JEL SUAREZ: Open Studio Upcoming

What Changes When We Move?

In
this Open Studio, the artist presents her ongoing exploration of how meaning shifts as objects, movement, and places are transcended. Drawing on her experience creating works using surplus materials from Japan and materials she has collected in the Philippines, she examines how objects transform in appearance and meaning as they move across cultural, economic, and ownership boundaries.
As an artist who will be conducting artist-in-residence projects while traveling through multiple countries from 2026 to 2027, she also reflects on how mobility and displacement—through temporary locations and the encounters that occur there—(re)shape her practice, identity, and perspective.At the center of her
current practice are Japanese hanging scrolls collected from various surplus markets. Through collage, these scrolls are transformed into new works. The original texts inscribed on them can no longer be restored to their original form. Yet they still bear traces of their former owners, places, and times.
This work asks whether materials, movement, and form itself can become a means of “knowing” that transcends language. By bringing these materials back to Japan, she poses a question: How do the things
we carry change as a result of being moved?

What is transformed when we move?

The open studio presents the artist’s ongoing inquiry into objects, movement, and shifting meanings across places. Drawing from Japan’s surplus culture and her experience working with found materials in the Philippines, she examines how objects are transformed as they move across cultures, economies, and ownership.

As a residency recipient traveling across countries from 2026 to 2027, the artist also reflects on displacement and how temporary places and encounters can (re)shape artistic practice, identity, and ideas.

At the center of her current work are Japanese scrolls (kakejiku) collected from various surplus markets and transformed through collage. While their original texts can no longer be reconstructed, they continue to carry traces of their previous lives. The work explores whether material, movement, and form can offer ways of knowing that transcend language. By bringing these materials back to Japan, she asks: How does movement transform what we carry?