Sonja John : Floral Larceny

Sonja John’s Sunroom Project references Wave Hill’s tropical plant collection and aquatic garden alongside the artist’s family photos that represent their migrations from Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and the Philippines to the United States. Using cut and collaged mylar to cover the Sunroom’s windows, the artist creates stained glass effects that transform the perception of light and temperature within the space. The window installations are paired with hanging stencils of Jade Vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys), also found in Wave Hill’s Tropical House, as well as screen-printed wallpaper referencing the agricultural produce of her family’s homeland gardens, such as bananas, cassava, dasheen (or taro), soursop, atis (or sweetsop) and sugarcane. Paralleling the movements of flora and people, past and present, John aims to erode anthropomorphic and colonial tendencies that consider human labor and culture as separate from the natural environment. 

Organized by Curator of Visual Arts Rachel Raphaela Gugelberger, the Sunroom Project Space is an open call opportunity for New York-area artists to develop and exhibit a site-specific project as a solo exhibition. The 2025 applications were reviewed by a panel of arts professionals including Jordany Genao, a Dominican interdisciplinary artist and educator; Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo Ovalles Morel, an artist whose practice unfolds performatively through creative experiences within the quotidian, and the founding director of The Interior Beauty Salon, an organism at the intersection of creativity and healing; and Gugelberger.