Natalia Meléndez Rosa

Growing up in Puerto Rico, Natalia was surrounded by iron-rich clay her whole life. Drawn to the terracotta-colored mountains, she began sculpting with clay – and it became an intrinsic part of her identity. Her passion for clay represents her connection to her ancestors – the innate need to work with the soil, to create and give meaning to it. She uses clay as a medium to educate on ancestral cultures native to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean more broadly. By juxtaposing European Christian art and Puerto Rican pre-Columbian motifs, her art serves as a poignant reminder of the imposition of Spanish culture and the erasure of Borikén history.