In partnership with Kinfolk Tech, The Clemente presents Cigar Workers’ University, an augmented-reality public artwork by artist Molly Crabapple, developed with archival research and contributions by scholar Monxo López. Join us to celebrate the launch of this new initiative at the beloved El Barrio landmark, La Marqueta, and hear from the artist-historian team themselves about the creation of the monument, inspired by writer and workers' rights advocate Bernardo Vega’s acclaimed memoirs. The monument will be accompanied by a limited-edition zine and self-guided walking tour.
The work memorializes Puerto Rican and Cuban cigar rollers, as well as the enduring history of La Marqueta, a community marketplace that has been active since the early 20th century. Crabapple’s AR monument honors Vega and the cigar workers he described—reading poetry, news, and political tracts aloud to one another as they rolled cigars—capturing a moment when labor, learning, and collective life converged.
Cigar Workers' University marks the launch of Historias in Motion, a new Historias signature series of virtual monuments and neighborhood site clusters that bring Latinx histories into the public sphere through digital and place-based storytelling. The inaugural edition focuses on East Harlem/El Barrio, viewed through the lens of writer and labor organizer Bernardo Vega and his chronicles of 1930s New York.
Cigar Workers’ University will remain accessible at La Marqueta via the Kinfolk App. This project is the first in a planned series of five monuments and walking tours to be launched across New York City through the fall of 2026.
