Graft|PAF
On View
Sep 5, 2024 - Aug 24, 2025
Doris C. Freedman Plaza,
Central Park
At 60th Street and 5th Avenue
www.publicartfund.org/exhibitions/view/…
Edra Soto (b. 1971, Puerto Rico) explores the relationship between our private, interior lives and shared public history and culture. Graft is the latest in an ongoing series of installations based on rejas, wrought iron screens frequently seen outside homes in Puerto Rico. Rejas often feature repeating geometric motifs that can be traced to West Africa’s Yoruba symbol systems, in contrast to the Spanish architecture celebrated in official Puerto Rican tourism. Graft investigates how Puerto Rican cultural memory often masks the Black heritage of the island as folklore.
Made from corten steel and terrazzo, Graft is a monument to working class Puerto Rican communities and Soto’s first sculpture inspired by a specific house façade. Tables and seating invite visitors to enjoy a moment of rest, connection, and reflection. The sculpture creates a threshold, with one side representing a home’s exterior; the other, the more intimate atmosphere of an interior. The work’s title addresses Soto’s complex sentiments around migrating to Chicago while remaining connected to Puerto Rico. For Soto, feelings of dislocation are compounded by the island’s ambiguous status as an unincorporated territory of the United States. Graft opens connections between Puerto Rican communities across the city and reminds us of the centrality of the Caribbean to the history of New York City and the United States.
—Melanie Kress, Senior Curator, Public Art Fund
Edra Soto: Graft is curated by Public Art Fund Senior Curator Melanie Kress with support from Public Art Fund Assistant Curator Jenée-Daria Strand, and initial development by former Public Art Fund Senior Curator Allison Glenn.