Interview: “Eliana Perez: Art to Rethink Female Identity”

Find the original interview here.

Flo Almonte | New Jersey Hispano | Contributor 

New York-based artist  Eliana Pérez explores profound themes related to female identity, the body, and the experience of being a woman in her work. Born in Mexico and raised in the Dominican Republic, her work reflects an intimate and thoughtful perspective on beauty, identity, and human emotions. Through drawing, her primary medium, she uses materials such as charcoal, graphite, and ink to create figures full of movement, layers, and transparencies that invite the viewer to contemplate the complexity of the female body and experience. In this conversation, Pérez discusses her creative process, the cultural influences that have shaped her career, and the ideas she seeks to convey through her art.  

FA:   You were born in Mexico and grew up in the Dominican Republic . How  have these two cultures influenced your worldview and your work as an artist? 

EP:  That's right! I was born in Mexico, and very soon after, my family moved back to the Dominican Republic. I don't have Mexican blood, and yet both cultures have greatly influenced me. The Dominican culture is what shaped me as a person, and the Mexican culture is, and always has been, something I've longed to learn more about. So, my knowledge of the Mexican culture is primarily as an observer, combined with what I've read and learned over the years. Both cultures blend and balance within me in a fascinating way because I feel many connections between them. I have multiracial ancestry, so I've always felt respect and a great deal of curiosity towards different cultures. On my father's side, I also have Lebanese heritage, and on my mother's, Spanish heritage. It's become a passion of mine to want to learn more and incorporate the symbolism of each culture that shapes me into my art—to see how I can tell my stories and create my pictorial narratives through my multicultural experiences. Something I really love about Dominican culture is how mixed it is. We were born from a union of many races, so I realize that being Dominican gives me access to understanding and connecting with other cultures. But it's something personal that I've interpreted on my own, something I find very interesting and enriching! 

FA:   Your work explores female identity and the relationship with  the body. What inspired you  to  work on these themes? 

EP:  Yes, you can also add the relationship between nature and the body. Very early in my artistic career, I realized that I am a figurative artist. I love studying the human body, the complexity of its expressiveness, and the relationship of that physical body with its environment. I think that discussing identity as a woman is always a topic addressed among contemporary and classical female artists who seek a way to document the psychological and social reality of the female portrait. 

FA:   In your work you question traditional ideas of beauty. How do you  define beauty today? 

EP:  Beauty has always been something very personal, and I think that notion is even more real today. I believe beauty today doesn't have an exact definition; it's everywhere, in all shapes and styles. It comes in so many packages for everyone. Yes, I can share that many stereotypes I grew up with still exist, and seeing how everything has changed, I feel this desire to critique those rigid structures that shaped my life. I like to question physical beauty, as well as aesthetic and artistic beauty. 

FA:   Many of your works convey very deep emotions. What role  do your own personal experiences play in your art? 

EP:  Well, personal experiences are everything. They're what give life and strength to a piece. An artist who has nothing to say or feel has nothing to paint or create. I'd say they're the main role. My techniques and way of creating are the tools that support and shape those emotions. 

FA:   As a Latina artist living in New York, how does the city influence your creativity? 

EP:  New York is the bridge that connected my thoughts and desires with my artistic career. The sheer number of cultures that blend together, the countless opportunities, the museums, the exhibitions—well, everything that happens in the city is inspiring and opens your mind in such a way that all you have to do is channel that energy into your own creative process. My favorite pastime is going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and reveling in the works of the masters. So much to learn! 

FA:   You have participated in exhibitions in places like New York, Miami, Venice, and the Dominican Republic .  What does it  mean to you to be able to show your work to such diverse audiences ? 

EP:  It means so much. Knowing that my work has an impact in so many different settings fills me with joy and connects me with so many people. I enjoy that. The interesting conversations, knowing that someone has a piece of you and values ​​it. Very moving. Participating in exhibitions is a very honest and beautiful experience. 

FA:   You are also a professor of figurative drawing at the Fashion Institute of Technology. How does teaching influence your own artistic practice ? 

EP:  I love teaching. Even before starting my master's degree, I knew that sharing knowledge and helping others develop as artists filled my soul. I find it a rewarding experience. When I teach, I give everything from my artistic training and what I've developed over the years in my own practice. This greatly improves my own work and pushes me to make decisions I hadn't considered before. I also teach in the Dominican Republic with the desire to help people learn professional art and give them the opportunity to have a better artistic foundation. I'm always surrounded by young people and adults eager to share that passion for art, and that energizes me.  

FA:  You work in both drawing and oil painting  . How  do you decide which medium  to use for each idea or project? 

EP:  It all depends on the sketch I develop. Often, in the sketching stages, I plan pieces that I specifically want to be paintings, taking notes on the color palette I want to use, even the nuances I want to achieve. But the more I sketch and the more I develop that initial stage, the more I realize that the piece makes more sense as an ink drawing. So I change my strategy. Many times I just want to do drawings; I love doing realistic portraits or full figures in graphite. It helps me review anatomy and think about how I can play with the elements of the body in relation to my artistic language. Besides, it's a lot of fun to draw realistically. Achieving realism with just a few tones or strokes seems great to me. It pauses my process a bit with another type of practice; it gives me a break when I'm feeling overwhelmed with my own work. 

FA : You completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in the United States. How did that experience influence your  development as an artist?   

EP:  Pursuing my master's degree was the best step I took in my career. I always wanted to do it since I arrived in New York, but I couldn't because I had to finish my bachelor's degree in illustration. I earned it at Parsons The New School. I transferred right after finishing my first two years at Altos de Chavón in the Dominican Republic on a full scholarship. Once I completed my bachelor's degree, I began my master's studies, but I looked for the school that best aligned with my aspirations as an artist, and that was the New York Academy of Art. I can't thank enough all the professional artists who mentored me there, as they helped me connect all the knowledge I had with the structure of European art academies—the foundation of art. Thanks to that time in the master's program, I was able to develop as a professional artist and, over time, structure my own understanding of art and creation, which later led me to become a teacher. Currently, I not only create my artwork, but thanks to my master's degree, I am also a Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and I prepare fine arts students in figure drawing and design fundamentals. 

FA:   What do you  hope people will feel or reflect on when they see your work for the first time? 

EP:  I think this is one of the hardest questions to answer… but if there's one thing I'd like people to feel, it's some attraction to them that invites them to stop and look. Then, for me, that's already a success. Whatever their thoughts or experience with them may be. The fact that my pieces have a funny, colorful appearance (in the case of the oil paintings) or a pleasant gesture (in the case of the ink drawings) doesn't mean they're just funny, colorful, and gestural figures. My pieces have emotional weight and symbols in which a touch of sadness is revealed within the joy. So, each part that is discovered in them creates a narrative and psychological layer that is gradually dismantled the longer you spend looking at them. 

You can follow Eliana at  @elaprez 

Published on April 8, 2026

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This article belongs to New Jersey Hispano and may not be reproduced, distributed, modified, or published, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. Copying or republishing this content on any other media or platform is strictly prohibited.