In late 1960s Harlem, a group of Black and Puerto Rican parents urged local politicians to create an arts program that taught their children and addressed their cultural background. Eventually, they convinced a school superintend to support the program. He hired a prominent New York City-born artist, Raphael Montañez Ortiz, to create the curriculum. In 1969, that arts program turned into El Museo del Barrio. The museum is now hosting a retrospective of Ortiz’s work—his first large-scale exhibition since 1988. It is divided into four categories. “Destruction” focuses on Ortiz’s early films and assemblages. “Decolonization and Guerrilla Tactics” looks at his connection to Puerto Rico and his activism. “Ethnoaesthetics,” a term Ortiz coined, examines forms of resistance to ethnocentrism. And “Physio-Psycho-Alchemy” contemplates one of Ortiz’s enduring themes: meditation. —Jensen Davis