Bio

Yoland Skeete, is a documentary photographer, videographer, and an exhibiting multimedia artist. She immigrated with her family to the US as a child, later attended the School of Visual Arts where she studied film, video and photography, continued and completed her graduate studies at Tufts University/MIT Graduate program in Anthropological Filmmaking under Jean Rouche, and at Hunter College. She is certified in the business of Arts Administration at Seton Hall University and was an adjunct professor at Rockland Community College, Raritan Valley Community College, New Jersey City University and Rutgers University, Newark until 2009.

She has worked in radio, television, and newspaper, at a time when women and women of color were not allowed in the field. In California, she edited the first multiracial omnigender newspaper in the US for women of color entitled “The Fourth World”, funded by Glide Memorial Church, a major art and political funding organization in San Francisco at the time. She co-founded and directed, the Sumei Multidisciplinary Arts Center in Newark, which was one of Newark’s leading artists run alternative spaces from 1993 to 2015.

Contact/Inquiries: yolandskeetearts@gmail.com

CV

Exhibitions, Awards & Collections

Collections

Museum of Chinese in the Americas — permanent collection (Havana Chinatown photographic documentation)
NYU Tamiment Library — Newark Chinatown collection (Asian Pacific American Institute, Prof. John Kuo Wei Tchen)
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York — print collection
Alexander Bonin Gallery, New York
American Express Corporation collection
African American Museum of Life and Culture, Dallas, Texas
Bilha Museum, Portugal (sculpture work)
Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey — largest collection of her work

Exhibitions

Ms. Skeete has exhibited her video and photography works in galleries and museums in the United States and abroad, including:

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
Queens Museum of Art, New York
Newark Museum
Museum of Contemporary Arts and Crafts, New York City
Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
Husby Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
Estesio Gallery, Beddingestrand, Sweden
Chinese American Museum, Los Angeles
Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Recent exhibitions include:

Circles and Circuits: Chinese Caribbean Art — California African American Museum and Chinese American Museum (Los Angeles), 2018–2019
- Catalog by Alexis Chang, published by Duke University Press
24th Annual Art Ability Exhibition, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania (2020)
Verum Ultimum Art Gallery, Portland, Oregon (2020)
15 Bienal de la Habana, Cuba (2024)
Upcoming exhibition, Havana, Cuba (May 2026), representing the Sankofa celebrations

Commissions

2001 — Commissioned by the Cape May Historical Society, funded by the New Jersey Council on the Humanities, to produce a documentary on the lost history of African American culture in Cape May, New Jersey
- Included a high school program involving students in all aspects of documentary filmmaking

Publications

When Newark Had a Chinatown — historical documentation of Newark Chinatown (1870s–1970s), published by Dorrance Publishing
Contributor to Museum of Chinese in the Americas
Work included in exhibition catalogs (Duke University Press; Art Ability; Verum Ultimum)

Awards & Grants

City of Newark — outstanding cultural contributions
New York Foundation for the Arts — recognition for arts programming
New Jersey State Council on the Arts — recognition for arts programming
Glide Memorial Grant
Graff Travel Grant
New Jersey Council on the Humanities Grant
Mellon Grant (New Jersey Performing Arts Center Humanities Program)

Residencies & Teaching

Artist in Residence — Art in General
Artist in Residence — Arts Council of the Essex Area
Adjunct Professor — Rockland Community College, Raritan Valley Community College, New Jersey City University, Rutgers University (Newark)

Ms. Skeete has exhibited her video and photography works in galleries and museums in the United States and abroad, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Queens Museum of Art, the Newark Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Arts and Crafts in New York City, the Bibliothèque Nationale de Paris, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Husby Konsthall in Stockholm, Sweden, Estesio Gallery in Beddingestrand, Sweden, the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, and the Zimmerli Museum in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Her work was featured in the major joint exhibition Circles and Circuits: Chinese Caribbean Art (2018–2019), presented at the California African American Museum and the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles. The exhibition catalog, written by Alexis Chang, was published by Duke University Press.

In 2020, her work was exhibited in and published in the catalogs of the 24th Annual Art Ability Exhibition in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and Verum Ultimum Art Gallery in Portland, Oregon.

Her photography is included in the print collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Alexander Bonin Gallery, New York; American Express Corporation; and the African American Museum of Life and Culture in Dallas, Texas. Her sculpture work is held in the Bilha Museum in Portugal.

In 2024-5, she exhibited in the 15th Bienal de La Habana, Cuba, and she will exhibit again in Havana in May 2026, representing the Sankofa celebrations.

The largest collection of her work is held by the Zimmerli Museum in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Yoland Skeete continues to work in photography and art in her studio daily.