[CW: colonizer history] This is a portrait of one of my ancestors, my great great great grandfather Dr. José María Montealegre, once president of Costa Rica (1859-1863). I’m assuming this was taken around that time. I just think it’s a really great portrait and I feel I can tell a lot about him from it. He was a doctor and surgeon first, and was sort of pressured into being president during a time of some great political upheaval. He ended up leaving Costa Rica after his peaceful transfer of power still garnered him animosity from one of the following presidents, seeking asylum in the so-called Bay Area (Ohlone Land), where I was born and raised and live currently. He was a Pisces, and a bit reluctant to be in a position of power. He was known to be a man "unmoved by ambition and oblivious to parties and social divisions: the man who had never aspired to any political position," but while president he put forth the convention that would produce the Costa Rican Constitution of 1859. A note about his background: he came from a wealthy and highly political Spanish family of coffee plantation owners. There were high government officials of the Montealegre family in many of the Central American countries at the time. He came from immense privilege and his family caused great harm (an understatement) to the indigenous peoples of C. America, the African peoples who were enslaved, and the land and terrain in which they lived (ie plantations). Colonizer history is complex and heartbreaking. I try to acknowledge that as a part of my history as I dig more into my ancestry. I also try to give voice to my ancestors’ stories, in my own leanings of ancestral work. No matter how shameful or harmful. I don’t think these stories should be hidden. Too much repression and lack of acknowledgment of privilege and power and harm done. So I may start drawing more of my ancestors to let their stories see the light. [The image to the left is a black and white sketch of a portrait from the bust up of a suited, heavily mutton-chopped man with curly dark hair, all styled in the times of 1860s. He is gazing to the right with a soft but stoic look on his face. The image below is the original sepia-toned photo of portrait on which I based the sketch.] Original portrait photo of Jose Maria Montealegre
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