Festejo, a collection of 24 images by Máximo Rafael Colón, about celebration.

On view from April 13, 2026 through September 13, 2026

Frederick Douglass Playground (on Amsterdam Avenue between 101-102 Street) and
Happy Warrior Playground (Amsterdam Avenue and West 98th Street).

This is a part of The Grady Alexis Gallery’s public art presentations that brings art outdoors for all to enjoy in environments of play.

Máximo Rafael Colón’s black-and-white photographs, from the 1970s through the early 2000s, are joyous depictions of community gatherings that include parades, dance, music, and cultural events. In them, we see New Yorkers use public spaces as avenues of expression. Colón takes us to the center of sound and movement at each event: from the Lower East Side, El Barrio and Upper West Side. These images make us feel a part of all the action and refer to New York City’s long history of festivity in its open streets, parks, playgrounds, and the corners of all of our neighborhoods; they recollect for us all the reasons to come together in happiness and peace.

Colón’s work exemplifies the best of our humanity in our need to be together, to celebrate culture and identity, and experience art and music. He reminds us that we are the best version of ourselves when we are part of something shared that reinforces our core values. And in this sharing, we are participating in unifying and simple, yet profound, moments that can offer transcendence from our daily concerns.

Born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Máximo Rafael Colón is a New York–based photographer who studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Colón’s photography speaks to his concerns of social justice, activism, and cultural expression, which encapsulate a wide range of interests in music, the human condition, and making visible the people of our society who are often marginalized through discrimination and inequality. His primary medium is analog photography. Colón also creates assemblages in the found object tradition. His works have been exhibited in several venues throughout New York City and Puerto Rico and a number of his photographs form part of the Centro De Estudios Puertorriqueños archives at CUNY Hunter College and of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

This Grady Alexis Gallery exhibition is supported in partnership with the NYC Parks Department and the Columbus-Amsterdam BID, as well as through public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, with the City Council. Additional funding comes from the Jacob and Ruth Epstein Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts and individual donations.

We Thank You!

El Taller Latino Americano (aka The Latin American Workshop, Inc) is 501(c)(3) community-based institution in New York City.

Since 1979, El Taller has been an open space for expression and dialogue inspired by the belief that creativity dispels fear and mistrust among communities.