Suarez Brothers
July 2018 and December 2019
The twins, Jaime and Javier Suárez Berrocal, were born in Columbus, Ohio, on September 12, 1982. In 2007 and 2008 they obtained bachelor's degrees in plastic arts from the University of Puerto Rico (UPRM). Then they travel to Spain with the interest of continuing their postgraduate studies. In 2010 they graduated with a Master's degree in artistic production from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, specializing in public art. During their residency in Spain they begin to investigate issues about minimal interventions in natural environments, developing concepts and strategies for balanced execution in the environment. Today they question how through artistic practice they can rehabilitate ecosystems and combine their works with the biological processes of nature, especially to promote new models of sustainable interaction with the natural territory. Both work collaboratively under a production manifesto called Shared Belly and reside in Puerto Rico where they have their production workshop, however, forging an international career abroad.
Transcript
Javier (0:19): My name is Javier Suárez.
Jaime (0:21): And my name is Jaime.
JS: And we are twin brothers, as you can see. But we are also an artist collective. We’ve been working, we like to think, since our mother’s womb, sharing ideas and concepts into sketches, developing these ideas into projects.
JS (0:41): I don’t think we as artists have to create things. I think we have to grow living organisms because there are too many things already. There is too much trash. After the hurricane, we were thinking maybe we want to make something that evolves and transforms. We saw trees starting to sprout and blossom, so we wanted to use the same analogy and optimism of something regrowing again. And we thought, “We need to create a sculpture that transforms.” Maybe our next work could just be planting trees all over the island.
JS (1:25): A cupey is a tree that doesn't need much water and earth to grow. Puerto Ricans identify with the cupey because it’s a very resilient tree, surviving with the least resources possible. So suddenly, after the hurricane, we were traveling around the island identifying run-down buildings that had cupeys growing in them.
JS (1:52): For months, we collected wood in our studio, sculpting it into planters, and then polishing, burning, and charcoaling it. We use a Japanese technique called “Sugi-ban” to preserve the surface of the wood.
JS (2:11): The stem of the sculptures are all beams from an old tabacalera ranch that was demolished. We recycled those to place wooden pots on top of it and plant the cupey trees.
JS (2:35): So eventually, these cupey trees will grow roots that will devour the artwork, becoming something even better than a sculpture. It could be a real, living art piece.
[Score begins to play again]
JS (2:55): The most essential idea in our work is something growing from something decayed. Who knows if the next year, another hurricane will come and change the artwork, and we’ll have to restart it again. We learn from the destruction. Nature is always a collaborator, and at the end, you’re always experimenting and working with the present. So instead of resisting against nature, we engage it.
[Score continues to play, credits begin to roll]
