Edra Soto, La Distancia | The Distance

La Distancia permanently placed in front of MetroHealth Glick Entrance. Courtesy of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.

The repeating four-pointed star seen on La Distancia mimics the West African symbol representing love, safety, and protection. Courtesy of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.

Courtesy of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority.

In this multifaceted exhibition, Edra Soto invites us to celebrate the experience of finding and creating home. Channeling her own migratory experience, Soto weaves together personal and collective stories of migration and honors the deep and growing roots of Cleveland’s Latinx community.

Learn more about the accompanying print and digital journal:

Edra Soto, La Casa de Todos | Everyone’s Home

Edra Soto, La Distancia | The Distance

In front of the MetroHealth Glick Center
Intersection of Scranton Road and Southpointe Drive, Cleveland, OH 44109 [map]

Addressing the complex intersectionality of migration and diasporic identity, La Distancia is permanently placed just off of West 25th Street, the main roadway through Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood which is home to the city’s highest concentration of Puerto Rican and Latinx residents. Taking the form of a sculptural outdoor bus shelter, La Distancia serves as a functioning RTA public transportation stop and a repository of stories from the neighborhood’s residents.

La Distancia is a functional sculpture that weaves together cultural memory, identity, and everyday life. Constructed of decorative concrete blocks, similar to ones found in working class homes across Puerto Rico, the work features a repeating four-pointed star pattern. This motif is known in West African Adinkra symbology as the Eban, a symbol of love, safety, and protection. By incorporating this design, Edra Soto honors Afro-diasporic culture as a foundational part of Puerto Rican identity, while drawing from her own history of migration in hopes of connecting with others who may recognize a piece of home in the sculpture.

An accompanying journal, La Casa De Todos | Everyone’s Home, available by QR code and the button below, features sixteen Cleveland-based artists who weave together their personal and collective stories of migration to honor the deep and growing roots of Cleveland’s Latinx community.

Dowload the journal La Casa de Todos

Edra Soto is a Puerto Rican-born artist, curator, and educator who explores themes of identity, displacement, and the process of finding and creating home. Through visual art, community projects, and architectural intervention, Soto encourages a deeper understanding of our cross-cultural dynamics and how we collectively shape the spaces we inhabit.

This public artwork marks Edra Soto’s first major Midwest project outside of Chicago.

Learn more about Edra Soto here.

La Distancia is presented in partnership with:

EN ESPAÑOL

La Distancia es una escultura funcional que entrelaza la memoria cultural, la identidad y la vida cotidiana. Está construida con bloques decorativos de concreto, similares a los que se encuentran en hogares de clase trabajadora en Puerto Rico, y presenta un patrón repetitivo de estrellas de cuatro puntas.

Este motivo se conoce en la simbología Adinkra de África Occidental como Eban, un símbolo de amor, seguridad y protección. Al incorporar este diseño, Edra Soto honra la cultura afro-diaspórica como parte fundamental de la identidad puertorriqueña, al mismo tiempo que se inspira en su propia historia de migración, con la esperanza de conectar con otros que puedan reconocer un pedazo de hogar en la escultura.

Una revista complementaria, La Casa De Todos | Everyone’s Home, presenta a dieciséis artistas radicados en Cleveland que entrelazan sus historias personales y colectivas de migración.

Download the journal La Casa de Todos

Edra Soto, nacida en Puerto Rico, es una artista, curadora, educadora quien explora temas de identidad, desplazamiento y el proceso de encontrar y crear un hogar. A través del arte visual, proyectos comunitarios e intervenciones arquitectónicas, Soto fomenta una comprensión más profunda de nuestras dinámicas interculturales y de cómo colectivamente damos forma a los espacios que habitamos.

Esta obra de arte pública marca el primer proyecto de gran escala de Edra Soto en el Medio Oeste y fuera de Chicago.