Ingrid Yuzly Mathurin is a self-taught, first-generation Haitian American artist based mostly in New York Metropolis. She works as each a figurative oil painter and muralist, constructing a observe that merges custom, group, and up to date expression. Her path has been formed not by formal artwork colleges however by persistence and a perception in visibility. Lately, she has been acknowledged as a 2024 Soho Home Fellow, a New York Basis of the Arts Artists as Entrepreneur Fellow, and a 2023 LeBasse Tasks Grant recipient. In 2022, she received The Different Artwork Truthful’s New Futures Award from Saatchi Artwork and contributed to the Los Angeles Lakers’ “Within the Paint” program.
Residencies at Carrie Ready Gallery in New York and Challenge Artwork in Los Angeles gave her the area to increase her voice, whereas her exhibitions have stretched from Sovern LA to the Brooklyn Museum of Artwork, the Jamaica Arts Heart, and IPC Artwork House in Miami. Her murals have surfaced in cities throughout the nation—Peacock TV’s Struggle Evening in Atlanta, United Manner Atlanta, Grownup Swim, and NFL Movies in Dallas amongst them. She has labored with Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp and painted partitions in Mattress-Stuy. Her works at the moment are a part of collections corresponding to Fulton County Arts & Tradition, Pleasure Simmons, and Marlon Nichols. But for all the recognition, her focus stays on the studio in Ridgewood, Queens, and on guiding youthful artists who’re looking for their very own voice.
Oil, Wax, and Texture
Mathurin’s portraits reside on the assembly level of classical realism and illustration. She paints primarily with oils, however her course of doesn’t finish there. She folds in pigment and chilly wax to create layered, textured backgrounds that breathe with shade and lightweight. These surfaces aren’t impartial backdrops; they carry depth and distinction, giving her topics an lively area to exist inside. The portraits—rendered with consideration to element—stand in opposition to daring fields that shimmer with wax, texture, and sometimes fragments of mosaic mirror.
The recurring look of bees in her work ties her work to concepts of group, perseverance, and safety. Bees are each fragile and relentless, constructing collectively within the face of risk. In Mathurin’s arms, they turn out to be symbols in opposition to erasure, reminders of what may be preserved by collective effort. The mirrors embedded in her canvases pull the viewer in, making the work interactive. They drive reflection—actually—and invite questions on how we see ourselves in relation to the themes she paints.
Style as Visible Activism
Style performs a central position in her work. It’s not ornament however a type of protest and visibility. Outfits turn out to be statements of identification, cultural pleasure, and resistance. The materials and types she paints aren’t arbitrary however intentional decisions meant to amplify the themes’ presence. On this sense, clothes operates as a form of armor, a manner of reclaiming area and narrative. By embedding vogue into her portraits, Mathurin ties her observe to each artwork historical past and up to date activism, guaranteeing that identification is widely known moderately than erased.
Tales of Pleasure and Power
A lot of Mathurin’s work resists the tendency to scale back communities to trauma. Her portraits aren’t about struggling however about pleasure, dignity, and resilience. She paints individuals as they reside, not simply as they wrestle. The emphasis is on on a regular basis experiences and the heat of shared historical past. Every portrait turns into an act of preservation—guaranteeing that voices are seen, remembered, and honored.
This dedication extends to her murals, which operate as public affirmations of belonging. Massive-scale, vibrant, and accessible, they anchor her work in neighborhoods and streets the place tales unfold every day. They don’t seem to be locked away in galleries however supplied overtly to communities who deserve illustration within the areas they inhabit.
Recognition and Neighborhood
Mathurin’s rise has been marked by vital recognition, but her work stays rooted in service. Collaborations with establishments corresponding to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Camp reveal her need to attach artwork with broader actions for justice. Her inclusion in museum exhibitions and company commissions exhibits her means to navigate a number of worlds, but she retains her observe anchored in Queens, the place she mentors youthful artists. She views this work not as an extension of her profession however as a necessary a part of it—passing down data, sharing sources, and constructing the form of help she wished for when she was beginning out.
Towards Visibility
On the core of Mathurin’s observe is the assumption that work belong in areas of cultural authority—museums, establishments, collections—in order that the tales they carry can’t be ignored. She needs to see communities mirrored on the partitions of those areas, not as exceptions however as a part of the continued story of artwork. Her portraits are constructed as affirmations of presence. They don’t whisper; they converse clearly in regards to the want for visibility, for illustration, for recognition.
The bees, the mirrors, the daring colours, the layers of wax—all of those decisions work towards the identical finish: to construct a language of resilience and pleasure that can’t be erased. Her work maintain a twin cost. They honor the previous and its struggles whereas insisting on the wonder and vitality of the current. They’re reminders that artwork can each have fun and defend.
Conclusion
Ingrid Yuzly Mathurin’s story will not be solely about creative success however about persistence, service, and perception in group. From murals on metropolis partitions to portraits in museums, her work insists that identification, resilience, and pleasure need to be seen. She paints not solely to seize likeness however to amplify tales. Her observe bridges realism and symbolism, private narrative and public assertion. In doing so, she builds a physique of labor that’s each intimate and expansive, rooted in her Haitian American heritage and alive to the broader conversations of our time.
