NEW YORK, NY.- El Museo del Barrio is presenting Jangueando: Recent Acquisitions, 2021–2025, a dynamic exhibition showcasing 39 newly acquired works by 36 artists that reflect the Museum’s ongoing commitment to representing the cultural vibrancy and complexity of Latinx and Latin American communities. On view beginning August 28, this exhibition marks a bold and celebratory moment for El Museo’s evolving Permanent Collection.

“Jangueando embodies El Museo del Barrio’s unwavering commitment to artists whose work captures the complexities, resilience, and brilliance of our Latine culture. In this moment of heightened threats, this exhibition becomes more than a celebration—it asserts the power of gathering—of hanging out—as a form of resistance, healing, and transformation.” —Patrick Charpenel, Executive Director, El Museo del Barrio

The title is a play on words. It looks to janguear, Puerto Rican slang for socializing with friends. From hanging out to hanging art, here it uses the museum context to create a space of dialogue and gathering. At a time when many of the communities represented by El Museo del Barrio are under attack—through immigration raids, backlash against DEI initiatives, and the cancellation of federal grants—these multiple interpretations imply both solidarity and a political call to action through holding space and kinship.

El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection of more than 8,500 artworks was shaped by the Museum’s unique history as an artist-led, community-focused institution from when it was first established in 1969. The founding community of the Museum faced extreme racism and economic hardship and insisted that art had the power to help communities connect in the face of these trials and, together, imagine alternative ways of being.

Jangueando brings together 39 works by artists at various stages in their careers, representing a range of generations, cultural perspectives, and media—including painting, photography, sculpture, and video. Organized into thematic clusters, select groupings build on the museum’s historical strengths, such as Puerto Rican and Nuyorican portraiture, Latinx photography, and printmaking. The exhibition also highlights the evolution of the museum’s collecting strategy, with renewed focus on queer artists and those of Indigenous descent.

“Ever evolving, El Museo del Barrio’s distinct Permanent Collection stands as a testament to the artists, cultural workers, donors, and community members who have helped build and shaped it over time,” says Susanna V. Temkin, Interim Chief Curator, El Museo del Barrio. “Jangueando marks an exciting new chapter in the Museum’s evolution as a collecting institution—serving not only as a platform to debut new acquisitions, but also as a reflection of our shared, collective spirit. The exhibition offers both a framework and a provocation to what is at stake in being together.”