Edra Soto, GRAFT, 2022

Edra Soto: My name is Edra Soto. I am an artist.

The types of forms I'm working with are decorative patterns, or decorative motifs, that are found in Puerto Rican homes, are representations of these patterns that are usually made of raw iron or made in concrete. And they are utilized to fence in the facade of a home, and they can be used for protection, as well as ventilation. And these are lower- and middle-class homes that are sometimes located at gated residential sectors, or houses that were built during the fifties and sixties. So they are from a particular time, and live in particular sectors of Puerto Rico. But they are quite prominent still.

One of the reasons that I replicate this pattern is to make a representation of what migration means to me. And I titled the project GRAFT because graft refers to a type of skin transplant.

And I'm trying to create a picture of my experience, of somebody that constantly migrates, and constantly traveled from Puerto Rico to the U.S. And the documentation, that can be experienced through viewfinders, that are embedded in the architecture that is represented will provide an intimate view, but also a more expansive view of what could be the life of somebody that lives in the island, and somebody that is from the island, but also somebody that is constantly traveling to the island.

Narrator: The pictures—some of which Soto took herself—document Hurricane Maria and its aftermath.

Edra Soto: And I documented this moment, because I know it was a very important moment. It was a moment of great trauma, and it was perhaps one of the lowest points that I have lived and experienced as a Puerto Rican.

It took me two years to share my pictures. But I think that having the representation of the fences provides an additional layer that allows for the audience to make a decision, a voluntary decision, to get close, and decide if they are going to invest themselves in this experience, if they want to witness. So, it almost becomes a type of political decision. Are you going to volunteer with yourself? How much do you want to see? Do you want to acknowledge what happened in this place?