Elia Alba was born in New York City of Dominican parents. She is a multi-media artist, working in photography, video and sculpture. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Hunter College in 1994 where she graduated magna cum laude in Philosophy and Literature. She is also a fellow of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. She has exhibited in various national and international institutions and fairs, for example, The Studio Museum in Harlem; Whitebox, ARCO 2002, ArtBasel Miami, Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, the Science Museum in London and the RISD Museum in Rhode Island. Solo shows include Jersey City Museum, and Atlantic TransArt, Chile. Her awards have included the Artists-in-Residence Fellowship from the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Whitney Museum Van Lier Foundation Fellowship, Pollack-Krasner Foundation Grant and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant. She lives and works in Queens, New York.