Missed a previous talk? Not to worry! Below are the recordings to all the previous talks for you to watch! 

Simone Elizabeth Saunders 

 Simone is a mixed-race woman of Jamaican and European descent living in Alberta, Treaty 7 Territory. Simone is a visual artist and classically-trained actor. Her practice focuses on rug-tufting to create large, colourful portraits. Simone’s textiles carry narratives through cultural mythology, Black history and personal landscapes; encouraging and aiding in the service of racial emancipation and liberation of Black womanhood. Simone was President of the Students’ Association for the 2018-19 school year at the Alberta University of the Arts. She was recognized by the Alberta Government by receiving the Laurence Decore Award for Student Leadership in 2019. Simone graduated with distinction in May 2020 from AUArts. Selected 2020 awards for Simone include: the AUArts’ Board of Governors’ Graduating Student Award, the Illingworth Kerr Gallery Award for Academic Achievement and the Surface Design Association Graduating Student Award. Most recently Simone was featured on CBC “what’re you at?” with Tom Power, The Calgary Herald, CBC Arts, CBC Radio One, Instagram’s feature Artist, GalleriesWest, Boooooom, Design Milk, Colossal and The George Washington Textile Museum. Recent exhibitions include the Long Distance Art Series through the Social Distancing Festival and Sled Island. 

Jesse Mockrin 

Jesse Mockrin (b. Silver Spring, MD, 1981) has had solo exhibitions at Night Gallery (Los Angeles), Nathalie Karg Gallery (New York), and Galerie Perrotin (Seoul). In 2019, her work was acquired by the Dallas Museum of Art, and her work is also in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Rubell Collection, the KRC Collection, and the Hans-Joachim and Gisa Sander Foundation. In 2017 she presented a solo project at Galerie Perrotin in Seoul, South Korea. Mockrin's work has been covered extensively, appearing in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, Artforum, T Magazine, Modern Painters, and Art Agenda, among others. A catalogue for her solo exhibition Syrinx was produced by Night Gallery in 2019. She lives and works in Los Angeles.

Jamilla Okubo

Jamilla Okubo (b. Clinton, NC) is a Washington, D.C. based interdisciplinary artist exploring the intricacies of belonging to an American, Kenyan, and Trinidadian identity. She holds a BFA in Integrated Design from Parsons the New School of Design. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, in venues such as The Torpedo Factory (VA), Social & Public Art Resource Gallery (CA), Milk Gallery (NY), Weeksville Heritage Center (NY), Super Wonder Gallery (Toronto) and the Dray Walk Gallery (London). She has created art installations for Culture Corp x Hudson Yards (NY), and the Line Hotel (DC). In addition, her work has been reproduced for publications and purchased for private collections. Notable publications of her work have appeared in O, Oprah Magazine and the covers of An American Marriage, Tayari Jones (Oneworld Publishing House) and Den Omättliga Vägen, Ben Okri (Modernista Group AB). She has collaborated with XDevoe, Gorman, and Christian Dior. Currently, she is represented by Mehari Sequar Gallery (DC).

Delita Martin

Delita Martin is an artist currently based in Huffman, Texas, She received a BFA in drawing from Texas Southern University and a MFA in printmaking from Purdue University. Formally a member of the Fine Arts faculty at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Martin currently works as a full-time artist in her studio, Black Box Press.

Working from Oral traditions, vintage and family photographs as a source of inspiration;Martin’s work explores the power of the narrative impulse. Her process of layering various printmaking, drawing, sewing, collaging, and painting techniques allow her to create portraits that fuse the real and the fantastic. In her work she combines signs and symbols to create a visual language. By fusing this visual language with oral storytelling she offers other identities and other narratives for women of colour. Martin’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Most recently Martin’s work was included in the State of the Arts: Discovering American Art Now. An exhibition that included 101 artists from around the United States. She was also included in International Review of African American Art as one16 African American artists to watch who are gaining national and international attention in 2015. www.blackboxpressstudio.com

Anna Valdez 

Anna Valdez work crosses painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, and digital media, she examines the relationship between material and cultural identity. Valdez incorporates articles found in domestic spaces such as plants, textiles, vessels and keepsakes into her work as a method of story telling. Her colourful work invites the viewer to consider objects as emblematic of personal and collective experience, shifting between still life and portraiture. Learn more about Anna Valdez at https://www.annavaldez.com/

Jamea Richmond-Edwards

Jamea Richmond-Edwards was born and raised in Detroit, MI. She graduated with a Bachelors of Art degree from Jackson State University in 2004 where she studied painting and drawing. She went on to earn a MFA in Painting from Howard University in 2012. Jamea has exhibited her artwork nationally and internationally including the Rubell Family Collection and California African American Museum. She currently resides in Maryland with her husband and their three sons. Learn more about Jamea on www.jamearichmondedwards.com