Legacy Lab: Life Interwoven, the next exhibition from its Nueva Luz Study Center (NLSC). This presentation places the works of renowned artists Lola Flash and groana melendez in dialogue with works and family archives of Bronx community members who participated in En Foco’s Legacy Lab workshop series this summer at the BxArts Factory. Featuring works and archival materials by Daniel Aros-Aguilar, Yeline Del Carman, Evelyn Martinez, Alexis Marie Montoya, Joshua Poyer, Sofie Vasquez, and Felicia Wilson, the exhibition celebrates the power of community archiving and how personal narratives become part of a shared cultural memory.
Curated by Valarie Irrizary, and Oscar J. Rivera, the exhibition will be on view from November 13, 2025 to February 20 2026, at Pregones Theater, located at 575 Walton Avenue in The Bronx, New York. RSVP for the opening reception. Viewing is available from Monday to Friday by appointment only.
For additional times, email info@enfoco.org.
Yeline Del Carmen
Yeline Del Carmen is a visual artist based in The Bronx, New York. Her works explore abstract shapes and
intuitive mark-making through digital drawings, painting on canvas, wood panels, tote bags, and most recently
embroidery. When creating, she relies on her instincts and materials to guide the process. Often inspired by play,
experimentation, and an obsessive accumulation of elements, Yeline’s pieces aim to create energetic landscapes
filled with texture, bold colors, and whimsical biomorphic shapes.
For the En Foco Legacy lab series, she focused on highlighting birthdays of family members. Birthdays
have always been a very special tradition in Yeline’s family, both here in New York City and back home in the
Dominican Republic. It’s a time of celebration, quality time with loved ones, dancing, and of course lots of cake!
Photographs were sourced from her Mom’s archive; and each frame was customized to combine the nostalgia of
those memories and her playful art practice. The faux cake piping was done with the help of a long time family
friend Esmeralda, who also happened to make Alaicha’s birthdaycake ( the green cake featured in this series).
Curated by Valarie Irrizary, and Oscar J. Rivera
The Legacy Lab: Life Interwoven invites audiences to reflect on how the stories we preserve, through family photographs, letters, oral histories, and creative expressions, connect us. Through this collective act of remembrance, the exhibition underscores how accessible archives help shape living histories, ensuring that the contributions of marginalized and underrepresented communities remain visible for generations to come.
Presented in partnership with Pregones Theater and the BxArts Factory, Life Interwoven transforms the gallery into a living archive, where the act of remembering is participatory and communal. The project continues En Foco’s commitment to making cultural preservation accessible, intergenerational, and community-driven.
As En Foco continues to celebrate 51 years of advancing artists of color and preserving the visual histories of diasporic communities, this exhibition reflects the organization’s enduring mission: to create platforms where art, archives, and equity converge. Life Interwoven demonstrates that archives are not static repositories, but living spaces where identities, memories, and stories continue to evolve together.
En Foco is supported in part with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, The Mellon Foundation, BronxCare Health System, The Joy of Giving Something, Inc., The Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Ford Foundation, Jerome Foundation, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Hispanic Federation, and Aguado-Pavlick Arts Fund.
