Michelle Repiso

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Northern Virginia, I graduated from the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, D.C. with a BFA in Photography (2000) where I received a Dean’s Merit Scholarship and a Senior Photography Faculty Award for my thesis work in 16mm film.

In 2005 I was the chief staff photographer at The Washington Post Express and this allowed me the opportunity to cover a range of diverse assignments in the studio and on location. In 2007 I relocated to New York to pursue a career in photography and I have worked with various commercial clients as a portrait, documentary, and still life photographer. 

Teaching became an interest in my art and photography practice and in 2016 I developed Create & Connect. My program is designed to provide incarcerated men, women, and late adolescents with a creative process of hands-on art projects to maintain communication with loved ones. Regardless of their skill level, participants express ideas and productively engage with one another at Rikers Island and juvenile detention centers.

In 2020 I was awarded a Creative Engagement Grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council to exhibit Basic Necessities, a documentary project that features creativity and communication in an unlikely place. With the additional support of an Emergency Grant from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts in 2021, I was able to produce the exhibition outdoors for an alternative viewing experience.

I am a certified M/WBE business based in New York City and I am an adjunct faculty member with the International Center of Photography (ICP), Teen Academy, and with The Pablove Foundation. I work in both analog and digital formats while actively exhibiting work and collaborating with other artists.