My work plays at the intersection of gesture, ritual, and myth within the Black diasporic imagination. I rework, repurpose, and transform artifacts such as brown paper bags, Hispano cuaba soap, dominoes, and organic residues through actions like sewing, folding, cutting, burning, and layering.
I use the subjective experiences of these artifacts or actions to interrogate how they create social meaning and cultural norms. These explorations point to slippages of self and tensions around colonial relations to exoticization while expanding our capacity for pleasure, refusal, and liberation.
Francheska Alcántara is a queer Afro-Caribbean interdisciplinary artist based between The Bronx and Tulsa, OK. Their work explores material histories, detritus accumulations, and slippages between memories, fragmentation, and longing.
Alcántara holds an MFA in Sculpture + Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University (2019), a BFA in Painting from Hunter College (2015), and a BA in Art History from Old Dominion University (2009).
They have participated in residencies like Recess Art’s Session (2022), Wave Hill Gardens Workspace (2021), Creative Capital Professional Taller (2019), Vermont Studio Center (2019), Shandaken: Storm King (2018), Bronx Museum’s AIM Program (2017), and EMERGENYC (2016).
Francheska has shared their work at Lehmann Maupin Gallery (2022), Chashama Art Space (2021), BronxArtSpace (2020), Queens College Art Center (2019), Brooklyn Museum (2018), Queens Museum (2018), and the Bronx Museum of the Arts (2017). Alcántara is a grantee of the OVAC’s Thrive Grant (2022), City Artist Corps Grant (2021), and Interchange Artist Grant (2021). Currently, they are a fellow at the Tulsa Artist Fellowship.