LUIS GABRIEL SANABRIA AND SANTIAGO ALVAREZ ARTIST RESIDENCY PROJECT

10 May - 15 June 2025  Linguaglossa Etna Nord

The Earthborn residency project builds on initial field research conducted in July 2024, when the artists first encountered the River Alcantara and the volcanic landscapes surrounding Mount Etna. This pivotal experience marked the beginning of a deep engagement with the region’s geological and ecological character — shaping the trajectory of the work to follow.

SARP Artist Residency and Gallery proudly presents Earthborn, a site-specific installation by artists Santiago Alvarez and Luis Gabriel Sanabria, featuring ceramics, sculpture, sculptural paintings, and video. The exhibition emerges from the artists' time in residence across the Amazon Basin, Colombia, and Puerto Rico, culminating in a body of work that explores the intersections of craftsmanship, identity, and memory through the elemental language of clay and fire.
Rooted in ancestral knowledge, ritual, and place, Earthborn draws a resonant dialogue between the artists’ Latin American heritage and the raw, transformative forces of Etna. The exhibition conjures a liminal space — suspended between volcanic ash and seabed stone — where native flora becomes both material and metaphor. These natural elements serve as archetypes in the artists’ evolving practice, bridging earth and myth, memory and form.

Santiago Álvarez is a Colombian multidisciplinary artist currently based in Germany. He studied architecture at the Fachhochschule Köln (FH) and Media Arts at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM), grounding his practice at the intersection of spatial design and visual storytelling.
Álvarez’s work explores the complex relationship between architecture and human experience. In his documentary films, he conducts in-depth visual and architectural research, moving beyond aesthetics to investigate the lived realities of those who inhabit constructed spaces. His narratives bridge the visual with the social, offering layered perspectives on how environments shape – and are shaped by – human lives.
Parallel to his film work, Álvarez engages in painting and ceramics, focusing on the human figure and the construction of alternate realities. Drawing on his architectural background, he blends traditional forms with speculative concepts. His ceramic practice, in particular, is deeply influenced by pre-Columbian art from the Americas, weaving ancestral motifs with futuristic and spatial aesthetics. This synthesis allows him to fluidly traverse cultural and temporal dimensions, crafting work that is both rooted and visionary.
In 2022, with the support of his family, Álvarez founded Casa Muyska in Colombia, a cultural house dedicated to artistic experimentation, cultural exchange and community engagement. Through this space, he continues to foster accessibility in the arts while nurturing creative practices within the local and international arts communities.

Luis Gabriel Sanabria is a multidisciplinary artist from Puerto Rico whose dynamic practice spans performance, visual arts and cultural research. He holds a BA in Acting and Performing Arts and an MA in Cultural Agency and Administration from the University of Puerto Rico. Raised between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, his bicultural upbringing laid the foundation for a career deeply rooted in explorations of identity, ritual and heritage.
Luis’ practice invites a revaluation of Puerto Rican traditions, exploring them through the lenses of intimacy, queerness and ecological contexts. He strives to create new iconographies that reflect the intersectionality and complexities of Caribbean cultures, particularly within the framework of collective celebrations. 
Since 2014, Luis has been a core member of the iconic Bread and Puppet Theater in Vermont, where he serves as artist, performer, instructor and operations manager. His work with the company has taken him across the United States, Canada, Central America, and Europe – including a standout performance at the Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes in Charleville-Mézières, France (2019).
Luis is also the co-founder of the Kuniklo Collective, a multimedia art group that debuted the solo exhibition Bohíque at Roberto Paradise in San Juan in 2016. His most recent solo exhibition, Carnaval Carnal, was presented at Souvenir 154 (San Juan, 2022). 
In Fall 2023, he launched Wild Clay Pots, an innovative internship program combining traditional pottery techniques with performance, culminating in a live presentation at Moos Space in Berlin. This was followed by his participation in Rewilding the Body Eclectic, a residency at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Winter 2023), and Casa Muyska in Colombia (March 2024), where he trained in crafting ceremonial costumes and masks using natural materials.

Project sponsored by Luis Sanabria and Santiago Alvarez Studio, Galleria SARP and Palazzo Previtera.

Photographs courtesy of the artist.