Grant Recipients Ellsworth Kelly Award Visual Arts 2025

Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego: Yhuri Cruz exhibition

A portrait of Yhuri Cruz wearing a black t-shirt and standing with his arms crossed behind his back. He stands in front of a vibrant blue wall, upon which a layered, geometric wall sculpture comprised of circle and oval forms hangs. The portrait is framed by a soft mauve square. At the top it reads "Foundation for Contemporary Arts" and at the bottom it reads "Yhuri Cruz, Institute for Contemporary Art, San Diego, 2025 Ellsworth Kelly Award".
Photo by Levi Fanan.
  • 2025 Ellsworth Kelly Award
  • Visual Arts
  • Yhuri Cruz
  • ICA San Diego
  • September 2026 – January 2027
  • San Diego, CA

Artist Biography

Yhuri Cruz, born in Olaria, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1991), is a visual artist, writer and playwright whose practice intertwines literature and action through collective, performative and installation-based propositions—a series of works the artist calls Cenas Pretofágicas (Emancipation Plays). Informed by both research and imagination, Cruz’s work is driven by his interest in issues such as decolonial and colonial power dynamics, historical fictions, archive fabulations, institutional criticism, and Black emancipatory fantasy.

 Cruz received a degree in Political Science from Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO) and a postgraduate degree in Cultural Journalism from Universidade do Estado de Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Cruz has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Pinacoteca de Sâo Paulo (2025) and Museu de Arte do Rio, Brazil (2023); and has been included in recent exhibitions at Les Rencontres de Photographie d’Arles (2025); Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (2024); Bienal de La Habana (2024); the Geneva-based artist-run space One gee in fog, Switzerland (2023); Museu de Arte de São Paulo, Brazil (2022); Inhotim Institute, Brazil (2022); Maus Hábitos, Portugal (2019); and the 10th International Biennial of Bolívia (2018).

About the Exhibition

In fall of 2026, the Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego (ICA San Diego) will present the first international solo exhibition of the work of Yhuri Cruz. Supported by the 2025 Ellsworth Kelly Award, this exhibition will be developed in close collaboration with Jordan Carney Chaim, ICA San Diego’s Senior Curator.

For this ambitious presentation, ICA San Diego has commissioned Cruz to create Revenguê: The Penal Chapter, the third chapter in his Revenguê space opera. The exhibition will present an installation that will transform ICA San Diego’s Balboa Park gallery and be activated by performances conceived by the artist. Revenguê: The Penal Chapter continues Cruz's investigation of archival fabulation in relation to Afro-diasporic storytelling and reflects on the persistence of colonial structures. The Penal Chapter introduces the villainous Penal Empire into Cruz’s cosmos. This force, which manifests as a mass of pages of the American penal code, envelopes planets in paper and drains them of life, replacing vitality with a sanitized, whitewashed version of historical events. The exhibition will evolve during the presentation, with each performance generating new works that will be absorbed into the installation—inviting viewers to experience the gallery as both a site of testimony and a platform for transformation.

The Institute of Contemporary Arts, San Diego (ICA San Diego) is a living laboratory for expanding the transformational power of contemporary art to build vibrant communities. Founded in 2021 from the merger of Lux Art Institute (1998) and the San Diego Art Institute (1941), ICA San Diego presents exhibitions and programs that spark curiosity, open doors for new connections, and connect the dots between art and everyday lives. ICA San Diego’s programs are designed to unite its community while fostering a thriving art ecosystem in San Diego. Through five annual exhibitions across two campuses, local and internationally recognized artists at all stages of their career participate in a dialogue on current pressing issues.

A gallery space containing an installation of works by Yhuri Cruz. The walls are painted black and are illuminated by dramatic purple lighting. There are several artworks throughout the space, including some framed drawings of abstract, otherworldly forms rendered in muted colors. The entire floor is covered in crimson red carpeting and in the center of the space there is a ramp that leads up to a circular stage. In the middle of the stage, several sculptures of individual feet reach rest on pedestals that emerge from the floor. Throughout the space are several large red support columns extending upwards to the ceiling.

Installation View, Revenguê: an exhibition-play, Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2023. Photo by Marcos Reis.

A group of performers are dressed in stretchy purple fabric garments that are wrapped around their bodies. They are each standing positioned in different poses with their arms and legs outstretched, resulting in geometric shapes emerging from the fabric. They stand atop a red stage and there are a couple figures seated on the floor directly behind them. The space is dimly lit and the performers are illuminated by a soft spotlight, conveying a theatrical scene.

Performance still, Revenguê: an exhibition-play, Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2023. Photo by Marcos Reis.

A performer dressed in a black suit sits in the foreground playing a grand piano with their back turned to the camera. Four additional performers are positioned across the room, with two standing atop white plinths and two on the floor. They are all dressed in matching sleeveless purple garments and have one arm raised towards the center of the room mid performance. The walls are painted in deep blue and there are abstract artworks hanging on the walls. Red carpeting covers the floor and a round, red platform is visible in the center of the image. At the back of the room there are two groups of spectators seated, watching the performance.

Performance still, Revenguê: the installation-play presented as part of Once upon a time: visions of heaven and earth, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, 2025. Photo by Levi Fanan.

Two performers stand in the foreground facing the camera with their arms outstretched in the air. Both are clad in crimson red tunics and matching red headdresses with the fabric extending outwards from their heads towards the ceiling. The lighting in the scene is dramatic, with performers illuminated and the tops of their headdresses are covered in heavy shadow. The background is a deep red and suspended between them is a large geometric sculpture. The shadows from the performers’ positions are visible on the back wall.

Performance still, The Red Orbit, Domo Damo, São Paulo, Brazil, 2023. Work commissioned by Domo Damo. Photo by Tayna Uraz.

In an ornately furnished room with a red curtain in the background, there are five performers in black suits. Two sit behind a wooden desk that holds office supplies and an African mask. One of the performers at the desk wears a white cloth wrapped around their head with a face printed on the front. Behind them stand three other performers, two of whom wear similar clothes and one of whom is wearing the same cloth mask. Behind the performers in the center of the composition sits a circular reflector panel with a camera on a tripod positioned in front of it. To the left of the scene is a clothing rack filled with white t-shirts and to the right a wooden table with plants.

Performance still, Negrotiation #3 - My tongue lies in your mouth and I want it back presented as part of Da Kutanda ao Quitandinha – 80 anos, Centro Cultural Sesc Quitandinha, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2024. Photo by Landau / Thomas Mendel.

In a theater, five performers dressed in black suits stand on a stage. At the center, two people are seated behind a desk while another stands between them. Behind this scene, a large screen displays a close up image of a person wearing a white t-shirt and necklace with their tongue sticking out. To the left, a performer individual stands in front of a clothing rack of white t-shirts and to the right, a performer stands in front of a circular reflector panel. There are two bright spotlights shining down on the performers, adding an element of drama to the scene. The audience is visible in the foreground.

Performance still, Negrotiation #4 - My tongue lies in your mouth and I want it back, Pinacoteca do Ceará, Ceará, Brazil, 2024. Photo by Marília Camelo.