“I’m not Puerto Rican, I’m not Latino, I’m not African, I’m not American; I am all these things all at once. I am a Transcultural Mutt, a complex individual with a complex identity, who is constantly stuck in the in between.” 

Javi Suarez's work is the exploration of what it means to be “the other”, especially during these times of identity politics; a push by many towards nationalism and a hardened definition of self and community. A time and place where an inversion and re-appropriation has taken place of what it means to be awake and self-aware of who one is and how their so-called place within the stratum of society is defined. 

As an in between, the work straddles the gap between rational and expressionism; a juxtaposition of rational thinking (concept) and action (body, feelings).  It is the relationship of well-defined, distinct forms and remnants of being (diary of daily life).  The “in-between” process layers images, objects, symbols with abstract strokes of colors to create something that is full of complex meanings and emotions.