Julio Valdez received his first museum exhibition at the age of nineteen. Among his many honors, he has received fellowships from the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, where he was selected as artist in residence, 1997-98. Valdez's work evokes both his Afro-Caribbean roots, and his cosmopolitan life in New York City. His work references his childhood memories of the Caribbean, as well as contemporary issues of displacement and cultural identity. Whatever the subject matter, his work achieves a poetic dimension and remains process driven, consistently exploring the materials with which he creates.