Suley Deras, also known as Dacxilia Deras in her literary work, is a visual artist, poet, and cultural practitioner originally from El Salvador, currently based in New York City. Her work has been exhibited and shared in El Salvador, Spain, Mexico, and the United States, shaping a multidisciplinary practice that bridges visual art, literature, and community engagement.

She is a visual artist, poet, editor, photographer, broadcaster, and lecturer, as well as a family development worker and creator of support programs for children and youth from migrant communities—particularly in Corona and Elmhurst, Queens—and in her home country. Her practice embraces art as a tool for expression, healing, and cultural identity.

Her creative research centers on holistic healing through artistic processes, consciousness studies, human connection, and sensory languages. She is currently expanding her practice toward cinematography and documentary filmmaking.

Suley earned a Bachelor’s degree in Public Accounting from the University of El Salvador, while simultaneously cultivating her artistic and musical vocation. In the visual arts, her approach is primarily sensory and experimental. Alongside her self-directed training, she studied with renowned art and music mentors in her country and received the Artistic Creativity Award from her hometown.

In 2020, already settled in New York, she began a process of deepening her work in publishing poetry books and in therapy through the arts, obtaining certifications in editorial editing (Penguin Random House), in 2021 in art therapy and in 2025 as a Family Development Coach accredited by the University of Connecticut, thus strengthening her work with communities, families and young people from a comprehensive perspective.

Her visual work includes painting, illustration, mixed media, short documentary films, and creative workshops for children and youth. As a writer, she has published five books and contributed to literary anthologies in Spain, Mexico, and El Salvador.

Among her most significant literary works is the testimonial narrative book “El Arte y yo en tiempos de Pandemia”, which brings together twenty cathartic stories by Salvadoran artists during the pandemic lockdown, interwoven with the author’s own migration experience and personal transformation in New York. Another key publication is her poetry collection “Confesiones”, a deeply intimate selection of her earlier poetic work.

Suley has produced podcasts, poetry videos, written art and editorial columns for digital media, promoted her own work, and delivered lectures at universities in El Salvador on literary and artistic topics. Her work has been featured in various print and digital newspapers and magazines.

In 2020, she founded Golden Empire Editions, an independent publishing house in New York dedicated to supporting Spanish-speaking writers. In 2024, she established her art studio in Brooklyn, originally named Suh Art Studio, which was reimagined and relaunched in 2026 as Studio Suhita 308, reflecting an evolution in her artistic, conceptual, and spiritual journey.

Throughout her life, Suley has played an active role in community development, implementing initiatives to support low-income families through access to food, education, and housing in collaboration with international organizations.

She currently works with high school students in Queens, developing after-school and socio-emotional support programs focused on life skills, cultural adaptation, and the preservation of identity among Spanish-speaking migrant youth.

On a personal and creative level, she continues to refine her artistic language and expand her practice into film and documentary as new forms of narrative and human exploration.