𓆉 About the Artist 𓆉
Official Artist Biography
Juasline “Juju” Plasencia (they/she) (B. 2001, Teaneck, NJ) is a Afro-Taino (Puerto-Rican/Dominican) Visual Artist and Fine Arts Teacher based in Miami, Florida, USA.
As a first generation college student with a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree from Hamilton College (Clinton, NY), Juju specializes in the Fine Studio Arts, Arts Administration, Fine Arts Cirriculum Development, Museum Education, Public Art Education, Arts + Environmentalism, & Arts Advocacy. Inspired by their Afro-Indigenous Caribbean heritage and East-Coast upbringing, Juju founded her very own Art Business, Bohio Bonarté, LLC. where she creates art that explores many themes of race, gender, sexuality, environmentalism, and the complexities of the Caribbean Diaspora within the context of modern society. By creating vibrantly painted portraits and sculptures, Juju hopes to dismantle the the stigmatization of Black and Indigenous Queer Bodies, especially Caribbean bodies, in Art and bring representation and healing instead to these communities.
Official Artist Statement
"As an Afro-Taino, Boriqua & Ayitiana femme persons, growing up in the Northeast meant growing up in a place far away from my family's native Caribbean islands. Although my family fully embraced their Nuyorican & Domiyork culture after immigrating to the United States, I also had the privilege of traveling frequently to my family's countries of Puerto Rico & the Dominican Republic and learning the importance of the natural and the spiritual connections my family has had with our Caribbean lands. As a way of decolonizing my mind, I began researching my ancestry to pay homage to my Taino & African ancestors that were the victims of colonization and the Transatlantic Slave trade. Due to this injustice, many of their names have been forgotten and their stories lost. While I do not know all of their names, I share in their belief of the sacredness of the Earth and all of its creatures. Although these entities are not here physically, I hope that they can observe my work in the afterlife and know they are not forgotten; That their teachings are still remembered. "