My practice uses audience participation to investigate notions of being & belonging within the public sphere. The result of this takes the form of objects such as books, zines, installations, happenings, video, and photography. Through research, oral history, and active participants, the projects I develop aim to highlight pluralistic narratives about migration and race. I strive to invite a diverse range of communities to co-create collaborative projects and artworks with me both in public spaces such as sidewalks, parks, and plazas as well as in galleries, non-profit art spaces, and institutions and online. As a Dominican immigrant, it’s important for me to create work that looks at dismantling a monolithic narrative on immigration and instead provides a platform where our unique experiences, differences, and similarities can be expressed and shared.

Lizania Cruz (she/her) is a Dominican participatory artist and designer interested in how migration affects ways of being and belonging. Through research, oral history, and audience engagement, she creates projects that expand and share pluralistic narratives on migration. Cruz received the 2023 New York City Artadia Award and her newest project was commissioned by The Shed for Open Call 2023. In 2021, Cruz was part of “ESTAMOS BIEN: LA TRIENAL 20/21” at el Museo del Barrio, the first national survey of Latinx artists by the institution. Most recently, she was part of “52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone” at the Aldrich Museum. She has presented solo shows at A.I.R. Gallery, CUE Art Foundation, International Studio & Curatorial Program, ISCP, Alma Lewis and Proxyco Gallery. Her work has been exhibited at Sharjah’s First Design Biennale, Brooklyn Museum, Untitled, Art Miami Beach, NADA Miami, The Highline, The SHED, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts and more. Cruz has participated in residencies and fellowships such as Fundación Ama Amoedo in Uruguay (2023), International Studio & Curatorial Program, ISCP (2022), Planet Texas 2050 Artist Resident — University of Texas (2022), Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, Visual Arts (2021-2022), Artists Circle on Climate Displacement Fellowship, Institute of Othering and Belonging, Berkeley University (2021), Center for Book Arts (2020-2021), BRIClab: Contemporary Art (2020-2021), A.I.R. Gallery (2020-2021), Robert Blackburn Workshop Studio Immersion Project (SIP) (2019), Stoneleaf Retreat (2019), IdeasCity: New Museum (2019), Recess Session (2019), Laundromat Project Create Change (2017-2019), Design Trust for Public Space (2018) and Agora Collective Berlin (2018). Her work has been featured in Hyperallergic, Fuse News, KQED arts, Dazed Magazine, Garage Magazine and the New York Times.

Selected Works