Critical Distance DIRECTORY Yelaine Rodriguez

Born in 1990 in the Bronx, where she lives and works today, Yelaine Rodriguez is an Afro-Dominican United Statesian artist, educator, curator, and cultural organizer. She received her BFA in Fashion Design from Parsons School of Design | The New School (2013) and her MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies / Museum Studies from New York University (2021). Rodriguez conceptualizes wearable art, sculptures, and site-specific installations drawing connections between Black cultures in the Caribbean and the United States captured through photography and video documentation.

Rodriguez’s curatorial projects include “Radical Elegance” at Longwood Art Gallery At Hostos (2021), “Afro Syncretic” at NYU (2019-2020), “Resistance, Roots, & Truth” at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (2018), and “(under)REPRESENT(ed)” at Parsons School of Design | The New School (2017). From (2015 – 2018), Rodriguez founded La Lucha: Dominican Republic and Haiti, One Island, an art collective exploring Dominican-Haitian relations through exhibitions, artist panels, and interactive conferences.

Residencies include the Innovative Cultural Advocacy Fellowship from the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (2017), Wave Hill Van Lier Fellowship (2018), The Latinx Project Curatorial Fellowship at NYU (2019), and Bronx Museum AIM Program (2020). Rodriguez has exhibited at Photoville, Mexic-Arte Museum, Longwood Art Gallery, American Museum of Natural History, Wave Hill, El Centro Cultural de España, Centro León Biennial XXVII in the Dominican Republic, and ESTAMOS BIEN: LA TRIENAL 20/21 El Museo del Barrio’s (NY) first national large-scale survey of Latinx contemporary art. Rodriguez’s works feature in CNN, Artsy, EnFoco, Hyperallergic, Vogue, Aperture, and Elle Magazine. Her writing has appeared in ARTnews and academic journals like Latin American & Latinx Visual Culture. Rodriguez is currently an Adjunct Instructor at The New School and NYU.

Image Caption: Yelaine Rodriguez, EBBÓ (Sacrifice): Orula, The Witness, 2021. Analogue photography, medium format, dimensions variable. Courtesy the artist.