Melissa Alcena (b. 1988, Nassau, The Bahamas) is a portrait and documentary photographer. In 2012, Alcena completed an Applied Photography course at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. In 2016, She moved back home to The Bahamas, where her practice developed into highlighting individuality and subsequently shifting the Caribbean narrative. She currently lives and works in New York City and most recently was engaged to shoot the portraits for the TIME 100 list 2024.
Melissa Alcena’s photography practice grounds her images in chiaroscuro, centering the natural beauty of her subjects, either pulling them into a conceptual landscape or centering them in situ. Alcena’s studio portraits center her subjects in the dramatic convergence of shadow, spots of light and saturated hues. Documenting people that she meets in situ, primarily in The Bahamas, Alcena expands the visual tropes often exported from the Caribbean. Alcena melds these two practices through a kinship with humankind and ode to the landscape, whether the Bahamian landscape or elsewhere globally.