In this panel presentation at the 1992 Women's Caucus for Arts, artist Bibiana Suarez spoke about how her images reflect her reality as a Puerto Rican living in the United States who feels caught between two cultures and who insistently searches for self-identification. Through her artworks, Suarez seeks to evaluate, suggest, and reaffirm her origins and also to confront her situation in the United States. While some of her images reflect the female experience, Suarez is not preoccupied with considering gender as a separate category; her ethnic and national origin and the condition of the Puerto Rican people have been fundamental concerns. Ultimately, Suarez states that she will create a place of her own regardless of discrimination or insensitivity. She counts as key influences both her mother and the spiritual tradition that is part of Hispanic culture. In her work she considers questions of identity stemming from her ambiguous situation. 

In this manuscript for a lecture that the Chicago-based, Puerto Rican artist Bibiana Suarez delivered on a panel at the Women's Caucus for Arts in 1992, she discusses the significance of gender, race, and politics on her artistic development. 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.