Community Canvas is an initiative presented by The Culture Show where GBH features artwork from community members on our Digital Mural.
Today’s mural features a photograph, Salsa at Sunset by Luis Edgardo Cotto. Captured during the annual Betances Festival in Boston’s historic Villa Victoria, this image celebrates the joy and freedom of dancing in community. The scene shows two people immersed in salsa – eyes closed, rhythm shared – surrounded by others taking in the music and movement.
Betances Fest honors Puerto Rican heritage and resistance, and events like this offer more than entertainment. They provide a vital space for connection, healing, and joy – especially in neighborhoods that have weathered displacement, gentrification, and erasure.
“In moments like these, beneath the open sky and among familiar faces, community becomes medicine,” Cotto says. “The beats of the conga and the sway of hips remind us: we are still here, still moving, and still together.”
Cotto is a cultural worker and photographer with over three decades of experience, based in New England and Cidra, Puerto Rico. Raised in Hartford, CT, his passions range from arts equity to civic engagement at the municipal level.
See more of Cotto’s work at cottografia.com
