The jury for the X Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano y del Caribe was made up of Viara Bartira of Brazil from the Museu da Gravura/ Cidade de Curitiba [Graphic Art Museum in the City of Curitiba]; Valerie Brière of France from the Centre Pompidou [Pompidou Center]; Alina Molinari, Argentine critic; Virgil Hammock, Canadian critic; Jorge Eliezer Martínez, Venezuelan printmaker; and José Alicea, printmaker, and Doreen Colón, critic, both from Puerto Rico. They selected 269 works from the 1,222 submitted.
The Biennial de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano was one of the most important events held in the Caribbean region, given that it fostered an exchange of ideas and contact among different artists. The first of these biennials was organized by the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña [Institute of Puerto Rican Culture] (ICP) in 1970. Printmaking was selected because it was a form of expression that was widely practiced by Puerto Rican artists, who were producing very high quality work. In 1986, “y del Caribe” [and Caribbean] was added to the name of the biennial so it could include that geographic area in the event. Parallel to this change, the biennial included two exhibitions to recognize artists’ work: one to honor a Puerto Rican artist and the other to honor a foreign artist.