Elia Alba

Early life and education

Elia Alba was born in New York City in 1962. Her family is from the Dominican Republic. In 1994, Alba received her Bachelor of Arts from Hunter College and completed the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in 2001. In 2001, Alba produced works incumbent on the theme of identity and person-hood (e.g. "Doll-head, hand held"). In the late 1980s, Alba began photographing her friend’s small dance company which lead to photographing other dance and opera companies throughout New York City. A few years after, Alba began working on sculpture.

Career

Elia Alba is a multi-media artist whose work has been exhibited and screened at various national and international institutions, including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; El Museo del Barrio; The RISD Museum; Valencia Institute of Modern Art, IVAM, Spain; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; ARCO, Madrid; Jersey City Museum; Science Museum, London; and ITAU Cultural Institute, São Paulo, Brazil, and the Havana Biennial.

"Informed by my mother’s work in the garment industry, I began to integrate sewing techniques into my practice and eventually began to combine sewing with photography. Utilizing photo transfers on fabric to create sculptures and masks, that are utilized in staged photography and video, these objects functioned as portraits, substitute heads and bodies. The works play with notions of fantasy, surrealism, place, identity and gender. Since 1999, my work in fabric presents corporeal fragmentation that can be grotesque yet playful, presenting alternative realities and personas, where gestures, bodies, posture resist classification."

The Supper Club

Elia Alba developed The Supper Club in collaboration with Recess, a studio and exhibition platform. On July 2, 2013, Alba launched The Supper Club on Recess Analog. The Supper Club is a multi-faceted art project that brings together over 60 contemporary artists of color through portraiture and dialogue. Inspired by Vanity Fair Magazine’s annual “Hollywood Issue,” which showcases Hollywood’s biggest movie stars of that year. This multi-faceted project celebrates over 60 contemporary artists of color who are documented in individual portraits with their moniker. This project also brings together a cross-section of visual artists, collectors and scholars for an intimate dinner and open conversations around race.

Elia Alba explains,"in addition to the portraits, I partnered with two different arts organizations in New York City– Recess Art and The Rubin Foundation – to create a series of dinners in which these contemporary artists of color could lay down their burdens and engage in meaningful conversation about art, life, pop culture, politics and race. While the portraits create visual meaning – and in their own way seek to correct the overwhelming whitewashing of American culture in media such as Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue– the dinners are where the actual lived experiences of these artists of color can come to the forefront and be transformed into meaningful social and cultural criticism. Each dinner is audio taped and transcribed, and will become a story within the larger narrative of The Supper Club book."

Ultimately, The Supper Club project serves as a critical historical documentation of African-American, Latin American, African, South Asian and Caribbean artists as a collective group. Alba says "it is rare that so many creative voices, from so many cultural, social, political and economic backgrounds can come together in a way that clearly highlights the importance and richness of diverse critical perspectives in today’s society." The Supper Club weighs in on the historical significance and the enduring power of art, food, and conversation in our everyday society.

Participating artists include: Abigail DeVille, Alejandro Guzman, Alex Rivera, Angel Otero, Arnaldo Morales, Brendan Fernandes, Carlos de Leon Sandoval, Chitra Ganesh, Clifford Owens, Coco Fusco, Dahlia Elsayed, David Antonio Cruz, Dawit Petros, Derrick Adams, Dread Scott, Firelei Baez, Hank Willis Thomas, Heather Hart, Ivan Monforte, Jacolby Satterwhite, Jaishri Abichandani, Janelle and Lisa Iglesias, Jaret Vadera, Jayson Keeling, Jeffrey Gibson, Juana Valdes, Kalup Linzy, Karina Skvirsky, Kenya Robinson, LaTasha Nevada Diggs, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Legacy Russell, Lina Puerta, Lorraine O'Grady, Marin Hassinger, Michael Paul Britto, Mickalene Thomas, Miguel Luciano, Nicolas Dumit Estevez, Nicole Awai, Niv Acosta, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Rachelle Mozman, Rafael Sanchez, Rajkamal Kahlon, Dashawn Griffin, Rico Gatson, Sanford Biggers, Saya Woolfalk, Scherezade and Iliana Garcia, Shaun Leonardo, Shinique Smith, Simone Leigh, Steffani Jemison, Wangechi Mutu, Wanda Ortiz, and Zachary Fabri.

Guests include: Andrew Russeth, Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, Cameron Welsh, Cheto Castellano, Christopher Lew, E.Carmen Ramos, Edwin Ramoran, Elisabeth Smolarz, Emily Sufrin, Eva Diaz, Geandy Pavon, John Arthur Peetz, Juan Thompson, Lissette Olivares, Maris Curran, Nicole Caruth, Omar Lopez Chahoud, Sara Reisman, Saul Ostrow, Rocio Aranda-Alvarado, Yasmin Ramirez.

Selected exhibitions

Elia Alba's artworks have been exhibited internationally at:

Awards and residencies