Patricia Encarnación (she / them) is an interdisciplinary artist and Afro-Dominican academic who explores the idea of being Caribbean by recontextualizing the everyday objects, landscapes and aesthetics to which she was exposed growing up in her homeland.
Encarnación has twice taken part in the Centro Leon Jiménez Biennial and won the prize awarded by Cadiz for cultural immersion and artistic residency with Tropiques Atrium in Martinique. She has participated in numerous residencies with institutions such as Museums Quartier Vienna, Kovent Catalonia, and Smack Mellon as recipient of the Van Lier Award and Silver Art Projects art residency at the World Trade Center. Her work has been featured in exhibitions such as Afro Syncretic at NYU, I am New Afro Latinx at MOLAA, CA, and Homework Gallery during Miami Art Week.
After receiving a full scholarship, Encarnación completed her BFA at Parsons The New School of Design in New York. Recently, Encarnación completed her Master's degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies with a concentration in Museum Studies at New York University.
The series of collages, paintings and photographs entitled "I am From Where You Vacation" explores the perception of the Caribbean as "paradise" and its exoticization. The project depicts surreal scenes in a tropical landscape to highlight the different realities and uncertainties created by the polarization between Caribbean inhabitants, mainly women of color, and tourists.
"I am From Where You Vacation" questions the idea of "paradise" and critiques the colonialist structures imposed by tourism industry practices, with the aim of creating a visual discourse illustrating local resilience and anti-colonialism.
