Alison Stewart: This is All of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. It's time to start reading our October Get Lit with All of It Bookclub pick. It's Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestu. The novel is about a former journalist searching for answers about his father's death and his mysterious past, and it's pretty short. It's just over 200 pages. New Yorkers can borrow an e-book from the New York Public Library and then join us on Wednesday, October 30th at 06:00 PM to talk about it in person. We are so excited to announce a very special musical guest for this month's event, the one, the only, Angelique Kidjo. Tickets are free, but they tend to go fast. For details, head to wnyc.org/getlit. That's wnyc.org/getlit and we will see you on the 30th. Now, let's get this hour started with artist Edra Soto. A new outdoor installation in Central Park from artist Edra Soto invites observers to drop by, take a seat, maybe even play a game of dominoes. It's called Graft. This is the artist's first large-scale public commission for New York City. Standing at about 15ft tall and 20ft long, it's composed of red terrazzo, concrete, and steel. Behind the wall, there are these three tables and chairs at the southeast corner of the park on 59th Street and 5th Avenue.
It's also in partnership with the Public Art Fund. A series of events around Soto's installation are set to happen. Edra Soto is a Puerto Rican artist and educator. She is the co-director of the Franklin Outdoor Backyard Gallery in Chicago and she joins us now. Nice to meet you.
Edra Soto: Hi, nice to meet you.
Alison Stewart: We understand that Central Park is part of actually a bigger series of installations dating back to 2013. Tell us about the origins of Graft.
Edra Soto: Yes, so Graft, like you said, is a series that I have been pursuing for over ten years now and is trying to tell the story of my migration through a representation of decorative motifs that lives in residences of working-class Puerto Ricans.
Alison Stewart: Where's the title Graft come from originally?
Edra Soto: I was trying to imagine a piece of residential architecture from Puerto Rico and how to graft it or transplant it from Puerto Rico to any space, any place in the United States. Two, I think it was a gesture that allowed me to express where I stand, my sense of belonging anywhere that I go, how to complement the space that I'm intervening at the time, and how do I integrate myself with the space in a somewhat harmonious way. So I'm not trying to be aggressive about it. I'm trying to find a way of representing this working-class architecture and celebrating it as well. I believe sometimes even elevating it because that's where I come from and- [crosstalk]
Alison Stewart: Yes, the series. Oh, yes, go ahead.
Edra Soto: No, I care deeply about the working-class communities in Puerto Rico, and it does predominate in the island or in the archipelago, as they call it today. I thought it was important, and it made me feel authentic.
Alison Stewart: Yes, I want to let people know that we have images of Graft on the All of It Instagram. Go to allofit@wnyc if you want to see what this looks like. It's pretty amazing. When you think about the materials used, what kind of research did you go into for selecting the materials and the structure of this piece?
Edra Soto: Well, these are the two predominant materials in Puerto Rican residences in Puerto Rico. The concrete and the raw item metal. It's the first time that I make a public art piece that have a combination of these two materials as they are used, so it's very much a representation that is stripped down. When you look at the sculpture or the structure is simplified, so the reading and how it is juxtaposed in the entrance of the plaza, well, create that harmonious connection and also through the colors was another consideration that I thought it was important to create impact.
The scale, and as you can see as well, is very much representation of a facade of a house, but there's no entrance or exit, and you can go around the structure. You can sit in certain parts of the structure to-- My intention was to create an illusion that the house is habilitated by the people that are sitting or passing through in that sector of the park.
Alison Stewart: A new immersive public art exhibition from artist Edra Soto is currently on display at the Doris C. Freedman Plaza at Central Park. It is called Graft. Like you said, it's meant to be used. How did you balance the practical challenge of creating a beautiful outdoor sculpture that can be used but also has your artistic vision?
Edra Soto: Yes, I felt quite compelled to embark in the creation of this project. It was a very fun task because it's a really remarkable place in New York to have a history and where so many immigrants make their living every day. I think my motivation to highlight the working class in different levels was important because I know there's a lot of people that work there that practically live there, that they will be there every day, making their living.
I think it was going to be an interesting connection, and it was also going to become an everyday intervention for them to deal with because there's benches that are framing Central Park completely, but there's no tables and sitting that are in social prominent. It's almost like creating a center for whoever wants to sit there.
Alison Stewart: This is a series about architecture and each installation, including the one at Central Park, is based on rejas, a Spanish word which translates to gates or fences. Why are rejas so significant throughout your work?
Edra Soto: Well, one thing that I attributed is because with the project, as you understand the title Graft refers to skin transplant. I was trying to find a poetic way to inhabit spaces through these fences, but also through research, I connected with some essays and monographs of Puerto Rican architects. There's one particular monograph that was written by Jorge Ortiz Colon that speaks about the African influence in the design, build, and the edification of Puerto Rico. That was information that I never, ever reflected on.
One thing that is very known about the rejas and the decorative concrete blocks and the houses of Puerto Rico and perhaps many houses around the world that have this particular aspect and this components in decorative motifs is that when you grow up in a house like this, perhaps, at least in my case, I never question it as something that could possibly have cultural value. I never look at the decorative blocks on my living room and wonder, does this connect back to Africa? I never imagine. I think that is something that deeply connect me to the project because it's a learning experience.
I thought that coming from lower middle-class communities in Puerto Rico, I can connect with how other Puerto Ricans think about their homes and I thought if I use this project as a platform to share all the literary components that I have been gathering through the years, and just the repetition of the intervention which have allowed me to create a very diverse body of work because it's a focus concept. The presentation really depends on--
Alison Stewart: My guest is-
Edra Soto: -and considering where in the case. Sorry, in the case of Central Park, well, I had to consider Central Park's history, the fact that this a very affluent area-
Alison Stewart: I think we're having an issue with Edra Soto's audio on our end. Can you hear me? I don't think we can, ah. I think our audio is gone. I am going to tell everybody they should go see Graft. It is on display at 59th and 5th Avenue. It's on display through August 24, 2025. You can look at it on our Instagram or visit in person. Edra Soto has been my guest.
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