Ro is a Queens based artist born in Lima, Peru. Ro is a self-taught, multidisciplinary artist whose work grapples with themes of memory, intimacy, and loss, particularly in how they relate to the social and political. Through collage, mixed media, sculpture, installation, photography, and writing, Ro seeks to build a creative practice that is able to untangle and transform. Ro’s work has been featured at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, Goddard College, Jack Studios, and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Ro has a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Visual Art and Mental Health from Goddard College.

1. Why were you interested in becoming a Teaching Artist?
I’ve worked in other educator roles, ever since I was a young person myself, and I really wanted to continue to work with youth, particularly youth of color, in exploring, growing, and building community together. As an artist whose knows firsthand the transformative potential of art, I wanted to share with my students a tool that has greatly impacted how I’m able to process, hold, and impact the world around me.

2. How would you describe your artistic practice?
I’m an multi-disciplinary artist who works mainly in mixed media, sculpture, fiber, installation, and archive. I’m interested in exploring memory, history, and trauma through an intimate lens focused on the political and aesthetic value of everyday life.

3. What is a project you’re working on now that you’re excited to reveal soon?
I’m going to be working with the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, for the next year as an Artist in Residence, working with local immigrant communities in developing a public art project.

4. How did collaborating with CUP impact your work moving forward?
Working with CUP has made me a more prepared and more flexible educator. CUP’s methodology, with its intensive yet real world, hands-on approach, requires both rigorous preparation and dedicated flexibility, which I believe has pushed me to be even more present to my students learning process.

5. What is your secret skill that has nothing to do with your art and educator work?
I’m really good at not having secret skills :)