All Her Children, Mixed Media, 78 x 81 inches, 2020
Genesis Jerez (b. 1993, Bronx, NY) is a mixed-media artist based in Harlem, New York. Her practice incorporates oil painting on linen, drawing, and collage, with materials such as charcoal and xerox paper. Looking toward family photographs as visual references, she reconstructs the space and figures of family scenarios to re-examine her early experiences growing up in New York City’s Public Housing Projects. Jerez’s formal negotiations with flattening techniques, patterned textures, underdrawings, and a collaged application of paint, arrive at a layered understanding of her source material. As she recontextualizes the environment of her traditional Dominican household, Jerez creates a counter-archive that transforms her intergenerational memory of complex familial relationships. She holds a BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology and was a Resident at BronxArtSpace in 2019. Jerez is currently a 2020-2021 Artist in Residence at The Studio Museum in Harlem.