Stephanie Alvarado (they/she) is a queer gender nonbinary disabled femme antidisciplinary artist, poet, archivist, photographer, facilitator and cultural organizer for 20 years. Stephanie was born and raised in the Bronx, NY by way of Guayaquil, Ecuador. They alchemize photography, feminist performance, community based photo archiving, and political education into community building and social justice practices in public spaces for queer, trans, and people of color through their artist project, Fotos y Recuerdos. Fotos y Recuerdos is rooted in love, spiritual community healing, social justice, and local memory and hosts intergenerational photo archiving teach-ins on public park land and community gardens to reclaim public space as cultural reparations for queer, trans, Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.
Stephanie has held artist residencies and fellowships at Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center, The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Witness for Peace, and The Laundromat Project. They’ve had poetry readings at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Pregones Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, and Kelly Street Garden. They have facilitated staff retreats for the NYC Network of Worker Cooperatives, been an adjunct professor at Hunter College School of Social Work, and have facilitated disability justice and arts workshops for Photoville, The Creative Center, and BRIC. Since 2015, Stephanie has served as the founding archival team member for Kathleen Cleaver’s Papers and Family Photo Archive, acquired by Emory University in 2020. They currently serve on the Board of Directors for The Literary Freedom Project as Finance Chair. They are a SU-CASA Resident Artist at Big Six Towers NORC Program in Woodside, Queens and Artist in Residence with Korea Art Forum.
Stephanie loves to laugh really loud, is a deep lover of music and dance, loves to eat and cook, and spends their time caring for their Abuelita in Brooklyn. When they are not with their Abuelita, they are co-parenting their kitten Umi with their partner Liv, being a Titi, and taking care of their plants while imagining a world where their people are free.