BIO

Using the iPad to view the embedded video in the History, Heritage and the Lower East Side series.

Yona Verwer is a Dutch-born multidisciplinary visual artist based in New York City.

Her art explores themes of heritage, immigration, ecology, and spirituality, often connecting historical narratives with contemporary issues such as ocean pollution and cultural intersections. Verwer creates layered paintings that sometimes incorporate interactive elements, blending traditional techniques with contemporary themes and technology. Occasional works feature AR videos that viewers can activate to experience additional dimensions.

Her two series-in-progress are:
Entangled Shores: New Amsterdam Encounters, about the intersections of New York’s 17th century Dutch settlers with the indigenous Lenape, enslaved Africans, and the earliest Jewish immigrants.
Turning the Tide for a Living Sea, a visual exploration of plastic pollution in the oceans.

Her work has been showcased in over 35 museum exhibitions worldwide, including the Vienna Jewish Museum, Heller Museum (NYC), Reginald Lewis Museum of African American History & Culture, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts. It is in the permanent collections of the Mizel Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art.

Her art has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Art Criticism, and The Huffington Post. She is also featured in books including Matthew Baigell’s Heritage: Jewish Artists in America Since 1900, as well as Ori Soltes’ Tradition and Transformation: Three Millennia of Jewish Art.

She is currently presenting solo exhibitions such as the upcoming Fluid Futures, about plastic pollution in the ocean, at The Interchurch Center in NYC, and Living Waters in Boston. Additional group exhibitions are scheduled for New York, Chicago and Minneapolis later in 2026.

Verwer holds an MFA from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague.