A new sculptural bus shelter in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood will elevate the stories of Latine community members next year as part of a new project between The Sculpture Center and a Chicago-based artist.
After winning an award from The Joyce Foundation, The Sculpture Center is partnering with artist Edra Soto, who will create the bus shelter and an indoor gallery exhibition next year. The La Distancia (The Distance) project will address themes of displacement, identity and culture. The indoor exhibition will be on display in May and June. The permanent bus shelter sculpture will be installed in May.
The project is part of The Sculpture Center’s Spotlight Series, which elevates mid-career artists working on social issues in relationship with communities in Northeast Ohio and the surrounding regions, said Grace Chin, executive director of The Sculpture Center. Chin said the Joyce Award, which comes with $100,000 in funding for the artist and the project, is “a big deal.”
“It’s a really prestigious award,” she said. “It’s nationally recognized, and so at the same time The Joyce Foundation is elevating the artist, they’re also elevating The Sculpture Center. It’s helping us be seen more as a nationally recognized institution.”
The project will incorporate stories of Clark-Fulton residents through photos and writing, Chin said. Soto will visit Cleveland a few times over the next eight months and work with local artists and business and community leaders, hosting writing workshops starting in October where residents can share their stories. The stories will be featured in a newsletter made available at the bus shelter, Chin said.
‘Existing in the in-between’
Soto is a Puerto Rican artist whose work in Chicago has highlighted colonialism and identity. For decades, Soto’s work has been part of her Graft project, which looks at the complexities of migration through place-based art rooted in Puerto Rican architecture. La Distancia will add to her Graft project as well.
“Along with so many others, mine is a story of moving between various liminal spaces in search of home,” Soto said in a news release. “Through this project, I want to enshrine those moments of waiting, of existing in the in-between, both through the collection of stories and mementos and the performance and celebration of community art, but also in a literal sense – by changing the physical architecture of the landscape and unapologetically taking up space.”
In her recent work, Soto has included viewfinders, so people peek through a lens and see photographs and ephemera – or short-term memorabilia – to give people a glimpse of life in Puerto Rico. In Cleveland, she’ll ask Clark-Fulton residents to provide photos and ephemera for the exhibition at The Sculpture Center.
Chin said she hopes the project helps Clark-Fulton and Latine residents in Northeast Ohio feel seen.
“What are their stories? Has anyone asked?” Chin said. “If you’re sitting at a bus shelter, it’s an opportunity to have a conversation.”