"I Am Taíno" is a portrait series addressing paper genocide and the manipulation of Taíno identity. The Taíno are the indigenous peoples of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean who were believed to be extinct up until recently, partly because the racial category for being indigenous ("indio") was removed from census reports in the early 1800s, and they were forced to identify as either white, black or mixed on forthcoming census reports. The Taíno refer to this process as "paper genocide."
The dominant narrative in the Caribbean is that 80-90% of Taíno were killed after European contact in the 15th century, and those who survived became too "mixed" either via intermarriage or mestizaje (genetic and cultural mixing over time) to claim an indigenous identity. Still, a grassroots movement known as the Taíno Movement emerged in the 1960s amongst Spanish-speaking Caribbeans and the U.S. diaspora declaring Native survival. Moreover, a 2003 study funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation revealed that 61 percent of Puerto Ricans have Amerindian mitochondrial DNA. After decades of being criticized as "fake Indians", the Taíno were finally able to claim their indigenous identity in the 2010 US census. They were further galvanized by the recent opening of a Taíno exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in NYC last August.
Taíno Chief Jorge Baracutei Estevez and I, along with NYC-based Taíno community group Higuayagua have produced a portrait series that depicts the Taíno’s ongoing struggle for recognition and the concept of "race" as a colonial legacy.
