Shey Rivera Ríos

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I create digital and physical ‘altars’ that interrupt colonial structures and create space for collective imagination and ancestral reconnection. My work spans across mediums and formats: annotated photography, ritual, installation, performance, and video. I play with themes of magic, belonging, ecology, and cultural lineage; interweaving histories of place, magical realism, and science fiction. I am guided by my lived experience of being born and raised in rural Borikén (Puerto Rico) and having migrated to New England in 2010, where I’ve rooted and built home and community. I engage with creative practice as a form of repair and cultural grounding that can inspire liberatory forms of civic imagination and a sense of joy and belonging for those of us who have had to leave our homelands. This has become my way of challenging systemic oppression and creating spaces for queer joy, imagination, and self-determination.

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Shey 'Rí Acu' Rivera Ríos (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist, cultural worker, and founder of Studio Loba, a performance and storytelling lab for liberatory futures. Rivera counts on 15 years of experience in the nonprofit arts sector, intersecting creative practice with urban planning and community development. Past leadership roles include: Co-Director/Artistic Director of AS220, a renowned arts organization in Providence, RI; and Director of Inclusive Regional Development at MIT CoLab, at MIT Dept of Urban Studies and Planning. Rivera is alum of the Global Arts and Cultures MA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and continues a thriving trajectory of work in the arts, community development, and climate justice. Rivera was born and raised in Borikén/Puerto Rico and is based in Providence, RI -land of Narragansett and Wampanoag peoples.