Erika Morillo is a writer, photographer, and translator born and raised in the Dominican Republic and based in Jersey City. Her work focuses on family narratives, identity, and the possibilities of image-text publications. Her memoir Mother Archive: A Dominican Family Memoir was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. Her photographs have been published and exhibited nationally and internationally, and her books are in the collections at the Whitney Museum of American Art Library, MoMA Archives and Library, The Met Library, The Getty Institutional Archives, and The International Center of Photography Library, among others. She has taught workshops at the Center for Book Arts, International Center of Photography, Off Assignment, Columbia University, CHAVÓN School of Design, and Dominican Writers Association. She holds an MA in sociology from The New School for Social Research and an MFA from Image Text Ithaca (now Image Text M.F.A. at Cornell University).
STATEMENT
The main driving force behind my work is investigating how family history impacts identity. I explore this intersection through documentary and vernacular photography, writing, and image-text publications. At the core of my practice are bookmaking and the use of archives to reimagine family narratives and as a case against erasure. I want to document, share, and create a conversation around issues that poison our familial histories, mainly intergenerational trauma, misogyny, and state violence. I believe examining our lineage is important. By exploring the deeply personal, I aim to shed light on the structures that continue to shape me.