The Sea is a House is a community-centered art project by Puerto Rican artist Maru Aponte, developed during her artist residency at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Rooted in the traditions of craft, cultural storytelling, and collective memory, the project invited Latinx youth in Toronto to participate in a series of papermaking workshops that culminated in the creation of large-scale, walkable paper sculptures.
Drawing from the metaphor of ocean waves—evoking migration, memory, and interconnectedness—Aponte created a space for participants to reflect on their own cultural identities and personal histories. Each workshop focused on the physical and symbolic act of making: transforming raw material into paper through lamination, layering, and texture. What began with guided templates evolved into self-directed experimentation, as youth began cutting their own stencils and shaping their own narratives.
Drawing from the metaphor of ocean waves—evoking migration, memory, and interconnectedness—Aponte created a space for participants to reflect on their own cultural identities and personal histories. Each workshop focused on the physical and symbolic act of making: transforming raw material into paper through lamination, layering, and texture. What began with guided templates evolved into self-directed experimentation, as youth began cutting their own stencils and shaping their own narratives.
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The resulting paper works were assembled into sculptural forms that folded and unfolded like memories, inviting viewers to walk around and through them. These pieces lived in dialogue with Aponte’s own sculptural watercolours, bridging her personal experiences between Puerto Rico and Canada. The installation asked viewers to slow down, approach with care, and consider the weight of absence and presence.
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Presented at the Art Gallery of Ontario on June 25, 2025, the installation became a metaphorical house—built from many hands, layers, and rhythms. It served as a site of collective construction, where each piece of handmade paper was a step forward, a gesture of belonging, and a reimagined space for cultural resilience. Through this project, Aponte explores how the tear, the fold, and the surface of paper can hold space for grief, growth, and return.
Participants:
Photos & Documentation by: Ernesto Cabral de Luna