‍Lamerol A. Gatewood (USA) 
St. Louis–born painter and mixed-media artist merging energy, spirituality, rhythm, and abstraction. His layered collages and drawings evoke inner movement and the cultural pulse of the African diaspora. Collections include the St. Louis Art Museum, Howard University, and the New Jersey State Museum.‍

Lorenzo Pace (USA) 
Sculptor, installation artist, and author known for Triumph of the Human Spirit at New York’s African Burial Ground. His assemblages transform found materials into narratives of ancestry, resilience, and liberation. Professor of Art, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Kimberly M. Becoat (USA) 
Contemporary mixed-media artist whose Urbania series examines urban displacement and memory. She reuses sand, tar paper, foil, and everyday materials to reconstruct erased Black and Latino histories in NYC. 

Mr. StarCity (David White, USA) 
Brooklyn-born multidisciplinary artist (painting, sculpture, poetry, performance). His textured works and alter-ego “Loverboy” explore love, healing, and resilience. Exhibited in NYC, LA, and internationally.   

Charisse Pearlina Watson (USA) 
Conceptual artist and writer based in New York. Her work examines Black interior life, resistance, and surveillance technologies through sculpture, writing, and photography—re-articulating intimacy and concealment as forms of resistance.  

Arsimmer McCoy (USA) 
Miami Gardens–based storyteller, poet, and cultural worker. She merges poetry, performance, and visual installation to explore lineage, community, land, and spiritual histories. Her projects center Black women’s narratives and intergenerational memory.  

Nona Faustine (USA) 
Photographer interrogating race, gender, and visibility in American history. Her acclaimed White Shoes series revisits sites of slavery through self-portraiture. Recipient of the 2024 Rome Prize; featured in major museum collections.  

Amy Araujo
Amy Araujo is a large-scale figurative, ocean drawer. Araujo received her BFA in 2012 and MFA in Drawing in 2016 from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. She has been included in various exhibitions across the country and has works included in both private and public collections. She is the recipient of the Mass Cultural Council 2024 Creative Individuals grant. Araujo has taught a variety of drawing classes as a part-time lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Stonehill College. She currently lives in Dartmouth, MA.

VantaBlack
‍VantaBlack is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice traverses portraiture and woven sculpture to explore the social realities and inner worlds of Black womanhood. Her practice is rooted in remembrance, resistance, and care, her work encodes subversive forms of royalty, honoring the everyday and the ancestral alike. Through materials such as woven yarn, metal adornments, and printed fabric, she constructs visual narratives that challenge systems of erasure while celebrating the enduring power of identity and collective memory.

Anthony Liggins (USA) 
Miami-based multidisciplinary artist blending acrylic painting, photography, antique printing blocks, and yarn to explore interconnectedness and spiritual balance. His work draws on Zen philosophy and global cultural influences, transforming abstraction into meditations on time and humanity. Represented in public and private collections worldwide.

Siriki KY (Burkina Faso / Côte d’Ivoire / France) 
Burkinabé sculptor (b. 1953, Abidjan) working in stone, bronze, wood, and iron. Founder of the Laongo International Granite Sculpture Symposium (1988, Burkina Faso). His work bridges tradition and modernity, exploring ancestral memory and cultural continuity through form and texture.

Destyni Swoope
Destyni “Desi” Swoope (1998) born to a Puerto Rican- American mother and a Bahamian, African-American father, was raised in Port St. Lucie, Florida. As a child with artistic inclinations, she found solace in creating, though the absence of prominent examples left her uncertain of the possibilities in the arts. Wrestling with identity while navigating a path for herself, Desi's aspirations in the realm of art felt unattainable. The craftsmanship of her grandmother, a master of various artistic disciplines like sewing, painting, and building, ignited Desi’s creative spark.Currently residing in Miami, Florida, Desi is focusing on themes of heritage, culture, and the preservation of deeply rooted aspects within the diaspora, she is forging a path for herself and others who share similar narratives of passionately understanding and affirming identity.

Drew Deng
‍Drew Deng  is a non-binary (they/them) multimedia, first-generation artist of Ecuadorian and Chinese descent, working in Miami, Florida. Their work combines weaving, printmaking, and painting to collage personal memories and social analysis through storytelling.

Julia Charles
‍Julia Charles was born in the small village of Ladbergen, Germany, where she learned early that art could be a bridge that connects ideas, experiences, and people. As long as she had a pencil in hand, she could create worlds both familiar and new. Her journey later carried her to Miami, where the warmth, history, and diverse cultures continued to shape her creative language. She gathers humanity, everyday environments and nature, weaving them into her work across canvas, wood, and digital mediums.Julia’s art is a celebration of connection. Through her pieces, she explores the necessity of belonging, places where people can meet, feel, and be together.

Stephanie Menjivar
Stephanie Menjivar is an artist, marketer, and Art Business Mentor based in Miami, FL. Her yearning for creativity has led her through various career paths that have formed the basis of how she makes art. By day, you can find Stephanie actively involved in leading growth marketing initiatives at startups and helping artists build the art businesses of their dreams. By night, you can find her creating work inspired by her travels and the simple things that we often overlook in life.

Alex Van Mecl
Opa-locka resident and historic preservationist Alex Van Mecl curates a rich exploration of the city’s unique history, architecture, and community stories. “Tales of Opa-locka: A Heritage Journey” invites visitors to step back in time, uncover the inspirations behind the city’s iconic Moorish Revival design, and celebrate the people and events that shaped its identity. Through photographs, artifacts, and interactive displays, the exhibition highlights Opa-locka’s cultural legacy and ongoing efforts to preserve its remarkable heritage.

Philippe Dodard
Celebrated Haitian artist Philippe Dodard is known for his vibrant, abstract paintings that explore memory, identity, and the cultural heritage of the Caribbean. His work blends elements of modernism with Haitian visual traditions, often incorporating bold colors, dynamic textures, and symbolic imagery. Dodard’s art has been exhibited internationally, and he is recognized for his contributions to both fine art and public art projects, reflecting a deep engagement with history, spirituality, and the social landscapes of Haiti and the diaspora.

Angèle Etoundi Essamba (Cameroon / Netherlands) 
Internationally recognized photographer portraying the strength and dignity of African women. Her black-and-white portraits merge aesthetics with social commentary, celebrating identity, resilience, and beauty. Founder of Essamba Home (Cameroon).