Bronx-born, Afro-Dominican-American artist, Yelaine Rodriguez sources syncretic religions and historical references in the African diasporic communities to conceptualize wearable art and site-specific installations. Her interfaith and intercountry narrative explores representations of identity and race through the lens of being the Other. Drawing connections between Black culture in the Caribbean and the United States the artist creates installations of wearable art, video and photography.

Rodriguez is also one of this generation’s curators making the efforts to bring art of the African Diaspora into the forefront by curating shows like Resistance, Roots and Truth at the Caribbean Cultural Center and (under)REPRESENT(ed) Parsons Alumni Exhibit. Both exhibitions shed light on the foundational contributions of the African Diasporic communities.

Rodriguez graduated from Parsons the New School for Design in 2013. She received a Van Lier Fellowship at Wave Hill in 2018, and became a Fellow at the Caribbean Cultural Center of the African Diaspora in 2017. Her work has been included at Miami Art Basel, Longwood Art Gallery, American Museum of Natural History, Wave Hill, Rush Art Gallery, El Centro Cultural de España and Centro León Biennial in D.R. She Currently teaches at Parsons the New School of Design in NY.

Space to Connect Programming
Rodriguez hosted weaving workshops to create colorful fabric murals with S:US (Services for the UnderServed) in the Highbridge neighborhood of the Bronx.