Bronx native Katherine Vasquez  is a classically trained painter whose paintings resemble glitches in reality. The layers in her work reveal messages of social injustice and serve as a deep representation of her roots. While studying at the Art Students League of New York and Lehman College she focused on a foundation in still life’s and portraits, but explored many different styles. Since then her art as evolved into a resonating mouthpiece for her community. Her area of expertise is oil paint, which she has used to create portraits, in her continuing series Portraits in the Hood, which are a scope of life as a Dominican living in New York. Katherine once quoted,” I don’t feel welcomed in galleries as a middle class woman of color. I remember walking into galleries and becoming the piece of interest for being a casually dressed Latina in an upscale exhibition, I want to change that, and I will through my art.” Her ultimate goal is to uplift her community through her art and give them a platform where the are equally represented.