Contributors

zuri arman (he/him) is a student, writer, thinker, and tinkerer across various disciplines and mediums. As a PhD student in the Department of Africana Studies at Brown University, their research explores a critical orientation of methodological mistrust across Black politics, art, and self-making at the intersection of Black radical feminist and queer thought. zuri is the co-founder and editor of (De)Cypher: Black Notes on Culture and Criticism and also has a chapter in the forthcoming Surviving the Future: Abolitionist Queer Strategies published by PM Press.

Re'al Christian is a writer, editor, and art historian based in Queens, NY. Her work explores issues related to identity, diasporas, ecology, media, and materiality. She received her MA in Art History with a focus on twentieth-century Latin American art from Hunter College and a bachelor’s degree from New York University, where she double majored in Art History and Media, Culture, and Communication. Her essays, interviews, and criticism have appeared in Art in America, Artforum, BOMB Magazine, The Brooklyn Rail, and ART PAPERS, where she is a Contributing Editor. Christian is also the Assistant Director of Editorial Initiatives at the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at The New School.

Laney Day is an Anishinaabe and Cree artist from Montana. They are a painter, bead worker, writer, animator, problem-solver, and friend. Their work focuses on generational trauma and healing, homesickness, and the line between tragedy and comedy. They graduated from Brown with a degree in Ethnic Studies and RISD with a degree in Painting. Laney is currently living and working in Providence, RI, where they spend their days making art and home.

Marcela Guerrero is currently an Assistant Curator at the Whitney. Guerrero has organized important exhibitions and worked to foreground the contributions of Latinx artists in the U.S. and increase the presence of their works in the Whitney’s collection. Most recently, she curated the landmark exhibition no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria, the first survey of Puerto Rican art at a major U.S. art museum in fifty years, and organized a public art installation on the facade of 95 Horatio Street by Martine Gutierrez. Previously, she was part of the curatorial team that organized Vida Americana: Mexican Muralists Remake American Art, 1925–1945, and curated Pacha, Llaqta, Wasichay: Indigenous Space, Modern Architecture, an exhibition featuring the work of seven emerging Latinx artists.

Tatiana Gómez is a Colombian graphic designer, printmaker, and educator. She holds a BA in Design from the Universidad de los Andes and an MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. Tatiana's work has been recognized by the Type Directors Club and the Society of Typographic Arts. She is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Design Department at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. Tatiana is a co-founder of Buena Gráfica Social Studio, an interdisciplinary design studio based in Providence RI.

Jazzmin Imani is a painter, author, illustrator, and sculptor based in Washington, DC. She holds a B.A. in Visual Arts with Honors from Brown University. Her work centers Black and Latine people, using their traditions in order to uplift their futures. In 2019, she wrote, illustrated, and self-published a children’s book, When Art is Loved, and has been recognized nationally for her figurative paintings, receiving awards from the YoungArts Foundation, AXA Art Prize, and more. In Fall 2023, she will be a Middle School teacher at Georgetown Day School while continuing her art practice. In order to get the most complete sense of who she is as an artist and a human being, please visit jazzminimani.com.

Described by The New York Times as a “social conscience, multimedia collaborator, system builder, rhapsodist, historical thinker and multicultural gateway,” composer-pianist Vijay Iyer is one of the leading music-makers of his generation. His honors include a MacArthur Fellowship, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a United States Artist Fellowship, a Grammy nomination, and the Alpert Award in the Arts. His most recent album is Love In Exile (Verve Records, 2023), a collaborative trio release with Grammy-winning vocalist Arooj Aftab and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily.

Anabelle Johnston is a student, writer, sister, pianist, daughter, teacher, partner, amateur DJ, and friend from New York living in Providence, RI. She writes and thinks about art, community, and belonging across time, space, and mediums.

Silvermoon Mars LaRose (Narragansett/Niantic) is the Assistant Director of the Tomaquag Museum. A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Silvermoon has worked in tribal communities for nearly 30 years serving in the areas of health and human services, education, and humanities. As a civil servant, she serves as the secretary of the Charlestown Conservation Commission, and sits on numerous boards and committees throughout the state, including the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts. Silvermoon works to foster Indigenous empowerment through education, community building, and the sharing of cultural knowledge and traditional arts.

danilo machado, born in Medellín, Colombia, is a poet, curator, and critic living on occupied land. They are interested in language’s potential for revealing tenderness, erasure, and relationships to power. They are a 2020-2021 Poetry Project Emerge-Surface-Be Fellow, the Producer of Public Programs at the Brooklyn Museum, and a curator of several exhibitions, including Eligible/Illegible (co-curated with Francisco Donoso, PS122, 2023).

Lilly Manycolors is a self-taught performance and mixed-media artist. Her art serves as a safe space for viewers to discuss decolonial futures, the underpinnings of their racial and cultural identities, and their relationship to others — both human and non-human. Her identity as a mixed-race person and single mother helps guide this practice. Manycolors is currently a Lecturer at the Rhode Island School of Design and a Youth Arts Programming Coordinator.

Fatema Maswood (they/she) is a landscape and architectural designer, educator, and builder based in Providence, RI. They are an Assistant Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2021, they co-founded the Providence Seed Library in collaboration with Community Libraries of Providence. They have been the Artist-in-Residence with the City of Providence Office of Sustainability, a 2022 NAS Creative Community Fellow, and a 2019 National Olmsted Scholar Finalist. Maswood holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from Barnard College and a Master’s in Landscape Architecture from the University of Washington in Seattle.

José Menéndez is a Puerto Rican graphic designer and educator, with a background in marine science communication and landscape architecture. He holds a BS in Landscape Architecture from Temple University, an MFA in Graphic Design from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a MMA in Marine Affairs with a specialization in Science Communication from the University of Rhode Island. José is a recipient of a 2020–2022 National Endowment for the Arts Grants for Arts Projects. He is an Assistant Professor in Graphic Design and Architecture at Northeastern University College of Art Media and Design in Boston. José is a co-founder of Buena Gráfica Social Studio, an interdisciplinary design studio based in Providence RI.

Cassie Packard is a Brooklyn-based art writer with bylines in publications including Artforum, ArtReview, BOMB, The Brooklyn Rail, frieze, and Los Angeles Review of Books. She is the author of Art Rules (Frances Lincoln, 2023). She has contributed to a number of art books and catalogs and is the recipient of critical writing fellowships at Momus and Recess. She holds an MA in Art History from University College London and a BA in Art History from Brown University.

JaLeel Marques Porcha is a multimedia confessional artist from Paterson, NJ. Their multi-faceted practice investigates solitary identity and narrates personal experiences so that others can recognize similar or different experiences within themselves. Through their own lived knowledge, introspectiveness, and black popular culture, Porcha creates layered spaces for imaginative thinking and confrontation.

Shirine Saad is a Beirut-born writer, programmer and DJ exploring feminism and decolonization through the arts. She is a PhD candidate in Philosophy, Art and Social Thought at the European Graduate School. She runs the Gyal Tings! DJ learning series for BIPOC women and LGBTQ folks and Hiya Live Sessions, a platform amplifying radical feminist SWANA artists.

Sheida Soleimani (b.1990) is an Iranian-American artist who is based in Providence, Rhode Island. Soleimani makes work that combines photography with sculpture, collage, and film, to highlight her critical perspectives on historical and contemporary socio-political occurrences. Her work has been recognized internationally in both exhibitions and publications such as Artforum, New York Times, Bomb Magazine, Interview Magazine, VICE, among many others. Recent solo exhibitions include include Hotbed at Denny Dimin Gallery (New York, NY), and Medium of Exchange at Harlan Levey Projects (Brussels, BE) and Edel Assanti (London, ENG). She received her BFA from the University of Cincinnati, MFA in Photography from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Photography, and is currently Assistant Professor of Photography at Brandeis University.