José Morbán (Dominican Republic) is an artist whose practice draws on archives, found photographs, documents, and other memorabilia from the place now called the Dominican Republic. Using these materials as points of departure, his work explores personal and collective histories, creating fictional narratives as a means of revising shared memory and reconsidering the figures who shape it. Recurring themes include political power, its physical manifestations, and the instrumentalisation of media for political gain.
During his residency, Morbán will investigate the presence of pirates and privateers in the Caribbean during the colonial period and their impact on Spanish and French colonies. His research will explore how histories of maritime activity, territorial control, and extraction connect to contemporary practices of resource exploitation, while examining the strategic significance of the Caribbean and its sea routes within broader histories of colonial power and commerce.
Recent exhibitions include Elsewhere, Somehow at Parri Blank, Stuttgart, Germany (2026); Bienal Nacional de Artes Visuales at the Museo de Arte Moderno, Santo Domingo (2025); Orgullo Nacional at Centro Cultural de España, Santo Domingo (2024); Sunlight on the Seafloor at MAC Puerto Rico (2024); and Tropical is Political: Caribbean Art Under the Visitor Economy Regime at Americas Society, New York (2022).
His recent publications include Forgotten Lands #5 (2023); “One Month After Being Known in That Island,” in Caribbean Art Today (2020); and ONTO #0 (2015).
Morbán holds an AAS from Chavón La Escuela de Diseño (2008).
Morbán was born in the Dominican Republic and is currently based there.
With support from:
Jorge M. Pérez Collection and El Espacio 23
Artist’s website
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Please note all artist-in-residence biographies are accurate at the time of their residency. For up-to-date bios please visit the artist’s website.