Welcome Home. Oil and collage on Panel. 20"x16" June 2025. Born in Puerto Rico but raised in the United States, I have always had a complicated relationship with belonging. I grew up navigating the space between two cultures, often feeling not quite enough of either. Even as an adult, the question “Where are you from?” carries an underlying tension, anticipating the question that often follows: “No, where are you really from?” Welcome Home explores identity, belonging, displacement, and the longing to reconnect with one’s roots. A woman stands alone in an almost entirely empty room, its walls covered in rainforest wallpaper. The artificial landscape evokes Puerto Rico's lush landscape, but it is only a manufactured representation of nature. Two potted plants sit in the room, an attempt to bring nature inside while containing and controlling it. Beyond the doorway is a lush rainforest representing my Puerto Rican homeland. The woman stands at the threshold betwee...
