ABOUT
Ostia creates site-specific installations, sculptures, and moving-image works that reimagine our relationship to living materials and the unseen systems that shape us. Seven years ago, she shifted her practice from a photography lab to a biology lab, redirecting her research toward synthetic biology. This transition—from directing an image to collaborating with living systems—forms the foundation of her investigation into interspecies communication and the tensions between human-made and microbial forms of growth.
Her multidisciplinary career is grounded in a deep commitment to community engagement and cross-disciplinary collaboration. She has led workshops on sustainable art practices and ecological design at NYU, Parsons School of Design, the Fashion Institute of Technology, RISD, Genspace, Stony Brook University, and institutions in Beijing.
Her work has been exhibited internationally at museums, art fairs, and experimental film screenings across China, Cuba, France, Italy, Peru, Russia, and the United States. In parallel to her artistic career, she worked as a Director of Photography and Producer, with work featured in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair Italia, and other international publications.
Ostia holds an Associate Degree in Spatial Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology, a BFA from Parsons School of Design, and a Master’s degree from NYU. Her work has been supported by several grants and is the inaugural recipient of the Marco Castro Cosio Media, Art and Technology Fellowship from the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, a premier incubator that bridges human storytelling with advanced technology jointly run by Columbia’s journalism school and Stanford’s engineering school.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is research-driven, material-focused, and grounded in an attentiveness to ecology, culture, and interspecies relationships.I am particularly interested in how emerging technologies can help us better understand, respect, and ultimately care for the living systems that support life on Earth. This practice is both speculative and grounded: asking what can emerge when we treat other species and microorganisms not as resources, but as intelligent collaborators in their own right. I believe art possesses the dual power to entertain and plant the seeds of curiosity.
My focus towards biological materials, was inspired by extensive travel and the distressing sight of plastics and pollution in the world’s most pristine environments.Through installations and biofabrication I construct new universes, inviting audiences into immersive environments where perception, sensation, and emotion meet.
I find a deep sense of peace in the solace of collaborating with living materials. As a migrant, my experience of displacement fuels a deep-seated desire to understand and connect with people beyond traditional physical spaces, exploring new dimensions in materials, interconnections, and identity.
*Complete CV upon request
Biennial & Triennial Exhibitions
2026 VideoAkt, Bienal Internacional de Arte de los Nuevos Medios, Museo de la Nación, Lima, Peru
2025 New York Latin American Art Triennial, BronxArtSpace, NY, USA
2025 XV Edition Florence Biennale, Fortezza da Basso, Florence, Italy
2024 Havana Biennial, “Shared Horizons”, Wilfredo Lam Centre for Contemporary Art, Havana, Cuba
2024 Every Woman Biennial, La Mama Galleria, NY, USA
Two-person Exhibition
2018 Du·et, Caravaglia Studio, NY, USA
Group Shows + Performances (Selection)
2026 Latinismo Art & Education, Queens Council of the Arts, NY, USA
2026 Sundried (La Escuela), National Academy of Design, NY, USA
2026 Shine, NYCxDesign, South Seaport, NY, USA
2025 Living Matter, Shifting Future, Brooklyn Army Terminal, NY, USA (commission)
2025 NYCxDesign, Shifting Matter, Roca Tile, NY, USA
2025 Silent Auction, Kurimanzutto, NY, USA (sold)
2024 A World Water Map, Swale House – Governors Island, NY, USA
2023 Embodied Futures & the Ecology of Care, BioBat Art Space, NY, USA (commission)
2023 GUI/GOOEY, Plexus Projects
2019 Intertwine, Veronica Studio, NY, USA
2016 Interpretation: Monumental Public Space & The Human, State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
2016 Photography, Milk Studios Gallery, NY, USA
2015 Photography as a New Document, NY, USA
2012 The Soul of Self Portrait, Fred Pomerantz Art and Design Center, NY, USA
Awards, Grants & Fellowships
2026 Pangue Videoart Film Festival, Winner
2025 Marco Castro Cosio, Media, Art & Technology Fellow, Brown Institute for Media Innovation
2024 Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Emergency Grant
2024-2026 Recipient of Sponsored Studio Space, BioBat Art Space, Brooklyn Army Terminal, NY, US
2023 NYU Green Grant
2022 NYU Sustainability Grant
2022 Prototyping Fund + NYC Future Manufacturing Collective, Grant Recipient
2020 Artist Relief, Grant Recipient
2015 Alexia Foundation, Photography as Agent of Change, NY, USA
2013 SEGD, Honorable Mention
2012 Photo District News, Winner
Residencies
2026 (forthcoming)
2026 Curatorial Program for Research, Artist-in-residence, NY, USA
2024 Swale Lab, Artist in Residence, Governors island
2024 New York Latin American Art Triennial, Artist in Residence, Governors island
Selected Presentations & Talks
2025 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM), Bio-Futurism and Synthetic Aesthetics, Paris, France
2025 Fashion Institute of Technology, Charting a Course Toward Circularity, NY, USA
2024 De Bebida a Biomaterial, Havana, Cuba
2024 Eco-Imagination, Beijing, China
2024 BioBat Art Space, Artist Panel Discussion, NY, USA
2023 New York Public Library, Artists Studio Community Series (online)
2023 MIT Global Community Bio Summit. Artist Talk: Artists in Laboratories (online)
2015 International Center of Photography, Artist Talk: Documentary Media & Practice, NY, USA
Workshops
2023 – Present, Genspace (Biomaterials & Forecasting + Break Into Biotech Program)
2025 Parsons School of Design, Guest Lecturer
2026 Stony Brook, Guest Lecturer
2026 Columbia University, Guest Lecturer
2025 Rhode Island School of Design, Guest Lecturer
2024 Baruch High School, Teaching Artist, SMART Project
2023 – 2025 Earth Day Festival, in partnership with March for Science, Union Square Park
2022 – 2023 Workshop lead, New York University – ITP Camp, Sustainable Art Practice & Open Space + Artist in Laboratories
2022 Workshop lead, NYU Tandon School of Engineering MakerSpace, Painting with Genetically Engineered Yeast
Academic Appointments
2024 Invited Lecturer, ERA Summer School, Class: Sustainable Art Practice: Living Materials, Biomaterials & the Future of Art Making, Beijing, China
2015 Teaching Assistant to Andre Lambertson, International Center of Photography, NY
2014 Teaching Assistant, International Center of Photography, NY
Research
Ostia, L. (2024). Sustainable Art Practice: The Future of Biodesign Education. Cambridge Open Engage. doi:10.33774/coe-2024-hvr17
Vaquero, L., Groves, K., Muñoz-Vidal, E. L., James, K., Marlor, J. L., McIntyre, L., Ostia, L., Ripollés, P. (2025). Studying the effects of digital arts-based interventions on teenagers’ social media usage, brain connectivity, and mental health: study protocol of the SMART project. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2550079
Education
New York University, Tisch School of the Arts — Master’s Degree, Interactive Telecommunications (ITP), USA
Parsons School of Design — Bachelor of Fine Arts, Photography & Media Studies (Magna Cum Laude), USA
Fashion Institute of Technology — Associate in Applied Science, Spatial Experience Design (Magna Cum Laude), USA
Diploma: Biological Pedagogies: Art, Biology and Design (online)
Certificate: CITI Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative, Social & Behavioral Research I
Exhibit Review
Homecrux:10 Standout Product Showcases From 2026 NYCxDesign Festival
Artishock: Beyond Function: The Rhizomatic Re-Imagining of Space at the New York Latin American Art Triennial
Adorno: Shifting Matter
Dezeen: Shifting Matter
Art Spiel: BioBat Art Space, Embodied Futures and the Ecology of Care
Artnet: Every Woman Biennial
Plexus Projects
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SUNDRIED 2026 Curated by Oscar M. Caballero
Brown Institute 2025
FIT 2025
Future Materials Bank 2024