Yelaine Rodriguez
Yelaine Rodriguez is a Dominican-American Artist, Educator, and Independent Curator.
Her work examines self-identity; a practice that debates problematic women roles in historical references and the shared experiences of women of color. She utilizes the idea of being “the other”, by exploring the misguided information formed by the spaces created of having been raised in two worlds, the South Bronx and the Dominican Republic.
Her commitment to her community was her motivation to create La Lucha: Dominican Republic & Haiti: One Island, an artist-based organization that brings Dominican and Haitian artist together. Since its inauguration in 2014, La Lucha has created safe artistic spaces by holding various artist talks and exhibitions throughout the city with emerging and established artists of the Dominican and Haitian Diaspora. She graduated with a BFA in Fashion Design from Parsons the New School of Design in 2013, where she was awarded a scholarship to study Photojournalism in Paris, and Fashion Design at Central St. Martins London.
Rodriguez is the recipient of the Van Lier Fellowship at Wave Hill 2018 and a Fellow from the Caribbean Cultural Center of the African Diaspora 2017. Her work has been included at BRAC, The Andrew Freedman Home, American Museum of Natural History, Rush Art Gallery, The Clemente Gallery, as well at El Centro Cultural de España in the Dominican Republic. She has taught at Altos de Chavón School of Design in La Romana, D.R. and currently teaches at Parsons the New School of Design in NY.