I am an American-born Dominican artist based in Switzerland. Drawing on evolutionary biology, deep time, microbiology, and Taíno, Greek, and Afro-diasporic mythologies, my practice explores the porous boundaries between human and nonhuman, self and other, and individual and collective. I envision forms of humanity grounded in our biological and ecological entanglement, while questioning the hierarchical categories of race and gender through which difference has historically been constructed. My work resists the notion of separation—between humanity and the natural world, and between those historically othered by ideologies of extraction.
I hold an Associate Degree in Fine Arts from Chavón in La Romana, Dominican Republic, a Bachelor of Science from the City University of New York - Hunter College, and a Master in Fine Arts from the California College of the Arts.
I participated in the closing of the 2024 Venice Biennale with my performance "Desblanqueamiento at the San Trovaso River. My public art projects have been shown as part of “Sculpture in the City” in London (2021), “Tableau Zurich” (2023) and “Twingi Land Art” in Valais (2024), among others. My exhibition participations include the Nairobi National Gallery (2026), Centro Leon in Santiago (2026), the Recovery Plan in Florence (2025), Cultural Center of Spain in Santo Domingo (2025), VFO Zürich (2024), Helmhaus Zurich (2024), the CICA Museum in Seoul (2021), the Berkeley Art Center (2021), the Kamene Art Center in Nairobi (2024) and the Aargauer Kunsthaus (2023 and 2021).
My work was awarded the Dorothy & George Saxe Scholarship (2012 and 2014), the Kunstatelier-Stipendium of the City of Dübendorf, the LOCUS Micro-Grant (2021), and the Prix Couleurs (2026).
Laura Arminda Kingsley de los Santos
Photo Credit: Juliette Fong
Education
2014 Master of Fine Arts, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, US
2012 Bachelor of Science, CUNY B.A - Hunter College, New York, US
2004 Associate Degree in Fine Arts, Chavón, La Romana, DR
Recognitions and Awards
2026 Prix Couleurs
2021 Art Studio Award of the City of Dübendorf
2021 LOCUS Mikro-Grant
2014 California College of the Arts Graduate Merit Scholarship
2014 Dorothy & George Saxe Fund Scholarship
2012 Hunter College Class of 1938 Scholarship
Collections
Die Mobiliar Art Collection
Baloise Art Collection
Swiss Re Art Collection
Zürcher Kantonal Bank Art Collection
Art Collection Kanton Zürich
Graphic collection of the Swiss National Library
Kunsthaus Grenchen Art Collection
Residencies
2026 Emily Harvey Foundation, Venice, IT (Upcoming)
2025 Murate Art District, Florence, IT
2024 PICMOL 245 Art Residence, Brussels, BE
2024 Kamene Art Residence, Nairobi, KE
2004 Julio Valdez Studio Printmaking Art Residence, New York, US
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025 Between 'Facelessness' and 'Facefullness', The Recovery Plan, Florence, IT
2025 Recuerda: Eres solo diminutos fragmentos de existencia, Cultural Center of Spain, Santo Domingo, DR
2024 Mother Water: Maladamatjaute was a Woman, PICMOL, Brussels, BE
2024 Transient Formations, Coin Coin, Zürich, CH
2024 Becoming Thoughts, Dreams and Landscape, Kamene Art Residence, Nairobi, KE
2022 Murmurs of the Deep, Obere Mühle, Dübendorf, CH
Public Art Projects
2024 Twingi Land Art Twingischlucht, Binn, CH
2023 Remember; You are but tiny bits of existence Tableau Zurich, CH
2021 Sculpture in the City, The Leadenhall Building, London, ENG
Performances
2024 Desblanqueamiento at San Trovaso River, Passengers in Transit, Official Collateral Exhibition at the Venice Biennale, Gallery 193, Venice, IT
2024 See Me Through You, Forum Schlossplatz, Aarau,CH
2023 Where We Come From, ECK, Aarau,CH
2023 Wo Wir Herkommen, Künstlerhaus S11, Solothurn, CH
2013 The Procession of Future Artifacts, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, US
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 Chamanes y Robots, La Embajada Gallery, San Juan, PR
2026 Faces and Masks, Nairobi Gallery, Nairobi, KE
2026 Afrocaribbean Stories, Gallery Brulhart, Geneva, CH
2026 Bodies, PICMOL, Brussels, BE2024 Beyong Imagery, Edition VFO, Zürich, CH
2024 Inward Journeys, Wetsi Gallery, Brussels, BE
2024 IMAMOU, University of Zürich, Zürich, CH
2024-26 Cuerpo e Identidad, NYLATT, Governors Island NY, IDB Staff Association Art Gallery,
Washington D.C. US, Centro Cultural Banreservas, Santo Domingo, DR
2024 (W)Here Now, Galerie Durchgang, Basel, CH
2024 Weg, Helmhaus, Zürich, CH
2023 Stranger in the Village, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, CH
2023 We Are Still Here, Westhive, Basel, CH
2022 The Great Wave, Santa Clara University, California, US
2021 Shared Spaces in Change, Kornhausforum, Bern, CH
2021 Art as Connection, Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, CH
2021 Suspended Matter, Berkeley Art Center, California, US
2021 Kunst im GZ, GZ Roos, Regensdorf, CH
2021 22nd Triennale Grenchen, Grenchen, Solothurn and Evilard, CH
2021 The 7th International Exhibition on New Media Art, CICA Museum, Seoul, KR
2021 Parcours Culturel 8, Dispo Halle, Biel, CH
2021 LOCUS VI, LOCUS Gallery Chicago, US
2020 ARTBOX. PROJECT ZÜRICH 2.0, Zurich, CH
2014 elit-tile Museum of Modern Art Santo Domingo, DR
2014 Activating Site, Heron Arts, San Francisco, US
2013 When the Past is Present, The Nave, San Francisco, US
2013 Ancestral Artifacts, Luggage Store Annex, San Francisco, US
2013 Textualized, The Atrium, San Francisco, US
2012 Point of No Return, Southern Exposure, San Francisco,US
2004-08 Silk Aquatint: Painterly Graphics, Traveling Exhibition US and PR
Selected Publications
2023 Stranger in the Village, Exhibition Catalogue Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, CH
2023 Momentary Configurations: Reflections on Recent Works by Laura Arminda Kingsley, by Jaimie Baron, Essay/Images.
Afterimage University of California Press 50, pages18–26.
2023 We need to ask uncomfortable questions, by Michael Hunziker, Interview/Images, Aargauer Kulturmagazin, August, Aarau, CH
2023 Murmurs of the Deep, by Rachel TonThat, Interview/Images, Intervenxions,The Latinx Project, New York University,18. April, US
2022 Shared Spaces in Change Exhibition Catalogue, Kornhausforum Bern, CH
2021 Art as Connection Exhibition Catalogue , Aargauer Kunsthaus, Aarau, CH
2021 Berkeley Art Center show asks what it means to be suspended in space and time, by Jaimie Baron, Berkeleyside, 5. December, Article/Image, Berkeley, US
2021 Contradictory things on a common plane, by Philipp Gämperli, Zürcher Oberländer, Cover and page 5 Article/Images, CH
2021 Time Out London, ‘Sculpture in the City’ returns for its tenth year By Chris Waywell, 7. May, Article/Image, London, UK
2021 Womanifesto Magazine Issue 4 March 25, Pages 39 and 40, Image and Poem Chicago, US
2021 Teile/Denkbilder Magazine #47 January, Page 67, Image, Zürich, CH
2020 Let’s Get creative/Meet the Artist L.A. Kingsley Video-Interview and Workshop. California, von the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose, Published on 10.12.2020, California, US
2020 Museum Musings_Virtual Studio Visits, by Lauren R. O‘Connell, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art Blog. Article/Image, Arizona, US
2012 Southern Exposure debuts “Point of No Return”, by Adam L. Brinklow, San Francisco Informer, San Francisco, US
2006 Silk aquatint: on the borderline of painting and printmaking by Julio Valdez, Artes Magazine Grafica Contemporanea No. 20, Year 6, July - September Pages 60 to 67, Image and Article, US
Selected Work Experience
2024-30 Member of the City of Zurich Commission for Art in Public Spaces, Zurich, CH
2024 Guest Juror City of Zurich Work and International Studio Grants, Zurich, CH
2023-26 Lecturer, F+F School of Art and Design, Zürich, CH
2023 Guest Speaker for the Annual Congress International Council of Museums, Bellinzona, CH
2021-24 Art Educator Aargauer Kunsthaus Aarau, CH