Miriam Romais is a widely exhibited and awarded New York-based photographer and nonprofit professional. Her dual nationality (U.S.–Brazil) and fluency in both Portuguese and English is an important part of her artistic and socio-documentary explorations.
Her photographic work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the U.S. and abroad. Among them are the Museum of the City of New York and El Museo del Barrio (NYC); the Smithsonian Institution (DC); the Field Museum (IL); the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History and the University of California-Berkeley (CA); Southern Light Gallery (TX); Light Work, the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Brookside Museum, Saratoga Arts and LARAC (NY); South Florida Art Center (FL); and the Photographic Resource Center (MA).
Her work is part of the book, video and HBO project, Americanos: Latino Life in the United States (Little Brown & Co, 1999). Her work has also been published in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Guide to Motorcycling Excellence: Skills, Knowledge and Strategies for Riding Right (Whitehorse Press, 2005), among others.
Other recent projects include an essay for Nueva Luz photographic journal (2023); an essay on Ming Smith’s work for Pen & Brush Gallery (2019).
Romais has curated a variety of exhibitions, including an exhibition for Aperture Foundation (Mexico + Afuera: Contemporary Mexican and Mexican-American Voices, and Selections from En Foco’s Permanent Collection, Sept-Oct 2010); and Tracing Memory for Light Work in Syracuse (Nov-Dec 2008). She also co-curated the traveling exhibition Fire Without Gold: Works by Photographers of Color, featuring Dawoud Bey, Albert Chong, Carrie Mae Weems, Eli Reed, Jolene Rickard and other established artists. It traveled from Rutgers to the Center for Photography at Woodstock, the Photographic Resource Center, and the Yankee Stadium Subway Station as part of the MTA/Arts for Transit program.
Romais was co-chair of the Society for Photographic Education’s National Conference in Philadelphia, titled Facing Diversity: Leveling the Playing Field in the Photographic Arts (2010). As a panelist/reviewer, she has served with NALAC; the New York Foundation for the Arts; PhotoNOLA; the Ohio Arts Council; FotoFest in Houston; PDN; the Society for Photographic Education; PhotoLucida; Center (formerly the Santa Fe Center for Photography); the New York State Council on the Arts; the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs; the Center for Photography in Woodstock (where she serves on their Board of Advisors), and as advisor for the NYC Department of Transportation’s Urban Art Program (2009, 2010).
An avid motorcyclist since 1987, Romais became a Motorcycle Safety Foundation RiderCoach in 1994 to help riders gain the knowledge and confidence needed to ride safely. She co-founded the Fairleigh Dickinson University Motorcycle Program two years later and became a RiderCoach Trainer in 2003, serving as FDU’s Director of RiderCoach Training and Development until 2007.
Romais is the former Executive Director and Editor for En Foco, Inc, a national non-profit organization that supports photographers of Latino/a, African, Asian and Native American heritage. During her tenure as editor of Nueva Luz photographic journal, the publication rose to a four-time finalist for a Lucie Award in the support category of “Best Photography Magazine”, and won four IPPIE Awards.
Currently, Romais lives in upstate NY, and is the director of NewsLitNation at the News Literacy Project.