Through sculpture, sound performance, expanded cinema, and site-specific installation, Jesús Hilario-Reyes’s work questions the place, often denied, of the Black body within systems of representation. Drawing inspiration from queer rave culture and Western carnivals, he mobilizes cross-dressing, spectacle, and satire to blur norms of perception and highlight forms of resistance. Hilario-Reyes explores the thresholds between light and darkness, and between materiality and abstraction, to imagine spaces of escape, transformation, and belonging.

At the heart of Hilario-Reyes’s approach is the concept of destierro, a Spanish term that evokes the idea of being “torn from the earth”. This notion underpins his exploration of themes of exile, wandering, and shifting identity. His constantly evolving practice moves from digital work to improvised performance, and from metalwork to ephemeral installations, embracing a free and intuitive approach to materials and forms.

Jesús Hilario-Reyes (born in San Juan, Puerto Rico) holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from Yale University. He has exhibited, performed, and screened work at venues including: Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; The Studio Museum, Harlem, NY (2026); Fonderie Darling, Montreal, Canada (2026); Company Gallery, New York, NY (2026); Hauser & Wirth, New York, NY (2026); the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, NY (2026); PES Futures, New York, NY (2025); Silke Lindner, New York, NY (2025); BOFFO Performance Festival, Fire Island, NY (2024); Frieze, London, UK (2023); e-flux, New York, NY (2023); Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY (2023); Black Star Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA (2023); The Kitchen, New York, NY (2022); the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago, IL (2022); documenta fifteen, Kassel, Germany (2022); Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT (2022); Rudimento, Quito, Ecuador (2022); Parasol Unit, London, UK (2022); and Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL (2016). Hilario-Reyes has also received numerous awards, fellowships, and residencies including: the Drawing a Blank Artist Grant, the Leslie Lohman Museum Fellowship, the Lighthouse Works Fellowship, and the Bemis Center residency. Jesús Hilario-Reyes lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.