The opening of Labor, an art exhibition inspired by holdings in the Centro Archives, highlighted the recent inauguration of the Centro Library and Archives’ new location in the Silberman School of Social Work in East Harlem. As Susana Torruella-Leval, co-curator of the exhibition wrote in the exhibit catalog: “Labor pays tribute to the nearly 600,000 workers who migrated from Puerto Rico to the United States during the 1940s and ‘50s in search of work and a better life. It also celebrates Centro’s move to a new home in el Barrio, the portal of the Puerto Rican migration, which gave Centro its founding purpose.”

At the podium: Susana Torruella Leval; (L-R) Artists Nitza Tufiño,

Juan Sánchez, Miguel Luciano, Melissa A. Calderón, Antonio Marorell

 Antonio Martorell, co-curator with Torruella-Leval, contributed a series of woodcuts to the show. Also included are a painting by Nitza Tufiño; an installation built around a vintage bicycle by Miguel Luciano; a sculpture and two related pieces by Melissa Calderón; and portraits and a video by Juan Sánchez.

The Labor exhibit is housed at the new Hunter College East Harlem Art Gallery in the Silberman School of Social Work, located at 2180 Third Avenue at East 119th Street.   The exhibit is free and open to the public Monday through Friday from 1 to 6 p.m. through February 29, 2012.