Life in Puerto Rico

My name is Alejandra Morales Sanchez. I was born in 1979 in Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island that, for centuries, has been the stage of invasions, migrations, continuous cultural changes, and the battles resulting from these.

I grew up at the Cordillera Central of the island, in a town called Naranjito, located 700 hundred meters above sea level. The close contact with the lush tropical greenery of my surroundings, and an early awareness of how Puerto Rico’s latitude exposed our population to the brutal forces of hurricanes and earthquakes, were very impactful in the development of my subjectivity. Another important aspect of my upbringing was witnessing the constant debates around Puerto Rican identity and the colonial status of the island, a controversy that is still deeply felt today.

Spanish was my first language, the one spoken among friends and family, while English became the language imposed by our colonial situation under the United States of America. Therefore, my childhood memories are a potpourri of messages fluctuating between the importance of the connection with my Jibaro roots (a culture of people from the mountainous area, based in self-subsistence and resilience), and the American Dream promises that arrived through radio and television.

New Beginnings

In the year 2009, at 29 years old, I left Puerto Rico searching for new life experiences. I lived for one and a half year in the city of Shanghai, in China. During this period I discovered a strong attraction for the ceramic medium and its particular way to tell stories while expressing the singular availability of natural resources of each maker.

Later, in 2011, I changed countries again, this time permanently, choosing Italy as my new home. I decided to settle in a small town called Vaiano, surrounded by Tuscan hills nourished by the river Bisenzio. From here I started a new journey, learning Italian and ceramic techniques simultaneously, and setting my studio next to the river Bisenzio.

The Art that followed

The evolution of my work until today reflect a particular affection towards the vessel as an art form. I approach my work as a diary of inner experiences, a way to transfer my doubts and my feelings as a Puerto Rican abroad to a container outside of my body. I tend to project inner struggles regarding identity into my pieces, preferring to build with clay intuitively rather than starting with a pre-conceived shape.

For the surfaces of my work I adopt a more intentional approach, experimenting with glazes that aim to emulate the impact of environmental forces into a vessel. The element of color is something that I’ve incorporated progressively over time, and has more to do with the need to communicate emotions than following rules of design.