Darice Polo

Darice Polo is currently editing the independent film Brújula. Through the voice of her grandfather, she recounts the birth of U.S. colonialism in Puerto Rico and the subsequent emigration of her ancestors to New York. She is the recipient of a Creative Workforce Fellowship and Puffin Foundation Grant in support of her film work. In March 2020 her work was reviewed in American Quarterly, a journal published by Johns Hopkins University. The article Midterm Evaluation, Swing State Aesthetics by Harrod Suarez discusses the exhibition Ohio Artists for Freedom, her filmed interview with artist Pedro Vélez and her Seeds of Colonialism print series. In November 2023, her film Nature Boy was screened at the International Puerto Rican Heritage Film Festival at the Museum of the City of New York.
Born in New York City, Polo received an MFA in drawing and painting from SUNY, Albany and a BFA in Media Arts from the School of Visual Arts. She lives and works in Cleveland and is an Associate Professor in the School of Art at Kent State University.

Residency/Fellowship

Equal Justice 2017/2018

Website

daricepolo.com

Location

Cleveland, OH USA

STRUGGLES & HOPES/ ALUMNI STATEMENT

John Lewis’s statement, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America,” was exemplified by the image of his final journey over the Edmund Pettus bridge in a horse drawn caisson. Through his death his message is clear to us, be strong amid the use of excessive force against peaceful assembly. As I examine, in my work, the origins of colonialism while opposing its current manifestation, the confluence of past and present histories of enduring injustice emerge as its construct. We must collectively unearth our past to remove symbols of oppression, end systemic racism, restructure a democracy that serves and protects all its people, and push back against the global forces of neoliberalism. We have the power. – Darice Polo 

SFAI140 Video Presentation

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