In her poem “las islas / the islands,” Cuban poet Reina Maria Rodriguez observes that the physical and psychic landscapes of islands and their residents are entwined. An island’s topography is akin to a floating body, and both bear the stains of atmospheric and social weather. Rodriguez explores how an island’s isolation creates a unique spatial and temporal experience for those who inhabit them, that is distinct from places and people that are from away.

At a distance, the caves on Mona Island resemble portals. Up close, they are places of contact, evidenced by the presence of cross-cultural art and tools dating back millennia, and epochs of plant and mineral life. The form and concept of a portal as a threshold of encounter resonates with Aponte. She has split her time between Bayamón, Puerto Rico, and Vancouver, Canada, since 2021, and her new work is informed by her passage between the two places. Her time spent in the Pacific Northwest’s temperate climate resonates in the paintings’ grey-toned ground, which subdues the vivid palette conjured by the Caribbean tropics.