Imna Arroyo

BIO

www.imnaarroyo.com

Imna Arroyo was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico. She studied at La Escuela de Artes Plasticas del Instituto de Cultura in San Juan, Puerto Rico and obtained her BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York and her MFA from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. She has also studied at other printmaking techniques at the Tamarind Institute, New York University Printmaking Studio and at the University of Guanajuato, in Mexico. Her work is also in numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art Library/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection, Yale Art Gallery and Schomberg Center for Research and Black Culture.

She is currently a Professor of Art at Eastern Connecticut State University where she chaired the Visual Arts Department. Imna Arroyo has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including several professional development grants. She received the 2000 Excellence Award, in Recognition of Excellence in Creative and Scholarship Activity from Eastern. She also received the 2003 Steinkraus-Cohen Memorial Outstanding Women of Connecticut Award, in recognition of achievements and dedication to public service. The award is under the auspices of the United Nations Association of the USA (Connecticut, Southwestern Chapter) and UNIFEM- Connecticut, members of the CT.

Artist Statement

My work focuses on issues of identity which is nurtured by personal and collective references to my ancestral culture. Working in various mediums such as painting, printmaking, sculpture, and mixed media installations gives voice to multiple layers of my identity. This binds me to my Neolithic past, as well as, my Indigenous and African Caribbean heritage.

My work explores the different manifestations of nature and the spirit of the African ancestors; they give voice to some of their stories activating both physical and spiritual spaces.

In 1997, I traveled to Ghana to study Batik and visit the fortresses where Africans were kept before they were shipped to the Americas. This trip was a turning point in my art making process; it initiated my interest of printing woodcuts onto satin fabric. It also introduced me to the world of the Adinkra symbols. Adinkra symbolism is a system of visual and verbal imagery that contains poetic messages, proverbs or aphorisms and when decoded they reveal legends, history, and the myths of the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa. From these symbols, I use the Sankofa image of a bird, which refers to the idea of retracing steps, or going back to the past to reclaim the past.

In my woodcuts, I use the Adinkra symbolism derived from traditional Adinkra cloths that represents the Sankofa bird, which is part of a complex vocabulary of symbols distinctive of the Akan people from South Central Ghana, West Africa. Conceptually, I am using the Sankofa-Adinkra symbol to bring me back to my source. Sankofa links me to my African lineage in the Diaspora. Using the Sankofa symbol as an icon serves as a tool or bridge to access my history and claim my heritage. The symbol affirms who I am and serves as a symbol of empowerment.