Joiri Minaya was born in 1990 in New York City, where she currently lives and works. She grew up in the Dominican Republic, earning Associate’s Degrees from La Escuela Nacional de Artes Visuales in Santo Domingo in 2009 and Altos de Chavón School of Design in 2011 before returning to NYC for her BFA from Parsons New School for Design in 2013. Through photography, video, installation, and performance, Minaya interrogates tropical motifs found in popular culture and reveals how such motifs have been used to exotify Caribbean women. Referencing and subverting floral patterns, botanical illustrations, and stereotypes of the Caribbean, her colorful and playful configurations uncover colonial legacies persistent in Western culture.