Edra Soto at the Comfort Station
n 2012, Edra Soto began Graft, an ongoing series inspired by the rejas of Puerto Rico’s homes, windows, porches, and fences, which allow the circulation of air while delineating public and private space. Soto’s resulting architectural interventions not only transplant her native Puerto Rican identity onto U.S. territories but further highlight how cultural identity and the architectures upon which we rely are situated within a dynamic web of historic and contemporary relationships.
Each iteration of Graft thus activates the histories, politics, and communities within a given site and its latest installation, “La Casa de Todos,” at the Comfort Station, leverages the art center’s history as a warming station while reconfiguring frames from SCAFFOLD, Via Chicago Architects and Diseñadores’ 2021 installation on the station’s lawn.
