Anastasia Teper-Cararsquillo was born in Alexandrov, Russia to a Russian-Jewish family, the family immigrated to the United States in 1996 due to high anti-semetic tensions. As a child, Anastasia took ballet classes, ran track and drew. Anastasia started drawing at the age of 4 and quickly realized that to be one of her strongest passions.

Anastasia has a rich but complex personal history of first hand experiences with racism, immigration, mental health challenges and substance abuse and these experiences made her into a resilient and rich reservoir for individuals going through similar experiences. Anastasia received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Brooklyn College, NY, minoring in Art History and Children Studies, then an MA in Criminal Justice, from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, NY and spent the last 18 years working with LGBTQ homeless youth, children on the autism spectrum, HCV/HIV individuals and homeless runaway youth in NYC; she later worked as a researcher with at-risk immigrant populations who used drugs in Brooklyn, NY. In Houston, TX, Anastasia worked with trans-women, helping with community outreach and recruitment and later, as a juvenile case manager with truant BIPOC students.

In 2019, Anastasia decided to pursue art education full-time, focusing on art and health, art advocacy and social justice issues. Decades of direct social service, community engagement and behavioral research experience came handy and re-emerged in community-based art projects now in Louisville, KY where Anastasia and her family currently reside. Several art grants followed: Justice Opioid Campaign Grant Award in 2023 for a project titled, “The Harm Reduction Church” was created in collaboration with C4AA-Center for Art Activism, Open Society Foundation and VOCAL-KY, focusing on bringing harm reduction to the most at-risk communities for fatal drug overdoses as a result of the failed drug war and making it a more accessible, visible and creative as a community experience.

The second part of that project was an expansion of the same idea with “Mend the Heart” constructed sculpture for which VOCAL-KY community members showed up and shared their lived experiences with navigating substance abuse and local policies affecting them. Anastasia also has been a 3-year awardee of the HeARTS Grant Award for community healing and engagement through the arts from Fund For the Arts, in Louisville, KY. Anastasia is always trying to look where art is needed as a powerful tool for healing, community building, collaborations and conversations. Social justice and a fight for human rights are always at the heart of Anastasia’s work.