YASMIN RAMIREZ, PhD
Yasmin Ramirez is a curator, writer, and cultural worker known for her extensive work in the arts, beginning with her academic memorialization of Nuyorican cultural contributions. Born in Brooklyn, Ramirez was an active member of New York City’s early 1980s creative scene, paying close attention to visual culture in the form of street art, explorations of subculture, and more. Beginning in the 90s, she curated exhibitions exploring the intersection of cultural identity, race, gender, and social justice, particularly in relation to Latinx identity and diasporic communities—making her a pivotal figure behind the push for greater visibility of Latinx artists, and the evolving discourse around racial and ethnic identity across the Americas. In addition to her curatorial pursuits, she has written essays and critical pieces addressing the complexities of navigating cultural spaces. Dr. Ramirez is an Adjunct Professor at The City College of New York; her latest publication is Nuyorican & Diasporican Art: A Critical Anthology.
Ramirez has worked across a variety of cultural institutions, among them The Bronx Museum, El Museo Del Barrio, The Loisaida Center, The New Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Franklin Furnace, and Taller Boricua. Her critically acclaimed exhibitions and panels include: Pasado y Present: Art after the Young Lords, 1969-2019 (2019); Home, Memory, and Future (2016); Martin Wong: Human Instamatic (2015); ¡Presente!: The Young Lords in New York (2015); The Puerto Rican Art Workers and the Construction of the Nuyorican Art Movement (2014); Re-Membering Loisaida: On Archiving and the Lure of the Retro Lens (2009); “Esto A Veces Tiene Nombre": Latin@ Art Collectives in a Post-Movement Millennium (2008); The Boricua in Basquiat (2005); Voices From Our Communities: Perspectives on a Decade of Collecting at El Museo del Barrio (2000); Pressing the Point: Parallel Expressions in the Graphic Arts of the Chicano and Puerto Rican Movements (1999).
Published essays include:
"Lorenzo Homar" (2019); "King of the Line: The Sovereign Acts of Jean Michel Basquiat" (2017); "Mi Querido Barrio: A Virtual Tour of East Harlem Through Time" (2016); "The Young Lords Way" (2015); "Snap Shots: A Short History of the Association of Hispanic Arts" (2013); "The Creative Class of Color in New York" (2009); "The Activist Legacy of Puerto Rican Artists in New York and the Art Heritage of Puerto Rico" (2007); "Puerto Rican Light: To Allora and Calzadilla" (2006); "Nuyorican Visionary: Jorge Soto and the Evolution of an Afro-Taino Aesthetic at Taller Boricua" (2005); and "Parallel Lives, Striking Differences: Notes on Chicano and Puerto Rican Graphic Arts of the 1970s" (1999).