My textile paintings are centered around gradient linocuts of native plants and the natural terrain of my birthplace in the Caribbean sea and of my adopted home in the American South. I use various methods like stain painting and dyeing canvas, hand embroidering cutouts of printed linocut images, to portray the rich biodiversity of plants endemic to Puerto Rico and Tennessee. As an artist living in the diaspora - I represent ideas of transition, environmental impacts and impose healing through bursts of deep colors, vibrant organic forms, and stylized landscapes. I bring these themes into my work, making my home island important to discuss.
Yanira Vissepó creates vibrant compositions that bridge the landscapes and flora of her birthplace in Puerto Rico and her adopted home in the American South. She blends dreamy, color-soaked washes with crisp, cut-out depictions of plants in a dynamic interplay of minimal and immersive elements that delicately balance defined and undefined forms. Deeply informed by her experience living in the Puerto Rican diaspora, her work addresses themes of identity, transition, and environmental histories. Her techniques, such as stain painting, linocut printmaking, cyanotype, dye resists, and hand embroidery, emphasize the resilience and fragility of the natural world. The plants she portrays—native to Puerto Rico and Tennessee—serve as symbols of healing and connection, weaving ecological and cultural ties between her two homes.
In 2019, Vissepó studied printmaking at the Kyoto International Mokuhanga School, where soft gradients and refined forms became central to her practice. She has held residencies at Black Mountain College Museum, Coop Gallery, Nashville; the Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory, Echizen, Japan; and the Nashville Public Library. Vissepó has also worked as a teaching artist at the Frist Art Museum, Nashville, and the Nashville Public Library. Her work is included in collections such as those of the Metro Arts Lending Library, Nashville; Soho House Nashville; and the Vanderbilt Museum of Art, Nashville. Vissepó’s solo exhibitions include shows at Ziebersmith, Nashville, TN; Lyndon House Arts Center, Athens, GA; Elephant Gallery, Nashville; and Sheet Cake Gallery, Memphis; and she has participated in group exhibitions at venues such as 21c Museum Hotel, Nashville, and the Vanderbilt Museum of Art and Frist Art Museum.
