In Search of an Island was one of Bibiana Suarez’s first solo shows. Exhibited at Sazama Gallery, the exhibition took place from September 6 to October 12, 1991. The catalog included an essay by New York-based Puerto Rican artist Juan Sánchez. On November 1991, Art News published a review written by Garrett Holg. (For an expanded version of this statement, see doc. no. 1075729).By the time of the exhibition at Sazama Gallery, the U.S. Senate had decided not to pass the bill that would allow Puerto Ricans to decide in a plebiscite between statehood, independence, or Commonwealth status. Nevertheless, 1991 proved to be an active year for Puerto Rican politics. In April, the Puerto Rican legislature passed a law that made Spanish the official language. And, later in the year, a referendum was organized with the intention of amending the constitution of Puerto Rico. The amendment, however, was rejected by 53 percent of the voters.
The Puerto Rican-born artist Bibiana Suarez has lived in Chicago since 1980, where she received a BFA and MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited widely in the United States and Puerto Rico and has written about bicultural identity, the politics of the colonial relationship of the United States and Puerto Rico, and contemporary art.