Photo by Maya Keren
“isabel crespo pardo is an electrifying figure [...] with practices that collide and meld a variety of approaches, whether rooted in tradition or radical, through the lens of improvisation”
isabel crespo pardo is a Brooklyn-based interdisciplinary artist working across sound, performance, text, and visual art. Captivated by the realms of memory, spirit and ephemerality, they create rituals of transformation that center improvisation as a bridge to the subconscious. Drawing from latin american histories, black american art, and queer and trans thought, crespo treats performance as a site where vulnerability, interconnection, and form are negotiated in real time.
Their work often materializes as expanded scores and collaborative constellations. Projects include the poemsong trio sinonó, whose shifting sonic topographies fuse composition and improvisation; embroidered and screen-printed graphic scores that operate simultaneously as textile object and performative instruction; and Mighty Angel…come down clothed in rainbow-head, a performance work co-created with Anna Abondolo that stages monologue as invocation. Under the moniker iiisa, they are developing a solo body of work interlacing melody with archival recordings of their family in Costa Rica, constructing immersive sonic environments that function as “memory portals,” where solace is offered through the admission of non-linear becoming.
crespo has presented work at Pioneer Works, Bang on a Can’s LOUD WEEKEND, MATA Festival, and Big Ears Festival. Their artistic development has been supported by the Loghaven Artist Residency, Roulette Intermedium Residency, and the Van Lier Fellowship. They have collaborated with and performed works by Matthew Barney, Sandra Mujinga, and Raven Chacon.