Welcome to Paradise

In 'Welcome to Paradise,' Jo Cosme sits in front of destroyed fence and trees while staring into the camera next to a life jacket
Jo Cosme, Welcome to Paradise, 2017. Photograph. Puerto Rico.

Dark humor has long been a strategy of creative resistance for Caribbean peoples. The popular Puerto Rican expression "I live where you vacation" inspired photographer Jo Cosme to create the series "Welcome to Paradise" after Hurricane Maria. In these images, Cosme mordantly dismantles the stereotypical image of an island paradise inhabited by bikini-clad women.  By photographing herself posing irreverently in a black leather jacket against a backdrop of ecological devastation, Cosme creates a bleak humor out of the effects of hurricanes on Caribbean lives and landscapes. 

Learn more about Jo Cosme.

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