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Macha Colón, a light-skinned Afro Puerto Rican with purple dyed curly hair, smiles at the camera. She stands at the beach with the ocean behind her.

Photo courtesy of the artist.

Artists

Macha Colón

Undisciplined Creator

San Juan, Puerto Rico (Borikén)

Gisela Rosario Ramos is an un-disciplined artist currently based in Puerto Rico. She studied Black and Puerto Rican Studies and Film and Media Studies at Hunter College, NYC, where she also worked as a documentary editor and was part of Eduardo Alegria’s performance shows in PS 122. Upon returning to Puerto Rico, she worked as Artistic and Programming Director at Casa de Cultura Ruth Hernández, organizing cultural events while continuing to edit and direct films. Her award-winning short documentary El Hijo de Ruby has been shown in international festivals. Her artistic persona, Macha Colón, performs rock/pop music with her band Macha Colón y Los Okapi in alternative venues since 2008. They released their first album Tanquecito de amor (Little Tank of Love) in 2016 and performed in NYC at the Loisaida Festival, La Marqueta Retoña in El Barrio, and the New New Museum. Recently, she won an international documentary competition to film Love Letters to an Iconess, a documentary about a Puerto Rican queer diva who’s now in her seventies. She’s an Art Matters Foundation and NALAC grantee and received the first Resiliency Award through the Arts from the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture in Chicago. In 2020, received the inaugural William Greaves Fund for mid-career filmmakers from Firelight Media. She is in post-production of her first feature film, Perfume de Gardenias, which has received funds from Ibermedia and Tribeca Film Institute and will be released on 2021.

Donor -This award was generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This artist page was last updated on: 09.03.2024

Music video of <em>Jayá</em> by Macha Colón thumbnail.

Music video of Jayá by Macha Colón, 2012.

Video courtesy of the artist.