Yasmin Spiro (b. Kingston, Jamaica) lives and works in Chicago, IL. Working in installation, sculpture, drawing, and mixed media, her work explores issues of cultural identity and socio-economic issues within the framework of social politics, land, and architecture– often through the lens of Caribbean culture with a focus on materiality.
Selected Exhibitions
Solo/Two-Person Exhibitions
2025 Cornerstone, Hyde Park Arts Center, Chicago, IL April 19-Nov 2
2023 Groundation, Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL
2022 Creal Micro Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2021 Dawtas | Mirror, Mirror performance project, Hyde Park Art Center
2021 Autoethnography, with Rim Lee, Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL
2020 Edge of Time, FLXST Gallery, Chicago, IL
2005 Parallel Practices, with Roberto Visani, RogerSmithArts, NY, Curated by Sara Reisman
2003 Deracinate, MFA Solo Thesis Show, Pratt Institute, Steuben East Gallery
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025 Legacy as Lexicon, a Stand-in for my Voice, Goldfinch Gallery, Curated by Lauren Leving
2024 Tapestry Expanded, American Tapestry Alliance, IN, Curated by Erica Warren
2022 Feria Clandestina, Miami, FL Curated by Nuria Richards
2022 Textures, Mana Contemporary, Curated by S.Y. Lim
2022 Alma, Led by Thread, Chicago, IL
2021 Alma 30, Chicago, IL
2021 Sum of Unity, Herron School of Art and Design, IN, Curated by Samuel Levi Jones
2020 Swab Art Fair, Barcelona, Clandestina
2020 Petty Biennial Part II, NYCH Gallery, Chicago, IL
2020 Reaching for the Horizon, Antenna Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2019 The Petty Biennial, Glass Curtain Gallery, NYCH Gallery, and Heaven Gallery, Chicago Curated by Sabrina Greig, Adia Sykes, Courtney Citron
2019 Port of Call, Chicago Art Department Curated by Ahmed Ozsever
2019 Form Without Plan, Chicago Artists Coalition, Curated by Greg Ruffing
2018 Beyond Fashion, National Gallery of Jamaica Curated by O'Neil Lawrence. Artists: Marvin Bartley, Kereina Chang-Fatt, The Girl and The Magpie, Jessica Ogden, Ebony G. Patterson, Alfredo Piola, Ayana Rivière, Peter Dean Rickards, Jasmine Thomas-Girvan, Phillip Thomas, Seymour Lewis, Cosmo Whyte
2018 Dawtas performance with Jamila Regan, Chicago Artists Coalition, CHICAGO, IL
2018 Leaf by Leaf, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL Curated by Sabrina Greig
2016 Taking Shapes, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
2015 Beg, Borrow or Steal, Recess Arts, NY
2011 Be Black Baby, Recess Art, NY Curated by Simone Leigh, Vanessa Agard-Jones, Becca Albee, Firelei Báez, Kelly Baker Josephs, Blackgold Dancers, Jayson Keeling, Kaiama Glover, Devin Kenny, Legacy Russell
2010 tART @ AIR Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2010 Model Home, Roger Smith Gallery, NY Curated by Nico Wheadon
2010 Close Encounters Contemporary Art by Caribbean Women, Florida Gulf Coast University Commissioned Installation
2007 Drawings in Multiples and Singular Sculpture, Five Myles Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2006 20/20, Chelsea Galleria, Miami, FL
2006 New Possessions, Museum of the Americas, Washington DC Curated by Sarah Clunis
2006 tART Spring Salon Show and Benefit for Creative Time, NY
2006 The Best of The Lab Roger Smith Arts, Yellowbird Gallery, Newburgh, NY
2005 OmniArt 05, Miami, FL Art Basel Satellite Event
2005 No Country is an Island: Issues of Freedom and Diaspora in Caribbean Art, Raritan Valley
Community College Gallery, NJ
2005 Momenta Art Benefit, Momenta, NY
Awards/ Residencies
2023 Jackman Goldwasser Residency, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago
2021 Dora Maar Fellow, Dora Maar Foundation, Menerbes France
2021 Individual Artists Grant, DCASE, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
2019 Arts/Industry Residency, John Michael Kohler Arts Center
2018 Hatch Residency, Chicago Artists Coalition
2004 Artist Fellowship, The Vermont Studio Center
2003 Pratt MFA Juried Symposium, Juror: Ken Johnson, NY Times. Visiting Panelists/Critics: Donald Kuspit, Robert Storr, Mario Navas, David Levi Strauss, Edward Gomez
2001 Art Education Department Scholarship, Pratt Institute
1999 Residency, Bob Blackburn - The Printmaking Workshop
97-99 Pratt Presidential Scholarship
97-99 Pratt Merit Scholarship
Bibliography
2024 Tapestry Expanded, American Tapestry Alliance, Catalogue
2024 Luxe Magazine, July/August
2023 Interior Design magazine, September
2020 Edge of Time, FLXST, TOP 5, Bad at Sports
2020 Edge of Time, FLXST, What Should We Do, Claire Voon
2018 Delicate Decolonial Dreams, Newcity, A Review of “Leaf by Leaf” at Chicago Artists Coalition, Kerry Cardoza 2018 Leaf by Leaf, 60 Inches From the Center, Christina Nafziger
2018 Leaf by Leaf, TOP 5, Bad at Sports
2011 Contemporary Jamaican Artists | Jamaican Art: Looking Back and Looking Forward, Petrine Archer Shaw
2011 The Renaissance Women of tART, Greenpoint Gazette
2011 Wavelengths, Washington Post
2011 Wavelengths, Eastcity Art, Eric Hope
2010 Fort Myers, Florida Weekly, “Close Encounters: Contemporary Art by Caribbean Women”
2006 http://heartasarenacreativetime.blogspot.com/
2006 Land of Beauty, ʻDespairʼ, Karen Goldberg Goff, Washington Times
2006 New Possessions: Museum of the Americas, Catalogue
2005 Art News, Yasmin Spiro and Roberto Visani, by Sandra Ban (Sept)
2005 No Country is an Island: Issues of Freedom and Diaspora in Caribbean Art, Catalogue
2005 Arte al Dia, Newspaper, OmniArt
2004 Urbana Magazine, OmniArt
2004 The Miami Herald: The Street, Culture / First impressions
2004 Miami New Times, Young Talent review
2004 Miami New Times, Young Talent review (second)
Lectures/Talks
2024. Groundation with Daniel Roper, Arts Club of Chicago
2023 Visting Artist Talk, School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL
2021 21C Curator Conversations with Cortney Lederer
2021 Autoethnography with Adina Jade Cosden and Haerim Lee for Heaven Gallery
2019 Visting Artist Talk, School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL
2010 Visiting Artist University Talk, Close Encounters Caribbean, FGCU, Ft Meyers, FL
2010 Gallery Talk, Close Encounters Caribbean, FGCU, Ft Meyers, FL
2008 Visiting Artist Talk, Adelphi University, Long Island, NY
2008 Invited Juror and Artist Talk, Led by Thread Exhibition, Target Gallery, DC
2003 Pratt Symposium, artists selected by Ken Johnson, NYTimes, Brooklyn, NY
Membership
Founding member women's art collective tART NYC
Education
2001-2004 M.F.A. Program Fine Arts, Pratt Institute, NY
1999 B.F.A Fine Arts: Painting, Highest Honors, Pratt Institute, NY