Work samples
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Big Bang Baby - Installation at Howard Community College (2026)Big Bang Baby is rooted in the Afro-Dominican and Native Taíno spiritual traditions that the artist encountered through her grandmother’s Santería practice and personal cultural research. Working through light, color, and a process of controlled chaos, LUSMERLIN creates divine feminine figures inspired by Taíno Zemi belief systems: figures that act as intermediaries, creators, and carriers of spiritual force.
Rather than illustrating mythology, the work invents new fantastic women shaped by inheritance, memory, and lived belief. These figures emerge from the artist’s own body and lineage, blending spiritual knowledge passed down through domestic ritual with a lifelong engagement with science and cosmology. Through seven large and monumental works, Big Bang Baby asks not what divinity is in the abstract, but how creation, belief, and cosmic origin are carried, embodied, and reimagined across generations.Available for Purchase -
Consecration of StardustConsecration of Stardust
Pastel and Acrylic on Wood
2025
48 × 36 in
I creates divine feminine figures inspired by Dominican Native and Afro Beliefs. This one is a Taíno Zemi - a spirit manifested to me. This divine creature asks: What does it mean to be stardust? Can divinity be claimed, and not bestowed? This piece reimagines sacred ritual on a cosmic scale, a play between planes, body and energy.Available for Purchase -
Anointment of the AncestorsPastel and Acrylic on Canvas
2026
90 × 70 in
Women are central to healing. The healing symbols are drawn from my family’s spiritual backgrounds: my grandmother’s Santería, Taíno indigenous healing practices, and Christianity of my Lebanese ancestors. I reflect on the place in the universe for multiple beliefs and types of knowledge.Available for Purchase -
The Uncatchable Ciguapa
2024 - Installation - 30ftx15ftx7ft. Step into the mythical world of La Ciguapa, an elusive figure from the folklore of La Hispaniola (present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti. La Ciguapa is believed to dwell in the woods and rivers of La Hispaniola. Known for her long, flowing hair and backward feet that make her impossible to track, folklore holds that she can only be captured during a full moon, but if held in captivity, she perishes.
About LUSMERLIN
LUSMERLIN traces her lineage generations to one of the founding fathers of the Dominican Republic, to the Roman era Levant of 200 AD, to Native Tainos in the ceramic era of 800 BC, and, most influential in her upbringing, strong African heritage in her town of Villa Mella. LUSMERLIN is a nationally exhibiting artist working between Greater Baltimore and Philadelphia. She is a 2024 Mural Arts Philadelphia Fellow and a 2025 Janet & Walter Sondheim Semifinalist, and recently completed a… more
Big Bang Baby (2026)
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Entrance -
Image 2 -
View of the inner wall -
View of the end of the gallery -
View of the back wallAvailable for Purchase -
View of the long curved wallAvailable for Purchase -
View before exiting
Sondheim Semifinalist Exhibition at The Peale Museum (2025)
The Uncatchable Ciguapa (2024)
Select pieces from the "Imprint" Body of Work (2019-2025)
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Intuism 031 (I moved across the ocean)2024. Pastel, acrylic on canvas. 30x40in. The background of this piece is from a dance painting performance in Union Square, San Francisco. The upper layers are added layer in the studio. Migrating out of an island can feel like eventually drowning.
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I Miss HurricanesAvailable for Purchase -
Tea Time Stories2022-Pastel, ink on paper-18x18inThe fluidity of ink plays with the blocky-ness of pastel. There is a special type of communication between girlfriends achieved by “vibing”, not just talking. This piece is about that ambiance of close relationships.
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Imprint 021 (The Congo Congregation)2024-Pastel on paper-18x24in. My hometown carries one of the oldest Santería music traditions in the island, so drums (Congos) are part of my definition of home.
Available for Purchase -
IMPRINT 014 (The ochre mines of Rousillon)2024. Pastel on paper-18x24. Rousillon, in south France, has ochre mines - like those referenced by Cezanne. This is my Caribbean take on that place: a color burst, and dancing lines. The difference in textures is achieved through experimentation on wet and dry pastel applications.
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Intuism 021 (Blossom blitz)2024. Pastel on canvas. 24x36in. The fruit of much experimentation, this piece displays multiple pastel application techniques, and achieves a sealed surface that can be displayed without glass without major smudging.
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The Rite of SpringAvailable for Purchase -
Time To BlossomAvailable for Purchase
Select pieces from "We Become the Color of Dreams" Solo Exhibition (2024)
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Intuism 024 (The void deep in)2024-Acrylic on canvas-48inx36in. A highly performatic piece - the top layer is finished directly with hands, utilizing very energetic body movement spanning across the canvas.
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Intuism 002 (The gods are catching fire)2024-Acrylic on canvas-36x48in. All stories of creation have angry gods. If you look at the dancing fire in the painting, you will find that they are painted directly with fingers but also my nails have scratched and destructed what I created. Body movement is key in this process.
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Intuism 023 (It's a magical summer)2024-Acrylic on canvas-36x48in. There are two seasons in the Dominican Republic: Summer and Hell. When Summer treats you kindly, and you smile at the bright sky, and blossoms are all around you: that is the topic of this painting.
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Intuism 011 ((Deja Vu))2024-Acrylic on canvas-20x20in. A few times a year, I feel like I have a memory into the future. I will live a more modern life, and I have these electrical portals to take me away from the life that I have been living.
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Every direction takes me home -
Intuism 013 (Yet another nested dream)2024-Acrylic on canvas-36x48in. I often have dreams within dreams, and sometimes nightmares within dreams. It’s like the sidewalk full of tents, where you feel trapped and never seem to be able to exit.
