Edra Soto’s practice draws on the ornamental motifs that decorate Puerto Rico’s residential architecture as symbolic forms representing the diversity of Puerto Rican cultural identity. Her work engages the role of African diasporic traditions and the lasting role they continue to play as a result of deep colonial histories. Specifically citing structures known as quiebrasoles and rejas, Soto considers the existing architecture, the environment, and the community of a place, conceptually representing an imaginary transplant or migratory gesture. 

“La Distancia” features a seating sculpture modeled on Puerto Rico’s idiomatic bus shelters. The variety of styles of bus shelters that can be found at each municipality of Puerto Rico is quite extensive. Sometimes, the bus shelter style is infused with decorative elements that align with a theme specific to its municipality, such as beach life, music, or sports. For this sculpture, Soto sourced the four-point star motif from a personal archive of decorative concrete blocks from Puerto Rico rooted in West African Adinkra symbology. Adinkra are symbols from Ghana that represent concepts or aphorisms and are used extensively in fabrics, logos, pottery, and architecture. In Adinkra, the four-point star or Eban is a symbol of love, safety, and protection. Additionally, the sculpture features bilingual writing through which creatives from all disciplines are invited to reflect on the contexts of their individual fields of expertise. These essays are available to visitors through the provided QR code or as a hard copy.