Yohanna Magdalene Roa is a transdisciplinary researcher, art historian, curator, art critic, editor, and archivist based in New York. Her work is grounded in feminist, decolonial, and intersectional perspectives and is articulated through an integral practice that weaves together academic research, curatorial methodologies, editorial platforms, and archival frameworks. Originally trained as a visual artist, this formation informs her approach to theory and research through material, embodied, and process-based modes of inquiry.
Roa holds a PhD (Cum Laude) in History and Critical Theories of Art from Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico, an MA in Women and Gender Studies from the CUNY Graduate Center, an MA in Visual Arts from UNAM, and a BFA from INDEBA, Colombia. Her doctoral research constituted a foundational contribution to feminist archival studies through the development of INES – Intersectional Expanded System, a methodological framework that examines archives as political, performative, and historiographic structures rather than neutral repositories of memory.
From this research emerged the concept of the Matriarchiva, a feminist archival model centered on women’s knowledge, affective labor, and lived experience. Initially developed within academic and research contexts—including presentations and discussions at MUAC–UNAM1 and forums addressing archives, women, genders, and human rights—this framework was later expanded into curatorial, editorial, and exhibition-based projects.
Roa has delivered numerous workshops and seminars on archival practices and curatorial methodologies from an intersectional perspective at the Swiss Institute New York, the Cultural Area of the Banco de la República in Cali (Colombia), and the National Center for Research, Documentation and Information on the Visual Arts (CENIDIAP) Mexico City, among other institutions.
In parallel, Roa is the editor of INES_Magazina, an independent critical platform dedicated to feminist, intersectional, and transdisciplinary approaches to contemporary art, archives, and cultural politics. Her academic and critical writing has been published in ArtNexus, WhiteHot Magazine, and INES_Magazina, and she has lectured internationally at universities, museums, and research institutions.
Roa’s curatorial projects—including La Trenza / The Braid, Deshilar la Revolución Cotidiana (Museo La Tertulia, Cali), Re-Shaping the Sugar, TerraTextl, and JMA Matriarchive in Resistance—function as applied research platforms where theory, history, and exhibition-making intersect.
Since 2022, Roa has served as Curator and Project Developer at WhiteBox New York, where she has developed research-driven exhibitions and public programs that integrate archival inquiry, feminist historiography, and contemporary artistic practice. She is currently the Curator of WhiteBox Portable, a curatorial program developed within New York City’s MTA public space, extending her academic research into urban, public, and non-institutional contexts.
Across all these fields, Roa’s work is defined by a sustained commitment to feminist historiography, the politics of memory, and the production of alternative archival and curatorial methodologies grounded in rigorous research and collective knowledge production.
- Museum of Contemporary Art of Mexico City ↩︎