Jani Maria wears a Yankees cap and a jacket indoors.

Jani Maria

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I create sculptural work that navigates identity, place, and the weight of untold histories. Rooted in my Puerto Rican heritage, my practice is a form of material storytelling that combines ceramics, wood, metal, and digital processes. Each piece is a conversation between form and meaning—between what is held, hidden, or passed down.

My mission as an artist is to create work that honors the stories of those who came before me and challenges the structures that have historically silenced them. I am interested in how materials—clay, steel, wood, pixels—can embody memory and how making becomes a form of resistance and remembrance.

I envision my studio practice not just as a space for creation but as a platform for connection. Through commissions, curatorial projects, and collaborative exhibitions, I aim to build spaces where art can inform, nurture, and activate. My work is not only about what is seen but also about what is felt, remembered, and shared.

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Jani Maria Morales is a Puerto Rican multidisciplinary artist working across ceramics, wood, metal, and digital sculpture. Her practice explores the intersections of identity, memory, and material, drawing on personal narrative and historical research to create sculptural works that embody emotional depth and cultural resonance.

Guided by a deep respect for craft and storytelling, Jani uses traditional and digital tools to shape forms that speak to ancestral knowledge, colonial legacies, and the politics of visibility. Her work investigates how material choices can be vessels for memory and resistance.

In addition to her studio practice, she is passionate about curatorial work, exhibition planning, and research as forms of community-building and cultural preservation. Suninflowers.com serves as her creative hub, offering commissioned artwork, a professional portfolio, and a growing archive of projects that connect art, history, and collective care.

A rounded green-blue glazed ceramic with faces carved into the clay.
Jani Maria. Sangre Verde, 2025. Ceramic, 14 x 9 x 5 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.
A standing installation that includes a large crochet blanket with red breeze blocks stacked on top. There is a ceramic piece on the blocks. Behind these objects, there is a metal cut-out of three women, illuminated by the light behind them.
Jani Maria. Unknown, Unsung, Unforgotten, 2025. Ceramic, Metal, Crochet, Sound, 24 x 18 x 18 inches. Installation. Image courtesy of the artist.
A table draped with a Puerto Rican flag and covered in black domino-shaped objects. There are resin hands at the table next to a Medalla Light bottle.
Jani Maria. Mesa de Nación, 2025. Resin and found objects. Image courtesy of the artist.
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