Marlenys Rojas-Reid (1961-2019) was a multi-disciplinary Venezuelan-born American artist working until her courageous fight against cancer ended in September 2019.

She harnessed her diverse background in art, religion, and sociology to produce paintings, sculpture, and installations that challenge the viewer to face her reality as a Latin woman living in the United States.

She said in 2018, “In my work, I address my feelings of pain and dehumanization because of the frequent and varied aggression that is directed towards me. I have been sexually abused, beaten, cursed at, and discriminated against. I confront the audience with that pain to bring awareness to the damage caused when people become objects of hate or desire. I create abstract scenes of the human figure in a violent encounter to represent the experience of being torn apart emotionally and psychologically. I hope that my work allows other people to reflect and realize their own pain and confront it.”

Marlenys was excited about how the embedded meaning in her chosen materials elevated the work beyond its physical representation. In her final bodies of work, she began working with silk, thread, human hair, and sutures. She created handmade paper using her personal bath towels and embedded lingerie and underwear. The combination of content and materials resulted in some of her most heartbreaking and meaningful work.