Jenica Heintzelman
is a Guatemalan-American photographer from Orlando, Florida. She attended Brigham Young University where she completed her BFA degree in photography and documentary film in 2010. Jenica received her MFA in photography from the Hartford Art School’s International Limited-Residency program in 2020. She has been named by the British Journal of Photography as part of the “2021 Ones to Watch: Community” and exhibited internationally at C/O Berlin and BFOTO Festival in Spain. Her project Down a Stream was shortlisted for the Fiebre Dummy Award, SELF PUBLISH RIGA 2021 and the ICP/GOST First Book Award. Currently based in Brooklyn, NY her work explores themes of vulnerability, trauma and the notion of healing.
MaryV Benoit
(she/her) is a 23-year-old queer femme American/Guatemalan photographer and performance artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Born and raised in Denver, Colorado, MaryV has an immense reach on social media (183k followers) and frequently shares her experiences as an artist. She graduated from Denver School of the Arts and attended Parsons, The New School’s photography program in New York City. With a uniquely sensitive approach to her subjects, MaryV focuses on the documentation of self-identity, bodies, intimacy, compassion, relationships, family, sexuality, and self-love. MaryV has succeeded in advocating for herself through modeling, acting, performance art, and as a professional image-maker. She had her first solo show gallery at the age of 19 at Space 776 in Brooklyn, New York, displaying her Gold Series and Gold Performance. Loving You, MaryV’s second solo exhibition, was the first in her hometown of Denver. She created and directed Standing Performance in Washington Square Park. She has shot campaigns for clients such as Calvin Klein and Google, remaining true to her mission of creating mindful and inclusive representation for her community. She has collaborated with brands such as Polaroid, Glossier, Opening Ceremony, Marc Jacobs, Givenchy, and publications such as American Vogue, Vogue Italia, Interview Magazine, Them, and The New York Times.
Astrea Somarriba
is an artist completing her Master's in Art Therapy and with a background in Conflict Resolution & Mediation. She uses her love of travel, community building, and spirituality to inform her process, calling on printmaking, collage, and drawing as her main mediums. Astrea refers to herself as an intuitive artist and allows her spirit to guide her when creating her pieces.
Camille Vic-Dupont
known for her ambitious, large-scale, and explosively colorful interventions in public spaces, Camille Walala uses the man-made landscape as a platform for disseminating positivity. Her work encompasses full-facade murals, immersive 3D installations, street art, interiors, and set design – characterized by a fusion of bold colors and playful geometric patterns. Camille finds inspiration in community and collaboration, and the power of color and pattern to transform atmospheres, elevate moods, and spark positivity.
Claudia Brncic Becker
5 years ago she started working as a self-taught textile artist. she opened an experimental studio/workshop, which fuses macramé, loom, weaving, and barrement techniques, among others, to create textile pieces as decorative and artistic elements. The pieces that she designs and creates are mostly signature pieces, reflecting her love and passion for yarns, wool, ropes, pigments, and natural elements. She likes to intervene in each piece to create unique, original, and timeless works that stand out in any space and give harmony and balance to the environment. She works with artisans from Guatemala and other parts of the world, always looking for sustainable and handmade raw materials.
Lot Winther
although frequently taking base in Denmark, Lot has spent most of the past year in Latin America, which has and continues to provide her with inspiration. Especially street art evolving current women's issues has caught her attention and sparked reflection. Her artworks have always centered around women and liberating the female figure. With her pieces, she aims to empower women to step into their power and shine their light.
Sarah Umles
is an interdisciplinary and socially-engaged artist whose creative practice spans sculpture and digital media, participatory performance and interactive installation, experimental storytelling, and curatorial practice. Sarah holds a Master’s in Arts Administration & Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing with an emphasis in Film & Visual Culture from the University of California Riverside. Her solo and collaborative work have been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, California Museum of Photography, BoldPas, CalArts, and in numerous site-specific and non-traditional contexts.
Summer Moore
became inspired to learn to weave after an influential trip to Peru in 2010. Once she returned home, she learned weaving was deep in her roots, as her grandmother had been a weaver herself. She also recently discovered her German ancestors had apprenticed with linen weavers once immigrating to the US in the 1700s, cementing that weaving is truly in her blood. Within a few years, Summer took part in a self-guided textile residency in the remote, cavernous village of İbrahimpaşa in Cappadocia, Turkey. There, within her ancient stone home and studio, she experimented with weaving jewelry pieces and hand-dyeing fabric, which she shared with the village women to use as headscarves. She fell in love with the lunar landscape of the region and simple village life. She returned to Brooklyn ready to create a studio practice at home, and LESH was born. LESH, named after her aforementioned grandmother's maiden name, is a line of hand-woven jewelry that blends traditional hand-weaving techniques with modern design. Combining unique color palettes and patterns, each piece is one-of-a-kind and uses cotton fibers, thread made from 100% recycled bottles, and hand-dyed cording.
Zhané Bradley
is a visual artist based in Columbia, South Carolina. Her work is inspired by her curiosity about the world and the stories of its people. Through various mediums like oil painting and film photography, she enjoys a hands-on approach to exploring and learning more about how people from different communities express themselves creatively.
Yassmin Abdel-Magied
is a Sudanese-Australian writer, broadcaster, and award-winning social advocate with a background in mechanical engineering. Yassmin has published three books with Penguin Random House, a best-selling memoir, Yassmin's Story, at age 24, and two novels for younger readers, You Must Be Layla, and Listen Layla, in 2019 and 2021 respectively. Both books have been optioned for screen by Goalpost Productions, with Yassmin as lead writer. Yassmin’s upcoming essay collection, Talking About a Revolution, is scheduled for release in June 2022. In 2020, Yassmin co-write the sold-out immersive theatre production at Kensington Palace, United Queendom, selected for the London Soho Theatre Writer’s Lab and was awarded the prestigious Australia Council Keesing Studio Residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. Beyond her fiction work, Yassmin’s social commentary has appeared in TIME magazine, The Guardian, The New York Times, Times Literary Supplement, Teen Vogue, The Independent, Huffpost, London’s Evening Standard, and more, with her work on the Sudanese Revolutions of particular note. Her critically acclaimed essays have also been published widely, including in the best-selling It’s Not About The Burqa and The New Daughters of Africa. One of the 2020 LinkedIn Changemakers, Yassmin is a globally sought-after advisor on issues of social justice, focused on the intersections of race, gender, and faith. Yassmin founded Youth Without Borders at the age of 16, then started Mumtaza a decade later, focusing on women of color. She has traveled to over 24 countries across five continents, speaking to governments, civil society, and corporates on anti-racism and achieving substantive change. Yassmin’s internationally acclaimed TED talk, What does my headscarf mean to you, has been viewed over two million times and was chosen as one of TED’s top ten ideas of 2015. She has been awarded numerous awards for her advocacy, including the 2018 Young Voltaire Award for Free Speech.
Michelle Dussault
is a painter turned writer. All her work, visual or prose, contains references to the wild and the domesticated world. She combines the uncanny with the familiar to depict the mystical undercurrents of embodied lives. She uses psychedelic undertones, references to the Buddhist Bardo, conscious cannabis, and shamanic plant ceremonies to convey supernatural elements and depict otherworldly sojourns.
Kristen Bulger
is a writer whose poetry has appeared in Salamander, Superstition Review, Houseguest, Yes, Poetry, On the Seawall, and elsewhere. She holds a B.A. in English and Philosophy from Suffolk University and an M.F.A in Creative Writing from the University of New Hampshire. She has worked for art nonprofits, in higher education, and has taught creative writing, English, and social studies at high schools and universities. She is the co-host and creator of the Life Backstage podcast for The Music Hall, an arts and cultural organization. Originally from New Hampshire, Kristen has lived in Madrid, Spain, Prague, Czech Republic, and currently resides in San Francisco, California.
Eliška Plechatová
is a Prague and Oslo-based artist working mainly with textile, sound, and moving images. Her work addresses cultural traditions and rituals related to nature (connected with sound and fire) as a part of coming back to the conversation with local nature. With a background in forest and tree study, she considers nature patterns a big part of her inspiration.
