La Tierra Prometida | The Promised Land

Artist: Brian Buckley

On View: Entrance / vestibule of 107 Suffolk St.

Dates: June 2021 - TBD

La Tierra Prometida | The Promised Land is an installation comprised of Composite gold leaf, LED lights, and recorded voices, in the vestibule of 107 Suffolk St. which acts as a beacon of light and sound in honor of Public-School number 160, built on this site in 1893 and the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural & Education Center who occupies and manages the building today.

Taking the challenge to honor both the school and the center’s namesake poet, the artist chose to engage the visitors and residents as they enter and leave the building. The experience of light reflecting from composite gold throughout the entrance highlights the building’s history, meanwhile Clemente Soto Velez’s poem La Tierra Prometida # 18 is heard overhead on a loop (recited by Nancy Mercado and Urayoán Noel). The words themselves echo throughout the building to symbolize unity among all who enter and leave The Clemente, in the past, the present and the future.

The poem, La Tierra Prometida # 18, by Clemente Soto Velez, discusses the idea of a promised land- this theme is consistent throughout Soto Velez’s poetry. Buckley connected with the poets‘ persistence in words and in protest. The recited poem is playing on a loop overhead and aids in a moment of disbelief and curiosity. The plaque in the foyer documents the building’s history and has been resurfaced with composite gold leaf.

Audio recordings in English and Spanish recorded by Nancy Mercado and Urayoán Noel.

Nancy Mercado was named one of 200 living individuals who best embody the work and spirit of Frederick Douglass by the Frederick Douglass Family Initiatives and the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. She is the recipient of the 2017 American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement presented by the Before Columbus Foundation. For more information, go to: www.nancy–mercado.com

Urayoán Noel is the author of In Visible Movement: Nuyorican Poetry from the Sixties to Slam (University of Iowa Press) and eight books of poetry, including Buzzing Hemisphere/Rumor Hemisférico and Transversal, both with the University of Arizona Press. As a translator of Latin American poetry, he has been a finalist for the National Translation Award and the Best Translated Book Award.

This project would not be possible without the support and assistance from The Clemente residents and staff.