LUIS GABRIEL SANABRIA
ABOUT
ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist from a territory grappling with ongoing colonization, my work delves into identity through the lens of carnival characters. I aim to narrate both individual and collective histories by drawing from ancient performative traditions. These encounters, rooted in ritual, reveal the potential of performance to connect spiritual practices with the contemporary political landscape. I seek to reclaim the unique social disruption that carnival and its characters provide, using them as platforms for expressing our definitions of sovereignty across all dimensions. My practice invites a reevaluation of Puerto Rican traditions, exploring them through the lenses of intimacy, queerness, and our ecological contexts. I strive to create new iconographies that reflect the intersectionalities and complexities of Caribbean cultures, particularly within the framework of collective celebrations. Through the art of disguise, I aim to portray the rich tapestry of identities that define Puerto Rican life today. By engaging with these themes, my work not only honors our cultural heritage but also advocates for a broader understanding of who we are in this ever-evolving narrative.
BIO
Luis Gabriel Sanabria (1993) is a dynamic multidisciplinary artist from San Juan, Puerto Rico. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Acting and Performing Arts and a Master’s degree in Cultural Management and Administration from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. Growing up between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic sparked an early exploration of identity and culture in him. Since 2014, he has been a key member of the renowned Bread and Puppet Theater in Vermont, where he serves as an artist, performer, instructor, and operations manager. His work with the theater has taken him across the United States, Canada, Central America, and Europe, including a notable participation in the Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes in Charleville-Mézières, France, in 2019.
Luis co-founded the multimedia art collective Kuniklo Collective, which presented the solo exhibition Bohíque at Roberto Paradise art gallery in San Juan in 2016. His most recent solo exhibition, Carnaval Carnal, was held in 2022 at Souvenir 154 in San Juan. In the fall of 2023, he launched an internship program titled Wild Clay Pots, focused on traditional pottery through a series of workshops that culminated in a presentation at Moos Space in Berlin. In the winter of 2023, he took part in the Rewilding the Body Eclectic residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, Canada.
Since March 2024, he has participated annually in the Casa Muyska residency program in the Amazon, where he studies Indigenous crafts, ceramics, and ceremonial costume-making. In May of that year, he launched, presented, and defended his master’s thesis Criollas, a project centered on creating kitchen utensils from local clay with an emphasis on mindful nutrition. That same year, together with artist Santiago Alvarez, he established Cálido Laboratorio, a platform that generates experiences and gatherings through the creation of interactive dinners.
In March 2025, he took part in the Ponce Carnival in Puerto Rico with his first individual parade titled “Vejigante Gigante: Vehículo de Protesta Llamativa,” sponsored by Beta-Local and the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Luis was also one of the artists in El Puente, a group exhibition at the John & Robyn Horn Gallery at the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina, USA, shown between April and June 2025.
In June and July 2025, he participated in the SARP Residency Program in Sicily, Italy, alongside Santiago Alvarez. During the residency, the two collaborated on Earthborn, a site-specific installation and exhibition presented at the SARP gallery. Luis collaborated with artist Rauw Alejandro, creating costume designs and masks for the music videos Carita Linda and Besito en la Frente, his world tour Cosa Nuestra, and other projects including the performance at the 2025 Latin Grammy Awards. Luis was also an artist-in-residence at San Juan 721 in Puerto Rico during July and August 2025, where he began developing new works for his upcoming solo exhibition in 2026.
From January to February 2026, Luis Gabriel Sanabria & Santiago Álvarez present their project: Del Barro a la Soberanía, as part of a commission by the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico under their program MAC EN EL BARRIO.
PRESS
IMPULSIVA STORIES INTERVIEW PART I & II by ELIZABETH LANG
https://www.impulsivastories.com/luis-gabriel-sanabria-part-i/
https://www.impulsivastories.com/luis-gabriel-sanabria-part-ii/
BURNAWAY MAGAZINE INTERVIEW by ALEXANDRA MARTÍNEZ
JAY FONECA WEBSITE INTERVIEW BY ÁMBAR ROHAMI
https://jayfonseca.com/luis-gabriel-sanabria-una-reinterpretacion-del-carnaval/
REVISTA EVENTO HORIZONTE Vol. 2
LIVE INTERVIEWS
EN LA MAÑANA TELEONCE INTERVIEW WITH ELWOOD CRUZ
CUIRTOPIA LIVE PODCAST RADIO UNIVERSIDAD DE PUERTO RICO WITH REGNER RAMOS Ep. 70
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3PARQtnQ93PUkuHcL7J1ba
FENCast PODCAST
CV
Solo Projects, Commissions & Residencies
2026
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Artist Residency – Cocina Barro Tejido, Casa Muyska: Guainía and Inírida, Colombian Amazonía, ceramic, textiles and traditional cooking and group exhibition at Museo Comunitario del Guainía (March).
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Community Ceramic Project – Del Barro a la Soberanía by Luis Gabriel Sanabria & Santiago Álvarez, MAC EN EL BARRIO, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (January-February).
2025
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Costume Design & Installation – Contributed to Rauw Alejandro’s Latin Grammy Awards presentation through original costume design, with featured dancers wearing custom Vejigante masks. Designed and executed the “Vejigante Alborada” installation for the closing shows of the Cosa Nuestra World Tour at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico (November).
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Costume Design – Rauw Alejandro’s Besito en la Frente music video (October).
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Artist Residency – San Juan 721 Residency Space & Open Studio (July-August)
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Earthborn – Exhibition with Santiago Alvarez, SARP Gallery, Linguaglossa, Sicily, Italy (June–July).
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Artist Residency – SARP, Linguaglossa, Sicily, Italy (June–July).
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El Puente – Group exhibition curated by Kathryn Gremley (Cristina Córdova, Jaime Suárez, Ada del Pilar & Luis Gabriel Sanabria), John & Robyn Horn Gallery, Penland School of Craft, North Carolina, USA (April–June).
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Casa Muyska Artist Residency – Traditional Cubeo & Indigenous Crafts and Pottery Residency in the Colombian Amazon Region of Vaupés.
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Vejigante Gigante Project – Carnaval de Ponce, Puerto Rico. Sponsored by Máquina Simple, Beta-Local & Municipio de Ponce (March).
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Costume Design – Rauw Alejandro’s Carita Linda music video & Cosa Nuestra World Tour (February).
2024
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Etna Volcano Table Installation – Collaboration with Santiago Alvarez for Carolina Mazzolari’s exhibition Don’t Look Back Orfeo, Sicily, Italy (July).
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Casa Muyska Artist Residency Program – Leticia, Amazon & Boyacá, Colombia (March).
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Workshop – Masks and Costumes with Natural Materials, Casa Muyska, Boyacá, Colombia (March–April).
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Group Exhibition – Represented by Souvenir 154 at MECA International Art Fair, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (May).
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About Clay 2023 – Contemporary Puerto Rican Ceramics Group Show, Souvenir 154, San Juan, Puerto Rico (February–April).
2023
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Residency – Rewilding the Body Eclectic, Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity, Alberta, Canada (November).
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Wild Clay Pots – Internship project with Santiago Alvarez, presented at MOOS SPACE, Berlin, Germany (August–November).
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La Alegradora – Roaming installation & performance, Poncili Creación, Santurce es Ley Mural Festival (May).
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Workshop – Experimental Vejigante Masks & Photo Performance, Museum of Art of Puerto Rico (February).
2022
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FUTUROS – Exhibition, Festival MixTO, Colectivo Artistas S.O.S., Toronto, Canada (September).
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Carnaval Carnal – Solo exhibition, Souvenir 154, San Juan, Puerto Rico (August–November).
Selected Artistic Collaborations & Performances
Kuniklo Collective
2021
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Kvar – Virtual performance (video project), Museum of Human Achievement, Austin, TX. Sponsored by the City of Austin Cultural Funding (June).
2020
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Earthquake Relief Benefit Show – Fundraising performance for victims of the Puerto Rico earthquakes, El Cuadrado Gris, Barrio Obrero, San Juan, PR (January).
2019
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Austin Bat Cave’s Reading Bus (Bat Mobile) – Collaboration with SOMA Small Spaces; developed mobile classroom for children, Austin, TX (September).
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Sez Ono – Intersectional performance disguised as fashion show, Fusebox Festival, Museum of Human Achievement, Austin, TX (April).
2018
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Alebrije Dreams – Residency at Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX; culminating in lead float for the annual Viva la Vida parade (October).
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Viduseksu – Analogue VR interactive experience, Fusebox Festival, Museum of Human Achievement, Austin, TX (April).
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Mortinta Akvo – Series of performances, Titeretada International Puppet Festival, La Respuesta, San Juan, PR (March).
2017
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Psychedelic Teepee – Installation & performance, MECA International Art Fair, San Juan, PR (June).
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Hagiografías III – Intermedia collaboration with Aravind Enrique Adyanthaya, Centro de Bellas Artes, Sala Experimental, San Juan, PR (April).
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Performances at Titeretada Cabaret nights, Museo de San Juan, PR (March).
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Piñones/Pilones – Featured performance, OUTsider Festival of Performance and Art, Austin, TX (February).
2016
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Bohíque/Visions I, II, III – Installation and video works, Roberto Paradise Gallery, Santurce, PR (Aug–Oct).
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The Bread Maker – La Titeretada, International Puppet Festival of Puerto Rico (April).
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Bohío – Interactive installation, Bronson Music & Art Festival, Cabo Rojo, PR (April).
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Pop-up Show with Amanda Palmer & Cage Show – Museum of Human Achievement, South by Southwest Festival, Austin, TX (March).
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Chichaíto // Little Fucks – Installation and video Organ Grinder, Taller Secreto, Río Piedras, PR (February).
2015
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Ballenarca Tour – Collaboration with giant puppet whale project (Summer).
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XARDOX / Gongolo / Clones Somos Tour – Collaborative touring show (Summer).
Bread and Puppet Theater
2024
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The Gray Lady Cantata Revival Show
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The Beginning After the End of Humanity Circus and Pageant
2019
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The Honey Let’s Go Home Opera & The Diagonal Life Circus – Residency, Theater for the New City, New York, NY (December).
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Diagonal Life Theory and Praxis Fall Tour – Workshops & performances across Northeastern U.S. (Nov).
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Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes – Charleville-Mézières, France (Honey Let’s Go Home Opera, Sept).
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Michto Festival – Nancy, France. Community workshops, parade, and circus show (Oct).
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The Diagonal Life Circus and Pageant – Glover, VT (July–Aug).
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Extinction Rebellion Parade – Various towns in Vermont (June–July).
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The Diagonal Life Tour – Performances and creative workshops in Northeastern U.S. (Apr–May).
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Residency at Centro Arte para la Paz, Suchitoto, El Salvador. Community workshops, parade, and political theater creation (March).
2018–2015 (selected)
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The Grasshopper Rebellion Circus & Pageant (2018).
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Our Domestic Insurrection Circus & Pageant (2017).
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The Basic Byebye Show (2017).
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Water Protectors’ Parade (2017).
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Prison Demolition and Composting Parade (2017).
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Overtakelessness Circus (2015).
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Comet’s Passage Over Reality Pageant (2015).
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The Situation, Gaza Emergency Pageant, Tar Sands Manifesto Pageant, Fire (revival) (2014).
Poncili Creación
https://www.instagram.com/poncilicreacion/
2023
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La Alegradora – Roaming installation & performance, Santurce es Ley Mural Festival, Puerto Rico.
2014
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Melted Embraces – U.S. Tour.
Areas of Practice
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Multidisciplinary visual & performing arts
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Puppetry & performance
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Ceramics & traditional crafts
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Costume & mask design
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Arts education & workshops
