​Diógenes Abréu

Diógenes Abréu was born in Miches, Dominican Republic in 1959. He has resided in New York since 1983. He studied art in the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo, the State University of New York (SUNY), and got an MFA from City College. In addition to being an artist, Abréu is also a writer and photographer. His poetry publications include Poems for the Living, 1983 and For Women Without Make-Up, 1985.His artwork has been exhibited in national as well as international galleries and museums, like the Museum of Modern Art in the Dominican Republic, The New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York, the Queens Museum of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Tokyo, Japan. Abréu also worked in theater for more than eight years in his native country and in New York City. In 1998 he won the first prize in the V Short Stories Contest organized by Radio Santa María in the República Dominicana. He was a founding member of Palabra: Expresión Cultural (PEC), a writers’ group dedicated to the development and promotion of Dominican culture in the US. In 2004 he published his book Perejil, El Ocaso de la “Hispanidad” Dominicana, a book about Dominican culture and identity viewed from the perspective of the Dominican immigration experience. In 2005, he publisher A Pesar Del Naufragio, a book about domestic violence that includes the testimonies of two Dominican women from Washington Heights. His more recent books include: Engañifas, Discurso y Práctica Social, a critical analysis of the intellectual discourse and social actions of several prominent Dominican personalities, published in 2007. In 2013, he won again won the same prize with his book of essays Sin Haitianidad No Hay Dominicanidad.