Groana Melendez was born in Brooklyn and raised between New York City and Santo Domingo in Dominican Republic. She received her BFA from Syracuse University and is a 2016 MFA candidate in Advanced Photographic Studies at ICP-Bard. She currently lives and works in NYC.

groana (they/them) is a lens-based artist raised between New York City and Santo Domingo. Their work explores hybrid identities through self-representation. They hold an MFA in Advanced Photographic Studies from the International Center of Photography-Bard Program and have been part of residencies at Proyecto 'Ace, Diaspora Vibe Arts Incubator, and ARC Athens. They are included in the collections of El Museo del Barrio, the Library of Congress, and En Foco Inc. groana has had solo shows at the New York Public Library, CUNY, and ICP-Bard's studio in Queens. They have been included in group shows at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, the Latinx Project at NYU, BRIC Arts, and El Museo del Barrio's La Trienal 20/21, the museum's first national large-scale survey of Latinx contemporary art. They work and live in the Brooklyn, NY.