GRAFT
2019
Edra Soto
Chicago, Illinois
Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.
About Edra Soto
Edra Soto is a Puerto Rican-born interdisciplinary artist and co-director of the outdoor project space THE FRANKLIN. Her projects, which are motivated by civic and social actions, prompt viewers to reconsider cross-cultural dynamics, the legacy of colonialism, and personal responsibility. Venues presenting Soto’s work include The Momentary, Bentonville, AR; Albright-Knox Northland, Buffalo, NY; Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, Chicago, IL; Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR; and Casa Rosada, Salvador, BR, among others. Soto was awarded the Efroymson Contemporary Arts Fellowship, the Illinois Arts Council Agency Fellowship, and the inaugural Foundwork Artist Prize (National). In 2018, Soto was interviewed by Hans Ulrich Obrist as part of Creative Chicago: An Interview Marathon for EXPO Chicago (University of Chicago Press). She has completed three MacArthur Foundation International Connections Fund exchanges and exhibitions in Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Brazil. Soto is a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Program Participation
Painters & Sculptors Grant, 2020
Website / Social Links
My work alternates between representation and the object as archive. Throughout my practice, history and knowledge are prevalent. I ask the viewer to engage in difficult conversations like socio-economic and cultural oppression, the erasure of history, and the loss of cultural knowledge.”
