Pennsylvania College of Art & Design creates programming and exhibit on La Borinqueña, an Afro-Latina superhero

• Aniya Faulcon
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  Aniya Faulcon is The Spark Host/Producer for WITF. She has a passion for shining a light on unique people, experiences, and perspectives within the community.
  
  Previously she worked as the People and Social Trends Reporter/Video Anchor for LancasterOnline | LNPNews. During her time there, she created video packages, provided Facebook Live coverage at community events, and wrote data-driven stories with census data and feature stories on local leaders, non-profit organizations, events, and people with unique talents and experiences within Lancaster County.
  
  Aniya also worked at WMAR ABC 2 News as a Sales Assistant and at the AFRO American Newspapers as an Executive Assistant and Media correspondent. Aniya interned at WEAA Gospel Grace 88.9 and worked at her alma mater’s radio station, WWPJ at Point Park University, where she gained skills and a passion for radio.
  
  Aniya grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the Baltimore School for the arts for high school with a concentration in acting. She continued to hone her skills and passion for storytelling and later graduated from Point Park University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Broadcast Reporting. Aniya is eager to continue her journey with storytelling in her role with WITF, as she aims to shed a light on real people and real stories within Pennsylvania in a variety of mediums.

 Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez

La Borinqueña Graphic

Airdate: January 12, 2023

Many are familiar with popular Marvel and DC superheroes, like Iron Man, Captain America, Batman, Cat Woman and more but there’s a new superhero on the scene that is representing the Puerto Rican and Hispanic community, La Borinqueña.

This superhero is used to tell stories about Puerto Rico’s history, present-day social and environmental issues and celebrate the diversity and cultures within the Puerto Rican community.

On The Spark Thursday we discussed the new graphic novel superhero, its impact on the community, and the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design La Borinqueña programming and exhibit, which opens Tuesday, with Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez, award-winning graphic novelist and creator of La Borinqueña and Alex Schaufele, director of exhibitions at Pennsylvania College of Art & Design.

La Borinqueña’s powers are drawn from Puerto Rico’s history and mysticism. The fictional character, is a Columbia University Earth and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate student, who lives with her parents in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. La Borinqueña takes a semester to study abroad, explores the caves of Puerto Rico and finds five similar sized crystals that are eventually united to give her superpowers to fly, manipulate wind, have superhuman strength, open portals and wormholes, etc.

Post-Hurricane Maria, The La Borinqueña graphic novel superhero series raised almost $250,000 for nonprofit organizations throughout Puerto Rico, that represent the values La Borinqueña’s character embodies. The organizations celebrate and preserve Afro-Puerto Rican heritage, environmental justice, children’s education and literacy, women’s health and reproductive right and sustainable farming.

“This storytelling allows us the opportunity to introduce a hero into this mainstream superhero space that says that she, too, can be a hero for others,” Miranda-Rodriguez said. “Captain America is blond, blue-eyed and isn’t a character that simply represents those who are blond haired and blue-eyed. He’s considered the everyman. He’s considered a hero for everyone… And our hope with the storytelling through our graphic novels is La Borinqueña can be a symbol, a hero that can be seen for many others outside of the Puerto Rican and Latinx community, but more into the mainstream space of superhero storytelling.”

For more information on the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design La Borinqueña exhibit and programming visit pcad.edu/la-borinquena/.