Artist Talk with Gloriann Sacha Antonetty Lebrón & Juan Pablo Vizcaíno

Gloriann Sacha Antonetty Lebrón and Juan Pablo Vizcaíno Cortijo won the 2025 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition’s People’s Choice Award for their vibrant 12-channel video, .

Hebras y Vejigantes shows the tradition of vejigante mask carving from the Puerto Rican town of Loíza, which has a large population of descendants of free Black people and maroons who escaped enslavement during the Spanish colonial era. Against a soundtrack of flutes and bomba drumming, 13 individuals dressed in kente cloth and African wax prints stand tall while expressing themselves in ways that honor their Afro-Caribbean heritage, from braiding hair and spinning records to reading and dancing. Each activity takes place as Antonetty-Lebrón recites an ode to Black hair and Vizcaíno carves masks for the individuals in the video.

Hebras y Vejigantes is on view in . The National Portrait Gallery’s triennial Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition celebrates excellence in the art of portraiture. Every three years, artists living and working in the United States are invited by the museum to submit one of their recent portraits to a panel of experts. The selected artworks reflect the compelling and diverse approaches contemporary artists are using to convey their personal and collective stories through portraiture.

The Portrait Gallery strives to provide programs that are accessible to all visitors. If you have questions about the accessibility of this program, or if you would like to request real-time captioning (CART), sign language interpretation, or any other accommodations, please contact Vanessa Jones at [email protected]. Two weeks advance notice is appreciated for requesting accommodations.