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Genevieve Ramos headshot

Genevieve Ramos

Genevieve Ramos (she/her/ella) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work uplifts intersectional narratives shaped by disability, identity, and social justice. She earned a Painting Certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2023), a BA in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies from Northeastern Illinois University (2021).

Genevieve has received numerous awards and fellowships, including the Good Hart Artist Residency (2024), the 3Arts/Bodies of Work Residency, and participation in the Disability Culture and Activism Lab. She was honored with the Renny Golden Award for Leadership in Activism (2021) and presented at the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Conference (2023).

 

Her work has been exhibited throughout Chicago, including Voices Embodied: Reverberations at the Design Museum of Chicago (2024), and her recent solo exhibition Sustaining Spirit at CPAG Gallery (2025). She has also participated in group exhibitions at Woman Made Gallery, the Mexican Consulate in Chicago, and the Elmhurst Art Museum.

Profile caption: Genevieve Ramos, disabled Mexican-American artist and advocate, pictured in a moment of calm and strength. Her work began in personal transformation but now centers collective narratives, disability justice, and the power of honest expression. Profile image by: photo take by Leslie Frempong
Genevieve Ramos's Website
A rainbow-striped horse figurine stands upright against a gray-to-white gradient background. The toy casts a dramatic shadow, highlighting its bright red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple bands This work speaks to the quiet resilience of being seen, and the luminous presence of disabled, queer, and Latinx identities often kept in the margins. It asks viewers to reconsider how everyday objects carry memory, identity, and cultural power.

Featured Artworks

  • This is a self-portrait I painted. My face is partially hidden behind a bouquet of pink flowers with green leaves. One of my eyes is visible, looking directly out at the viewer, while my dark hair frames my face and carries handwritten words: “We are all Flowers For What I Cannot Change My painting, Flowers for What I Cannot Change, speaks to the tension between grief and celebration. Flowers are symbols of both—carrying the weight of loss and the joy of life. Like our ecosystems under the strain of climate change, they embody resilience Inspired by the writings of Carl's Jung, Earth Has a Soul Acrylic on Canvas. 30 by 40 inches.
  • This is a painting I created that blends anatomy and nature to explore themes of life, death, and regeneration. At the center is a stylized, vertical human torso—an exposed spine, ribcage, and pelvis—painted in soft pinks, purples, and blues. Flowers emer Barebones Carl Jung reminds us that what is hidden in the natural world is made visible through our reflection. In my poem, “In my barebones,” I name that slow, internal unraveling. The pain isn’t just physical—it is a deep knowing, a spiritual bleed. To be human i Inspired by the writings of Carl's Jung, Earth Has a Sou Mixed Media on canvas. 36 by 48 inches.
  • Genevieve Ramos artwork Spirit This painting, titled Spirit, features a stylized, abstract figure of an donkey standing upright with a glossy, rainbow-striped body. The figure is centered against a stark black and white background, with dramatic lighting casting a bold shadow across the floor and wall. Each color band on the figure—red, orange, yellow, green, purple—recalls the Pride flag, suggesting themes of identity, resilience, and celebration. The minimalist setting and sculptural rendering give the piece a quiet strength and clarity. Spirit feels like both a symbol and a sentinel, standing confidently in its full, vibrant self.
  • This is a self-portrait I painted with my eyes closed and face contorted in an emotional, almost painful expression. My skin is rendered in warm tones against a vivid red background, with golden lines flowing like energy through my hair and around me. The Mask Off Mask Off reveals how rarely people witness me unwell. Alongside my physical disabilities, I live with mental health challenges—but in our society, a disabled woman in distress is too much. We’re expected to be silent, to hold it together, to not cry in pu Acrylic on wood. 2024
  • Genevieve Ramos artwork Amigas After finishing this piece I couldn’t help to marry its completed expression to Mia Mingus’s blogpost, Wherever You Are Is Where I Want To Be: Crip Solidarity. Its sentiment narrates that we will always find ways to stay together and support each other, Painting reference by photographer, Colectivo Multipolar Gouache, acrylic on vintage blue print paper. 16”x20”. 2024.
  • Genevieve Ramos artwork People Power the revolution be painted green? I believe People Power is like vines that come together and take over the fence (barriers). I painted this as performance during a dvirtual political rally by disabled activists. Acrylic on canvas. 16 by 20 inches.
  • Genevieve Ramos artwork Pineapple Princess Inspired by a poem by Rupi Kaur, the world gives you so much pain and here you are making gold out of it - there is nothing purer than that My early work Acrylic on canvas. 16 by 20 inches. 2017
  • Genevieve Ramos artwork Sparking and Broken This is one of my early works, storytelling through figure and emotive colors. Acrylic on canvas. 38 by 48 inches. 2016