Sonja John : Floral Larceny

Floral Larceny refers to a phenomenon in which insects extract nectar or pollen from flowers without aiding in pollination. Sonja John, a first-generation Bronx-based artist, uses this as metaphor to draw parallels to the displacement of people and plants—often stripped from their native ecosystems without regard for their ecological or cultural significance to inhabitants. In this installation, John references plants from Wave Hill’s tropical collection alongside reproductions of photos chronicling her family's migrations from Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, and the Philippines. Covering the Sunroom’s windows with cut and collaged mylar, the artist creates effects that resemble stained glass, altering the perception of light and temperature within the Sunroom. Motifs of breeze blocks appear alongside hanging stencils of the jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) and dyed and collaged panels referencing agricultural produce from her family’s gardens and ancestral homelands—breadfruit, cacao, star apple, Otaheite apple (pomerac or rose apple) among them. The breeze block motifs reference the decoratively perforated blocks commonly used to provide ventilation, privacy, and protection from heat—an affordable alternative to air conditioning. Influenced by Asian architectural design, breeze blocks are prevalent in warm climates across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, as well as in parts of the U.S. from Flatbush, Brooklyn to regions in Hawaii, Southern California, and Florida. Paralleling the movement of people, flora and produce, Floral Larceny challenges perspectives that separate labor and culture from the natural world, presenting migration and hybridity as fundamental aspects of all living systems. 

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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.