Negra en NY: Dominican Portraits Series

The "Negra en NY: Dominican American" series started in November 2013 as a celebration of Afro-Latino culture. This series was created with acrylic paints on canvas, terracotta clay, and synthetic hair on plastic hair rollers. These works were a celebration of blackness throughout Latin America and the African Diaspora. Portrait paintings began with my Dominican friends from social media. Further along, conversations began about their identity, culture, and relationship to the world around them. Later cultural references were incorporated in the paintings for example, "rolos"(hair rollers), flags, and texts to signify specific nations and people groups. The "Negra en NY: Dominican American" series was inspired by a conversation with my Spanish teacher about race in Latin America. From that moment I wanted to teach others about Latinos coming in all shades and races. The goal of this series was to educate and spread awareness of the African diaspora, and African influence in Latin America.