Alli Arocho

Alli Arocho is an artist and folklorist from Borikén (Puerto Rico). Her work represents an attempt to capture and reconnect with her Puerto Rican heritage in the context of the diaspora that she embodies. Alli experiments with acrylic paints, and mask-making out of coconuts and clay.

She leans into her own diasporic nostalgia and shares familiar stories that allow her to connect with other displaced borinqueñes and latinxs from all over. Most influential to her art, however, is the studying of Bomba music and dance, as well as the existence of the vejigante folkloric character, which are symbols of her culture’s 500+ years resistance to assimilate to foreign colonizing powers.