Draft:Monica Hernández

Monica Hernández was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to the Bronx, New York, with her family at age six.{{cite news |title=Artist Mónica Hernández on Her Art, Upbringing, and Exploring Taboos in Latinx Communities |last1=Ventura |first1=Kiara |url=https://www.teenvogue.com/story/monica-hernandez-artist |archive-url=https://archive.ph/RTPwf |archive-date=May 29, 2025 |work=Teen Vogue |date=November 29, 2018 |access-date=May 28, 2025}} Her mother worked in an office, and her father worked in a factory. She grew up learning English with her family and lived in a one-bedroom apartment with her parents and two siblings. These experiences influenced her interest in the concept of space in her paintings.

During high school, Hernández attended a science school after being discouraged from applying to an art school. She experienced depression and feelings of guilt related to her liberal attitudes toward art, religion, her body, and sexuality, which conflicted with her traditional Dominican upbringing.

Hernández participated in the group exhibition "For Us," at BronxArtSpace. The exhibition featured eight female artists of color under the age of thirty and took place in 2017. In this exhibition, her painting titled "scene 6" (2017) was noted as the largest and most prominent work. The painting is a six-by-eight-foot diptych that depicts an interior scene with three women engaging in everyday activities: one eating spaghetti at a table, another cutting her hair in bed, and a third watching a cooking show on television. The composition uses vivid colors, evocative details, and multiple perspectives.{{cite news |title="For Us" |last1=Churner |first1=Rachel |url=https://www.artforum.com/events/for-us-240389/ |archive-url=https://archive.ph/AaAks |archive-date=May 29, 2025 |work=ArtForum |access-date=May 28, 2025}}

She graduated from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in December 2017. Hernández is known for creating large oil-on-canvas works that depict unadorned figures, often representing herself or women she knows, as well as "brown men and women" in everyday activities. She has stated that she wants her art to be vulnerable and open. In September 2018, she left her job as a barista to focus on painting and modeling. In an episode of "How to Behave," released by VICE Media in 2018, host Barbie Ferreira interviewed Hernández on body hair removal and body positivity.{{cite news |title=What Nudists Taught Me About Body Positivity |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/how-to-be-body-positive-naked/ |archive-url=https://archive.ph/NwK7R |archive-date=September 26, 2024 |work=VICE News |date=October 19, 2018 |access-date=May 28, 2025}}

Hernández had her work "Tangled" included in the Young Talent Exhibition at the Affordable Art Fair at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City, which ran through March 31, 2019. On March 31, 2019, Hernandez had a public conversation at the fair with Drew Beattie, a painter and lecturer at Hunter College, about her experiences as an emerging painter in New York.{{cite news |title=19 Art Exhibitions to View in N.Y.C. This Weekend |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/arts/design/nyc-this-weekend-art-and-museums.html |archive-url=https://archive.ph/n39ts |archive-date=January 18, 2025 |work=The New York Times |date=March 28, 2019 |access-date=May 28, 2025}} In Summer 2019, she moved out of her parents’ home and into an apartment with a roommate. This same year, she indicated a willingness to experiment more in her work and expressed increased confidence in her artistic voice.{{cite news |title=Monica Hernandez Uses Social Media to Expand the Female Gaze |last1=Karp-Evans |first1=Elizabeth |url=https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2018/11/29/monica-hernandez |archive-url=https://archive.ph/jlwlJ |archive-date=November 29, 2018 |work=Cultured Magazine |date=November 29, 2018 |access-date=May 28, 2025}} At age 23, Hernández had collaborated with brands such as Bally and VSCO, participated in an artist residency, and exhibited her work at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts.

Hernández's work focuses on subjects such as sex, religion, body hair, menstruation, acne, and innocence, often depicting women of color in domestic spaces, usually nude. She explores themes related to taboos and the representation of women of color, challenging traditional art historical canons. Her artistic practice includes painting, clothing, and self-portrait photography. She also maintains an active presence on social media, using long captions and self-portraits as part of her artistic expression.

Hernández was named Number 12 on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2022.{{cite news |title=Forbes 30 Under 30 2022 - Art & Style |last1=Sternlicht |first1=Alexandra |url=https://www.forbes.com/pictures/61a6674fc9fb30bf6703d8c8/monica-hernndez-26-artist/ |archive-url=https://archive.ph/lYLzD |archive-date=May 29, 2025 |work=Forbes |date=November 30, 2021 |access-date=May 28, 2025}}

Hernández's work was featured alongside Tiffany Alfonseca in the exhibition "Found in Translation" at Library Street Collective in Detroit. The exhibition opened on September 23, 2023, and was on view through November 8, 2023. Hernandez’s paintings in this show explored themes related to Dominican heritage, identity, and the history of female representation, particularly within the context of the Dominican diaspora and Black and Afro-Latinx communities. Her style, as shown at this exhibition, involved the fragmentation and isolation of bodily forms, offering a Surrealist approach to questions of personhood and social environment.{{cite news |title=Spotlight: Two Rising Artists Offer Unique Visions of the Dominican Diasporic Experience In a New Detroit Exhibition |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/spotlight-library-street-collective-tiffany-alfonseca-monica-hernandez-2364743 |archive-url=https://archive.ph/ZX90x |archive-date=May 29, 2025 |work=ArtNet |date=September 20, 2023 |access-date=May 28, 2025}}{{cite news |title=List: 2023 Hispanic Heritage Month events in metro Detroit |url=https://www.wxyz.com/news/list-2023-hispanic-heritage-month-events-in-metro-detroit |archive-url=https://archive.ph/IjRGb |archive-date=May 29, 2025 |work=ABC News |date=September 30, 2023 |access-date=May 28, 2025}}

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