Photo by Kevin Claiborne.
Denisse Griselda Reyes (they/them, b. 1993) is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker, utilizing autobiographical narratives as source material to create contemporary fictions. Through layered temporalities and representations of the self within archives, objects, and performances, they construct a mythology of Salvadoran and personal history. Balanced between tragedy and pleasure, Reyes employs humor and their alter-ego, Griselda, to navigate the grief and absurdity inherent in recreating transhistorical subjects. Their work seeks to negotiate an agreement with the present moment rather than with a distant future, exploring how close one can get to recreating reality before losing touch with it.
Their work has been exhibited at White Columns, A.I.R. Gallery, NoBudge Films, Film Diary NYC, The Wallach Art Gallery, Lenfest Center for the Arts, Artforum, Velvetpark Media, MODA Critical Review and internationally. Their films have premiered in Berlin and New York, and they have been nominated for the Rema Hort Mann Foundation Emerging Artist Grant and awarded the “Hot Film in the Making” Roy W. Dean Film Grant. They received an MFA in Visual Arts (New Genres) from Columbia University and a BA in Art History from Wesleyan University. They are currently an A.I.R. Gallery Fellow and live and work in Brooklyn, NY.
EDUCATION:
2021 Columbia University, MFA in Visual Arts, New Genres
2015 Wesleyan University, BA in Art History
2024
Did you have a hard time finding me?, Solo show (forthcoming), A.I.R. Gallery , Brooklyn, NY
Donde Come Uno, Comen Dos, Rulay Magazine, MECA Art Fair, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Film Diary III: The Coldest Winter, Film screening, Millennium Film Workshop, Brooklyn, NY
2023
A.I.R. Gallery Fellow, Brooklyn, NY
What a Fool Believes, Subtitled NYC, curated by Elzie Williams III, Brooklyn, NY
A Shapeshifter with a Heavenly Secret, White Columns Online, curated by Tamara Khasanova, New York, NY
Adónde irá mi vida, In Response: The Sassoons, The Jewish Museum, New York, NY
2022
Emerging Artist Nominee, Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York, NY
Griselda, NoBudge, Brooklyn, NY
Water Lillies, Editor for David Humphrey, Roulette Intermedium: Brooklyn, NY
CURRENTS: Identity Politics, A.I.R. Gallery, curated by Christian Camacho-Light and Roxana Fabius, Brooklyn, NY
2021
Hot Films in the Making: Cry with Me, Roy W. Dean Film Grant, CA
Artist Relief Grant, United States Artists: New York, NY
Cry with Me, Lenfest Center for the Arts, Director, Writer, Editor, Animator, Producer, Actor: Video Installation Film
MFA Thesis Exhibition, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, curated by Amy Sadao: NY
The (better late than never) Summer Show, ChaShaMa, New York, NY
First Year Exhibition, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, New York, NY
2019-2020
Audition #4/39 for ‘Cry with Me,’ Artforum MFA Spotlight: Online
Artist in Residence, Institut für Alles Mögliche: Berlin, Germany
Grant for German Language Study, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
Artist in Residence Traveling Grant, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
Traveling Grant for NAIS POC Conference, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
2018
Griselda (Episode 1), Premiere at TAKT Gallery, Group Show, Berlin, Germany
Come Watch Me! at The Institut für Alles Mögliche, Solo Exhibition, Institut Zentrale, Berlin, Germany
Überflüssig, Unverweslich, Geheim, Performance with Frank Maucieri, Berlin, Germany
Grant for German Language Study, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
Artist in Residence Traveling Grant, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
Traveling Grant for NAIS POC Conference, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
2017
Another Space, TAKT Kunstprojektraum, Berlin, Germany
Artist in Residence, TAKT Kunstprojektraum, Berlin, Germany
Grant for German Language Study, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
Artist in Residence Traveling Grant, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
Traveling Grant for NAIS POC Conference, Saint Ann’s School, Brooklyn, NY
2016
Leche, Thesis Project, Buenos Aires, Argentina
We Forgot to Be Lonely, Key Animator, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2015
Acts 1-5, Solo Performance, Wesleyan University: Middletown, CT
Renditions of Form, Curator, Wesleyan University: Middletown, CT
Experiences//Messages of Support, Curator, Wesleyan University: Middletown, CT
Women I’ve Disappointed, Book Illustrator, Middletown, CT
Lodia, Set Design, Middletown, CT
2014
Drilled, Nailed, and Hung, Founder of curating collective, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
The Monument Quilt, Curator, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
The Interactive Art Gallery II, The Doping Agency, Group Exhibition, New York, NY
Tema: Sculpture, Zilkha Gallery, Group Exhibition, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
24 Hour Vibrations, Solo Performance, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
2013
Unstable Territory: Borders and Identity, CCC Strozzina Gallery, Student Feature: Florence, Italy
The Interactive Art Gallery I, The Doping Agency, Group Exhibition: New York, NY
Best in Class: Batik, Painting, Drawing, Syracuse University in Florence, Studio Art Program, Florence, Italy
ARTICLES, PUBLICATIONS, AND CURATORIAL PROJECTS:
2023
Denisse Griselda Reyes and Tamara Khasanova in conversation, White Columns, New York, NY
2022
Visual Artist Spotlight: Denisse Griselda Reyes, VelvetPark Media
2021
Open Studio: Conversation with Amy Sadao
"Why Would Anyone Need to be a Different Person?” MODA Critical Review, Ellipses #2.
Johnson, Emily. “Students Present MFA Thesis Exhibition.” Columbia SoA
2020
Stadic, Stipan. “Noga Cohen and Denisse Griselda Reyes.” WCKR FM 89.9
2015
Guest Lecturer. “On Griselda.” TAKT Kunstprojektraum, Berlin, Germany
“Reclaiming My Clitoris: Locating the (G)od Spot of Institutionalized Experiences.” Hermes Magazine.