Erika Matias-De Jesus
2025 Photography & Digital Arts Resident
Erika Matías-De Jesús aka edj is a Dominican born, Rochester, NY raised multi-faceted lesbian artist currently focused on film photography. Edj spends most of their time hypothesizing whether they’re a direct descendant of Mexican Golden Era actress, Maria Felix (edj is not Mexican)… When she’s not writing poetry or performing various un-funny monologues on a stage you can find them taking pictures of the queers in her community, because they are, “the sexiest people on earth… obviously.” Their work is a feeble attempt at a proper ‘thank you’ to the queers before her, in this moment and of the future. Edj is a believer of humans as a collective and thinks that taking pictures of people in between conversation is the best way to form a connection. And after all, nothing is more important to us as humans than connection. Erika is the founder of the bilingual poetry group, “Lingual,” The author of the poetry book, “Hija de la Gran Puta” and has had their photography exhibited in shows around Rochester, NY, most recently at the “Black Woman is Art” showcase.