The Currier Museum of Art will present a special exhibition, “Voces y Visiones: Highlights from El Museo del Barrio’s Permanent Collection,” on view March 10-June 26. The exhibit will celebrate Latin American and Caribbean art and culture and features more than 100 objects encompassing a broad range of media, styles, and cultures by artists from 15-plus countries.

Founded in 1969 in Manhattan’s Upper Eastside neighborhood or el barrio, El Museo del Barrio is the nation’s premier museum dedicated to historic and contemporary Puerto Rican, Caribbean, Latin American and Latino art.

This vibrant and engaging exhibition marks the first tour of El Museo’s finest holdings ranging from pre-Columbian artifacts from the Thirteenth to Fifteenth Centuries through to recent Latino art. The Currier is the only New England venue on this national tour

This exhibition reflects the complex and diverse reality of contemporary Latino perspectives on identity and culture. Organized thematically, the exhibition begins with Taíno pre-Columbian objects, such as ceramic vessels and stone tools, from this indigenous culture that flourished in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.

The popular traditions of Latin American and the Caribbean, particularly devotional arts from the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries, also comprise a major component of the exhibition.

Ranging from the rich religious and artistic meanings embodied in santos (carved and painted wooden figurines of saints used for worship in the home) to the convergence of symbols from Christian and African-Caribbean religions in art devoted to orishas (deities) and the important mask-making traditions, El Museo’s collection reflects the prominence of the folk arts in Latin American culture.

The strong graphic traditions that have helped shape community identities through depictions of the political and civil struggles in the Twentieth Century are also featured.

Juan Sánchez (born 1954 New York), “El Padre, El Hijo, El Espíritu Santo (The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit),” 1995, lithograph with affixed color Xerox, 22 by 30 inches (irregular), El Museo del Barrio, New York, gift of Robert Blackburn, director of The Printmaking Workshop, New York. -Eddie J. Bartolomei photo

Drawing on a wide range of sources, many of the contemporaryLatino artists included in the exhibition continue to explore theintersection of the past and present and of different culturesthrough their work.

The Currier’s presentation of “Voces y Visiones” will be a multimedia one highlighting the “voices and visions” of Latin American, Caribbean and Latino artists through a series of audiotaped interviews with artists commenting on individual works of art. These “voices” amplify the visual interpretation by offering a variety of personal viewpoints. Additionally, all interpretive materials will be presented in Spanish and English.

With a lack of major museums dedicated to showing Latin American art in the New England region, “Voces y Visiones” is an opportunity for Currier visitors to see and experience the significant contributions made by Latin American and Latino artists to the history of art and culture.

For a complete schedule of programs in English and Spanish, visit www.currier.org. The museum is at 201 Myrtle Way. For information, 603-669-6144, extension 108.