Cruzando El Charco / Crossing the Puddle

Cruzando El Charco (Crossing the Puddle) by artist Betsy Z. Casañas is located in in the Norris Square neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The mural exists in two parts, on exterior walls of residences located across the street from each other. Casañas chose muted colors to reflect the spiritual aspect of migrating from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia. She felt it was vital to show the complex situation facing Philadelphia’s first wave of Puerto Rican immigrants: namely, establishing a presence and a new community in a new city, while not allowing old traditions and customs to become “invisible”.

Community residents wanted to show Philadelphia’s history as a primary destination for Puerto Rican immigrants; the first wave leaving Puerto Rico may have initially favored New York City—Brooklyn, in particular—Philadelphia was a preferred port for early Puerto Rican immigrants. On the other hand residents didn’t want to focus on America as a mere “destination” for Puerto Rican immigrants, rather, they wanted to focus on the impact these early immigrants had in their new home.

Casañas decided that the best solution was somewhere in the middle— historic symbols of travel are present (an airplane and an ocean liner), and images reflecting labor, industry and agriculture.