Irene Villaseñor
EmergeNYC Flagship (2025)
Irene Villaseñor (she/her) explores bi-societal experiences, Indigeneity, injustice, care, and community-building. Her writing has appeared in Queer Nature: An Ecoqueer Poetry Anthology, Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color, Nat. Brut, The Yellow Medicine Review, and elsewhere. Her poetry manuscript, Get Lost Colonizer: Erasures from the Future, was a runner-up for The Center for Book Arts’ 2024 Annual Chapbook Contest.
In addition to her literary work, Irene has co-produced award-winning documentaries commissioned by the Brooklyn Museum and New Museum of Contemporary Art. She has presented and performed at the Whitney Biennial, Museum of the City of New York, Smack Mellon Gallery, the New Museum, and PARTICIPANT INC. Her work has received support from the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Lambda Literary, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Santa Fe Art Institute, and New York Foundation for the Arts.
Beyond her creative practice, Irene serves as an advisor to National Museums Northern Ireland and is a member of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Advisory Committee on Cultural Engagement. She is also a recent appointee to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ New York State Advisory Committee.