Afro-Taino
Artist Name
Naive Art by YLR
Artist Statement
Self-taught visual artist working in the naïve and folk art tradition, based in Ireland. Born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; living in Europe (Netherlands and Ireland) for over two decades. Practice centres on figurative painting and mixed-media work on canvas — acrylics, gold leaf, modelling paste, metallic pigment, impasto — exploring Afro-Caribbean and Taíno cultural identity, ancestral memory, migration, and the tension between Caribbean warmth and Northern restraint. Originals only; no editions or prints.
Exhibition Statement
Afro-Taíno is a body of figurative and narrative paintings exploring the visual culture, spiritual traditions, and ancestral memory of the first inhabitants of Quisqueya (present-day Hispaniola) and the African traditions that intersected with them during and after the colonisation of the Caribbean.
Afro-Taíno will have its debut physical solo exhibition at Leixlip Library, Co. Kildare, Ireland, opening 7 January 2027.
The body of the exhibition is live, and more works will be added throughout 2026.