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. She is currently earning her BFA in Sculpture from SUNY Purchase. 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 utilizes traditional and digital tools to shape forms that resonate with ancestral knowledge, colonial legacies, and the politics of visibility. Her work explores how material choices can serve as vessels for memory and resistance.

I envision my studio practice not only as a space for creation but also 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.