Aya Rodriguez-Izumi

I create scenarios to explore ritual retention and cross-cultural identity through histories that risk erasure. My work is rooted in ancestral histories from Okinawan and Afro-Atlantic diaspora. From these origins, I expand with a transnational and interdisciplinary approach to investigate hybrid experiences of occupation and migration and their impacts on rituals and cross-cultural identity. As an artist and educator who’s practice intersects multi-sensory art, narrative history and community engagement, I amplify stories that need visibility while inviting viewers to interact, relate and contribute.