Juan Sanchez has spent more than four decades layering photography, print and paint into work rooted in Puerto Rican and working-class New York communities, circling identity, colonialism, collective memory and resistance. States of Liberation gathers over 60 pieces around four ideas the Whitney names outright: autobiography, community, nation and utopia. If you follow Latinx art in New York, put this one on the long calendar now.
What to expect
When it opens, expect a full survey rather than a slice: paintings and mixed-media works alongside works on paper, photography and video, hung to trace how Sanchez moved between documentary image and painted surface. Curators Marcela Guerrero, Tie Jojima, Alejandro Anreus and Carina Martinez are organizing it jointly, and the show is set to travel between the partner institutions.
Good to know
- The Whitney sits at Gansevoort and Washington Streets; the A/C/E and L to 14th Street and the 1/2/3 to 14th Street all put you a short walk away.
- This is a future exhibition, not currently on view — check the Whitney's exhibition page before planning a trip around it.
- The museum is fully accessible, with elevators to every gallery floor and the outdoor terraces.
- Ticketed admission covers the whole building, so pair it with whatever else is up when it opens.
- Best for anyone who follows Latinx, Puerto Rican or politically engaged American art.
- The show is co-organized to travel, so it will also be seeable outside New York.
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Common questions
When does the exhibition open?
The Whitney lists it as opening in fall 2027; it is not on view yet.
How large is the show?
More than 60 works, spanning painting, works on paper, photography and video.
Who organized it?
The Whitney and The Phillips Collection, in collaboration with Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, curated by Marcela Guerrero, Tie Jojima, Alejandro Anreus and Carina Martinez.
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