A portrait of a man sitting outside on a city block. The man has light brown skin and a full head of lustrous silver hair. He smiles at the viewer in a relaxed pose and wears a white t-shirt and a necklace. — Photo by Javier Piñero.

Jorge González Santos

He // Him // His

Installation Artist and Educator

Puerto Rico (Borikén)

2022 USA Fellowship

“Throughout the years engaged in the harvest of fibers and clay bodies, I’ve come to attain a commitment well-regarded to understanding what it means to have permission from the Land to extend upon the use of its resources. Moreover, this year, within a reflection around loss and grief, an altar was conceived as a payment and acknowledgement to teachers we’ve lost along the path we sustain. As a result, I’ve come to understand a process of self-cultivation as a significant exercise in a practice to maintain a constant reflection around presence and growth.”

Jorge González Santos calls on Borikua (Puerto Rican) material culture in his practice to bridge Indigenous and modern ways of living and making.

In response to the lack of everyday and academic knowledge and spaces for Borikua practices and history, in 2014, Santos established Escuela de Oficios, a space for collective learning and self-directed education. Its activities include mapping, documenting, and engaging in artisanal techniques, as well as a mobile program that includes conversations, workshops, and exhibitions.

Through these activities, distribution of knowledge — ranging from oral history, ancestral techniques, and collective practices — is articulated and shared with and among participants. From this approach, connections on self-managed education models are being explored, emphasizing convivial and communal forms of production.

Determined to support community regeneration, Escuela de Oficios advocates and promotes the work of indigenous knowledge holders of the Borikua archipelago, a relationship fostered by our craft community.

Donor -This award was generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

This artist page was last updated on: 07.17.2024

Visual Art

A photograph of a studio space with an installation made of natural materials strung onto the wall and a wooden altar, its steps scattered with flowers. A number of people sit in a row of folding chairs surrounding the altar space, engaged in quiet conversation. — Jorge González Santos and others sit in a studio space holding a wooden alter.

Photo by Sebastián Meltz-Collazo; courtesy of Embajada.

A photograph of a group of people walking toward the camera on a pathway covered with fallen leaves. They are in a lush, green wooded space. A woman wearing a lacy white shawl leads the group. — A woman wearing a lacy white shawl leads a group of people on a pathway in a lush, green wooded space.

Photo by Raquel Pérez Puig; courtesy of Embajada.