With his father, Javier, architect Javi Suarez has long contributed to Sarasota’s physical profile with projects such as the Sabal Palm Building on Ringling Boulevard, the Capstan Building on historic Towles Court, and the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce Building on Fruitville Street. The elder Suarez was one of the first licensed Hispanic architects in the area when he moved here from Puerto Rico in the early 1980s with his family.
However, Javi, 49, can still easily create the challenge of adjusting to Sarasota. He didn’t always feel welcome, even though he wasn’t technically a stranger. As a territory of the United States, Puerto Rico’s 3.2 million residents are American citizens. However, while they are subject to United States federal laws, Puerto Ricans cannot vote in presidential elections and have no representation in Congress.
Javi Suarez has now spent roughly 40 years in the Sarasota area (minus a six-year stint in Los Angeles) and has made it his mission to tell the story of others who are cut from the same cloth that he is. In addition to his architectural projects, he is also a creator on canvas and will be showing his latest body of artwork, Icons of Sarasotaat the Art Ovation Hotel on October 19. The series celebrates those who have left their mark on Sarasota, from the more obscure names to the ubiquitous, from the past to the present.
What was it like moving here when you were young?
“As a kid, the discrimination was so much more in my face. I moved here in the fourth grade and I knew six words of English. Then I had to go to high school—it wasn’t fun. My yearbook is signed , ‘My Favorite Spic.’ Kids called me ‘wet’ even though I’m not Mexican, but part of racism is that you’re uneducated about people who don’t look or sound like you.”
Have things changed since then?
“Until now, I think people have been less willing to be direct about their attitudes toward those who are different from them. You hear that in the jokes people tell about black people. Do I have to point out how much is this joke racist? I don’t know. I have it, but it’s running out. Is it worth the energy to explain it? How much do we really have to speak up? We’re the ones being attacked, but then you wonder if we should be too those you learn.”
How has it affected you?
“It’s hard to stand up when you’re one of the few who sound and look different and you’re trying to make friends. You become a chameleon to fit into one group and fit into another. I left from this community when I went to Los Angeles to find more diversity. Even though we are a diverse community, we are isolated within it. Coming from the Caribbean, it is difficult to explain my culture to many Americans because even why are Puerto Ricans born American citizens, our makeup is more similar to Cuba and the Dominican Republic. You have every skin tone on your family tree, from my blue-eyed grandfather to my very dark-skinned great-grandmother. Often, the perception is that America Latin is a big block of similarity, and it’s anything but.”
Do you think your children are having a different experience than yours growing up here?
“They’ve been bullied before, but they’re proud and strongly identify as Latino. I think our generation has opened some doors for them in terms of the perception of what you can be and what you can achieve. The demographics have also changed. There’s a more of Latin Americans than when I was growing up here. But the rhetoric is probably just as bad, if not worse, than when I was a kid. Some people think they don’t have to have a filter anymore. And with social media, you can’t escape certain attitudes. When I was growing up, you could leave that behind in school.”
What do you wish locals knew more about Puerto Rico?
“Where is it on the map?
“Without assuming that we are Mexican and that we were born in the USA.
“A little history. Puerto Rico was passed from one colonizer to another from Spain to the United States, just before World War I, and 20,000 Puerto Ricans were sent to serve. So there’s a great history of military service there. My grandfather is buried in the National Cemetery here in Sarasota, and my cousin was in the Navy. There was a military base in Puerto Rico where the military practiced bombing and used biochemical agents, such as Agent Orange, uranium, and napalm. The base eventually closed because it’s a toxic place now , with higher levels of cancer and environmental damage left behind”.
What changes are you seeing in the local Hispanic community?
“Organizations like UnidosNow are doing amazing things. I mentor through a program they have and talk to students interested in architecture. More and more Hispanics are looking to get into this field. There are more respected Hispanic professionals in the community, like Dr. Manuel Gordillo, the infectious disease expert at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, and that’s great to see. I served on the board of the Ringling Museum for six years and was a past president of the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects , too. There’s more visibility, I think.”
What inspired him Icons of Sarasota series?
“I’m mainly influenced by architecture and concepts surrounding cultural identity. I started thinking about the idea of icons and I want to tell the story of those in our community to bring people together and tell their story from different perspectives.”
Who are some of the people you involve in your work?
“There are more well-known people like the Ringlings, but also lesser-known figures like the Rev. John Henry Floyd, who was a prominent contractor in the Black community and built many churches and raised money to build the first nursing home for Sarasota. Black citizens during segregation. There’s also John Rivers, who fought for integration and became a leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Sarasota, and Dr. Ed James II, longtime ABC 7 producer and host Black Almanac. I also included Dr. Gordillo, who works hard to keep the public informed in the fight against Covid.”
Why did you decide to stay in Sarasota?
“My family is here. And after nearly 40 years of coming back and creating, this is my home — as much as one can claim to be a Sarasotan. This is who I am.”
