

Often marginalized, it shows how art can provide a way into a community.

Ana Rosa was involved in a public art piece that encourages people to come into the community and learn about it.

La Perla started at the late of 19th century.

And what I wanted to do was to collect the oral traditions and I record them by camera.

And all those stories were engraved in the granite that are on the bleachers.

You see from here the name of La Perla.

But then, if you want to know more about them, you go down down.

Down into La Perla.

And then you read.

Exactly.

And you read inside the text of La Perla.

So he said text inside the text.

Most people pass along the highway here and never make it down to this community.

Yes.

I started working with them doing classes with clay when I was asked to do sculpture in La Perla, I wanted to do a sculpture that is not mine.

It was a collaboration between the community and myself.

Non-writers by themselves, not by me, no by social science.

I wanted the story of themselves.

Right.

How many stories did we get?

Oh my God.

When I first start to talk to them, none of them wanted to be in front of a camera telling the story.

I was so happy because once everybody started to tell stories, they didn't want to stop.

Ana Rosa has an ongoing relationship with the community.

And she says La Perla is changing rapidly.

Her friend Marisol an artist who lives in La Perla led us through this beautiful little community that we discovered she's very much a part of.

I mean, it feels like a tight community when we're walking through even everyone knows, you know everyone, right?

Yeah, I know everybody because I coming to La Perla and got with my friends.

We walk together, we drink together, we have this relationship.

Very important.

Every day, do you have some problem with money, OK, I earn you some money or date with me.

You know, we are always supporting each other.

I gotcha.

Yeah.

[speaking spanish] That's their grandmother, yeah.

I love it.

Yeah.

It's like-- because it's tough.

I don't want to romanticize the Barrio.

It's violent.

[inaudible] Yeah.

[inaudible] [spanish] But it's there.

But it's there.

As it becomes more of a tourist destination, it can be difficult for local residents.

However, locally run initiatives are cropping up to support the community from within.

Marisol wanted us to meet Jerome, who runs a community garden at the far end of La Perla.

Right now La Perla is like boom in that area.

Yeah, it's gentrifying.

Yeah, it's very fast.

They wasn't used to that interest from the private sector.

A little bit of money changes everything.

Yes.

Yes.

Sometimes not for the best.

You see everything well painted, but right now most of those houses are abandoned.

It's like the frosting of the cake.

Exactly, yeah.

They haven't seen a lot of communities making the poverty beautiful.

Some of these abandoned buildings and lots were actually the inspiration for the community garden.

They started inside the community in different abandoned places that I saw neighbors were rescuing, planting food.

And we decided to write a proposal to get a bigger space where we can all gather and learn together.

So it really came from what the people were already doing.

Yes.

Yes, La Perla has a big tradition of planting or growing food because most of the ancestors from La Perla come from different areas of the island from the mountain.

So they keep their chicken, their cows in the city.

So what kinds of plants are you guys doing in this area?

Most of the plants we have are medicinal right now purpose.

We used to have food, but two years ago we have an iguana infection.

And they like all type of leaves, unless they are spices or medicine.

So is there any method to get rid of the iguanas?

I believe a dog.

[laughs] Or eating them.

But it's not very common in our culture eating iguana.

He's focused on education because it's not a big space as you see.

Things like making fishing nets, sustainable agriculture, water harvesting, system, composting, those type of things.

Do you guys rely on donations or things like that?

Sometimes we accept donations, but most of the income we have is with the same plants.

Oh really?

Yes.

It's circular.

Yes.

A sustainable garden and public art may not initially seem connected, but they both bring people together around a space.

Contrafuertes also started in an abandoned building and strives to do the same.

I know you want to go to Contrafuertes.

But first, back to the museum to talk to Charles about an installation piece that was in the inaugural show at Contrafuertes.

It's about one community helping another.

After the earthquake in 2010, there was a school that was built by a Puerto Rican brigades and with money that was raised in Puerto Rico.

A school that was rebuilt in Haiti.

So they got a boat and they sailed over with a group of workers and materials, and they went there to build.

This started a relationship that has continued.

It's a really beautiful project, so I tried to bring together objects and resources that people had that spoke about that relationship.

Relationship and collaboration are key to his and Ana Rosa's work.

In the very early days when I was invited to a show, for example, in Spain or Singapore, they expected and I represented Puerto Rican art.

I thought I could be ask other artists to join in into my project.

And you'll still be the artist invited, but I'll show up with other artists.

We see ourselves as people that are related to culture more than to art.

We have a responsibility that is quite broad.

It's not so personal or individual.

It's more social.

The broader commitment to culture and identity is what gives Contrafuertes in life.

It's in the heart of Old San Juan, not far from La Perla.

And it was born of this desire for collaboration.

It all started when Charles was asked to participate in an international art show in Puerto Rico.

What I propose was to do something that ends up being very much-- it's an artwork, but it's an artwork that operates like a Contemporary Art Center.

It's meant to be a place for other artists to collaborate, right?

Exactly.

And it's about making relationships and encourages interdisciplinary work.

And we're specialize in the Caribbean and it's they ask for us.

And we make it possible in a volunteer way.

Contrafuertes means buttress like the architectural support.

And it's an apt name with a lot of layers to its meaning.

It's evident as Charles gives us a tour of this ancient building.

And we see first hand the variety of artists it brings together.

Well, this is a Ivelisse Jiménez work.

Works his space like openly as a painter but with color.

I thought of Ivelisse because Ivelisse has done work feels very much like a spill, I guess cascade.

To tell you the truth, originally, it was going to be just temporary.

But I think really the beast configured the space and is really settled and beautiful.

And we've seen how it works with the different shows and it kind of is part of all the other shows.

So this space you don't know the future what would happen if you guys weren't in this space anymore.

It's something that we've been dealing with Contrafuertes is a moment.

That's what it is.

It's not a place, it's a moment in time.

This piece from your good friend Arnaldo Morales.

Arnaldo, it works a lot with elements that are dangerous or that have to do with fear and ways to deal with that.

This one sort of brings up the idea of the bee.

You see that the material is very much like a honey color.

But this finger is sort of for me, it's like opening up a space.

It's drawing a cone.

The main exhibition right now is Fractura by performance and sculpture artist Freddie Mercado.

Freddie is another artist that is also from our generation is he arrived at the art school started doing this kind of work.

Work that had to do with performance with his body and exposing it and having it moving around.

Just so I catch up, so these are actually-- these are meant to be worn.

All of them have been worn by Freddie.

Freddie is an artist that is a performance artist.

He's done this in the streets forever.

I modeled the wooden part and I made molds and for his hands and his heads.

When you look at his work in the front, it's in the back, it's everywhere.

It's between his legs keep finding more and more and more.

It's living up like opening into different characters.

When he moves around, he's a crowd moving around.

What are the reactions from people [inaudible] All kinds of reactions.

I mean, of course, a lot of hostility I can imagine.

He's someone that represents difference.

He's very different.

He dresses like this.

And does he represent the LGBTQ community or does he not like to be pegged?

I think he represents it, but he really is flowing around and doing his thing.

It's been like this forever.

Due to the pandemic, Contrafuertes had to close right as Freddie's show was supposed to open.

They partnered with another artist to document the show on video.

But this bread another collaboration.

And interpretation of Freddie's work in three movements.

We spoke with the artist and filmmaker Carla Cavina about working with Freddie and the role of identity in her work.

I know Freddie from my 20s when I was exploring my identity.

And he was an inspiration because I remember in the streets and saying, he's a man or he's a girl.

What she is.

It made me free like presence in the world make us all queer.

So I wanted to portray that, but also the pain that comes with assuming that a position in a world that doesn't understand that.

Like, Puerto Rico has a very interesting cultural life.

He's very conservative in a way, but in other ways he's very permissive.

Like, party could move, I could move.

Identity is a huge thing.

I feel like I'm nowhere and I don't know where.

When I was pressing for the interview, I was thinking, oh, yeah, glow portrayed in the camera.

And I know I am lesbian.

I know my non-binary, but I prefer chick as a pronoun.

The trans feminist and ecologies.

Also, I believe in the field of Puerto Rico.

So those things maybe are my identity.

But also I think I just play with my identity too kind of a spread and not that-- and I think that is very freeing not knowing who you are.

Who you are and no boxes.

Let's not try to put people in boxes.

Yeah, I think that's the best way.

Yeah.

The boxes are small places to meet.

The building itself is constantly in flux.

It's one of the oldest in Old San Juan and has been everything from a private residence, a museum, and even a trash dump.

Now it's a multidisciplinary creative paradise and central to its visual identity is the motif of the beehive.

So I love all the bee analogies because it really does.

Honestly, I mean, you see it, but you get it.

It's like people working and doing their things.

This building has been here for hundreds and hundreds of years.

Early 1700s is said latest that it was built.

This building already had that name.

That was its historic name, La Casa De Los Contrafuertes.

And we assume that as the title of the project.

What it is a metaphor really?

A metaphor for us working together.

He was also a way of dealing with history rather than overwriting it.

It was about bringing it up.

It's sort of in a way it becomes like a source.

The community sprouted around this space, and it feels like it kind of has you feel that.

This project is about being accessible to everybody.

Not a public to other artists, but everybody.

Not far from Contrafuertes and Old San Juan is Charlie and Ana's home, which doubles as their studio.

Luna.

They gave us a tour, and in many ways, it is an extension of the ethos of Contrafuertes.

I love it every time I enter the space.

But this is something that I'm doing to sound piece.

Are you currently working on this?

Yeah, I'm working on it.

I should do with the inner ear.

It's been two years Charlie, when are you going to get it done?

[laughter] Yeah, you don't rush art, bro.

You don't rush art.

It's an artist playground.

A kind of laboratory for exploring ways to connect and interact with people and culture.

This is sort of a model I made for this piece.

OK, I want [inaudible].

Hey, Luna.

Luna!

Is that Luna?

Luna.

She wants everybody to believe that she was that dog that was sent to space by the Russians.

That's true.

Is that true?

No, no.

This is off the camera.

Look at this.

You know that Luna is not actually from space, right?

Yeah.

She is from the space.

I have a picture of her taken.

This is something that I continue to work on.

Bringing together different kinds of wood for sound.

Excuse me, I'm hungry.

One of Charlie's projects inspired by shoe shiners has existed in different iterations all over the world.

And is the perfect example of how art can connect seemingly unconnected people and communities.

This time, I just decided to concentrate on the shoeshine box and make the best one I could make, because it would be the one that I will give to the shoe shiners.

And I made them as a kit.

So the idea was that we would put it together and we will do like a small workshops so the kids will understand.

And then every part makes a different kind of sound, you know?

It's about making sound and making an instrument and something very special accessible.

You're not trying to hide the design, you're trying to democratize.

And have art be related to reality, not something that is only for like luxury or I don't-- I'm not interested in that at all.

Charlie, you got a problem.

Yeah, you got a problem here.

Is this real?

No, I made it.

OK.

But the machete, I don't know if any one here.

Can you balance the machete on this?

Yes, I can down with a machete.

I can.

Oh, you're not supposed to touch it.

Don't do it, Earl.

And there's a whole bunch of things I'm not supposed to do short.

Really short long, whatever.

Do you used to work in a circus?

[laughter] In this piece I want to go to my origin.

It was a tree that it was torch by the Hurricane Maria.

They would come from my parents' house.

When I was a small, he planted this tree.

Your father.

My father.

Maria turned it down and I rescued.

It so something torn apart by Maria, then you gets put back together or helped or rebuilt.

The pieces that are in this series has fabric that I'm on thread.

And then, I like the idea of raw and cook.

So you have something that is raw and then have something that is cooked.

Everything needs a little C-clamp in their life once in a while.

Yeah.

It is true.

At the end of the day up on the roof, we discussed what Puerto Rico means to them and why it's central to their work and life.

[speaking spanish] They're expensive, though.

You have to replace it.

OK, we'll replace it.

[laughter] Could you ever leave this place?

Why do you stay here?

We actually tried.

We went to school in the States.

We just came back because I feel this is where I have my ground.

I feel I can be more creative.

I can do better work.

I can get the best out of me being here.

Ana, you grew up in [inaudible].

Mm-hmm.

You've been here your entire life.

Could you leave this place?

No.

And even that my work is not something literally of this space, it is.

This is it.

This is where I want to be.

What do you feel?

Do you feel Puerto Rican?

Yeah, you know, that's a very important question because I've seen when a reporter asked Borges the same question.

You feel Argentina Borges said very clearly, I am a citizen at this time, but I do-- for me, I do feel Puerto Rican.

Yeah, I have a very, very strong relationship with this culture.

And this is the culture that made me.

And I feel this is where I come from.

It's funny because you just said, this culture made you so much of this like one and the art thing and things like that you guys also make.

We really love it.

That's it.

It might be easy to believe it, because you're here and you're seeing all this, but really it's about the culture.

And this culture is spread out to the mainland US.

Puerto Rican culture is not limited to the island.

So it doesn't matter what geography necessarily of being on the island and not being on the island.

Exactly it is who you are inside you're Puerto Rican.

Exactly.

Puerto Rico may be the tree, but the roots and the branches are all over the place.

They're all over the place.

Well, here's to Puerto Rico.

Here's to Puerto Rico.

[speaking spanish] Hopefully, this provided a little window into the many ways Contrafuertes encourages community and collaboration.

Making a space for art and the exploration of ideas is critical to cultural identity and change, because art has the amazing power to bind it all together.

Contrafuertes is many things and it may not last forever.

But at the moment, it's a haven for stretching the limits of identity and exploring the power of creativity and collaboration.

There's so much more to explore, and we want you to join us on The Good Road.

For more in depth content, meet us on the internet at thegoodroad.tv.

Hear more great stories, connect to organizations and make sure you download our podcasts Philanthropology.

Funding for The Good Road has been provided by-- Every road is a good road when you're behind the wheel of a Toyota Hybrid from the Toyota Venza and Sienna, the Highlander Hybrid and RAV4 Hybrid.

And with available all wheel drive, these vehicles are designed to go the distance, whether you're driving to work, school, or down the coast of Tanzania.

Proud sponsor of The Good Road.

Toyota, let's go places.

Tomorrow's breakthroughs start with the determination and inspiration of today.

AMD help solve the world's toughest and most interesting challenges by creating high performance computing technologies.

And by Uncommon Giving, the generosity company.

At Plow & Hearth, we believe that the place you are to become the place you want to be.

Philanthropy Journal, stories about bold people changing the world.

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