Salome Asega is a Brooklyn-based artist and researcher whose practice celebrates dissensus and multivocality. She is the co-host of speculative talk show Hyperopia: 20/30 Vision on bel-air radio and the Assistant Director of POWRPLNT, a digital art collaboratory. Salome has participated in residencies and fellowships at Eyebeam, New Museum, and the Laundromat Project. She also has given presentations at New Inc, Performa, Eyeo, and the Schomburg Center. Salome is currently showing work in the 11th Shanghai Biennale. She received her MFA from Parsons School of Design at The New School in Design and Technology and her BA from New York University in Social Practice.
salome.zone

Nelson De Jesus Ubri is originally from Bani, Dominican Republic. He received a BFA in Architectural Design with honors from Parsons School of Design after participating in the Parsons Scholars program, which served as the foundation for his success within the Parsons community. Currently, as a Fulbright grantee, Nelson has been developing Upstream-Downstream. It is a research project that analyzes the Dominican Republic's infrastructure and architecture; a case study to better understand a country's vulnerabilities in the North Atlantic Hurricane Basin. In partnership with local communities in the Dominican Republic, Nelson aims to develop resilient solutions for areas constantly affected by hurricanes. As an interdisciplinary designer, a Gilman Alumni, and now a Fulbright Grantee, Nelson wants to combine architecture, urban design and foreign-affairs to promote awareness about climate change and develop solutions to decrease the effects of a warming planet.

Scherezade is an interdisciplinary visual artist born in Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic and based in Brooklyn, New York. Garcia’s work frequently evokes memories of faraway home and the hopes and dreams that accompany planting roots in a new land. By tackling the collective memory as well as the ancestral memory in her public intervention and studio-based practice, Garcia presents a quasi-mythical portrait of migration and cultural colonization.

Scherezade’s work is included in the permanent collection of The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, Washington DC, El Museo del Barrio in NYC, The Housatonic Museum of Art in CT, and El Museo de Arte Moderno in Santo Domingo.

Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including “Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; “Skin I’m in: Contemporary Dominican Art” from El Museo del Barrio’s permanent collection; “¡Merengue! Visual Rhythms/Ritmos Visuales” at El Museo del Barrio; The Caribbean Abroad: Contemporary Arts and Latino Migration at the Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ.

Recently, Garcia was a recipient of the 2015 Joan Mitchell Painters & Sculptors Grant.
Also, her large-scale piece “The Liquid Highway”, commissioned by Miller Theatre at Columbia University was on view until June 2016. She is currently represented by Lyle O Reitzel Art Gallery in Santo Domingo and New York, and is faculty at Parsons The New School for Design in NYC. scherezade.net

Leslie Jiménez is a Dominican born multi-disciplinary artist and museum educator, based in NY. Ms. Jiménez graduated from the prestigious Altos de Chavón School of Design, in the Dominican Republic. She was awarded a full scholarship from Parsons The New School, where she graduated with honors. Jimenez' work has been selected for public art projects in Washington Heights and Harlem. She was invited to create a large-scale mural at El Museo del Barrio and recently collaborated on a tribute piece at Museum Mile Festival. Her work is included in the first Uptown Triennial in NY and it has been reviewed in the Financial Times and Manhattan Times. She is the recipient of the Sugar Hill Museum Residency award. Jiménez has been invited to talk about her work at El Museo del Barrio, CNN en Español, Rutgers University, City College, Art In FLUX and Parsons The New School.

Jeana Lindo was born in Miami, Florida and spent most of her life between Pembroke Pines, Florida and Kingston, Jamaica. She is a multimedia artist who majored in Photography at Parsons School of Design in New York City. Her large family and travel experiences inform her work which is focused on cultural identity and social issues. Through her art, Jeana intends to expand ideas of contemporary Jamaican art and stories from the African diaspora. Jeana-lindo.com

Ron Morrison is a designer, artist, and urbanist. Their practice works to create strategies using art and design that help people understand how urban systems work and how to act within their fissures and inconsistencies. From these dissonant spaces we learn to rework and retune systems towards an increased potential for collaboration and action. With a strong background in community development and social advocacy, they believe that people should have full access to shaping their cities and communities and see design as a medium for creating knowledge and moving beyond paralysis in the face of complexity. From building open source platforms to upend the continued practice of solitary confinement to crafting community based archives to combat gentrification, their work investigates cartographies of slow violence, dispossession, embodied data, and blackness. They have been a collaborator with design teams that implemented projects in New Orleans, Ghana, Colombia, Ethiopia, New York, and Venice and have had work featured in AIA New York, the UN World Urban Forum, and the Tribeca Film Festival. Ron holds degrees in Psychology and Gender Studies, as well as a graduate degree in Design and Urban Ecologies from Parsons School of Design. They currently teaches in the School of Design Strategies at Parsons School of Design. threadcountcreative.com

Isaac Paris is a self-taught artist that studied Communications Design 2½ years at Pratt, but got his B.F.A. Degree, with Honors, at Parsons School of Design. Principal at I Paris Design. Clients have included Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Amistad Press, Inc., AVP (Anti-Violence Project, NYC), BAM (Brooklyn, Academy of Music), Authentic Hair Care Systems, Harlingen Veterinary Clinic, Essence Magazine, Foscarini Lighting, Italiana Luce International, Juilliard University of Music Dance and Drama, The New York Law School BLSA New Journal, RCA Records Label, Shang Records of Epic Records Label, Rory Sparrow Foundation, and Shaka King Menswear. He also works as a Senior Art Director/Designer at SGNET Solutions, LLC., Clients have included CAREGAIN Management of Health Care Benefits, The Diversity Advancement Project, Focustream (Video Streaming and Video Conferencing Technologies), Global Business Intelligence, Harlem Community Development Corporation, Heavy Hitters Music, The New England Journal of Medicine, Thinking Planet Productions, TIAA-CREF's College Savings Plans, 1199 SEIU's Child Care Fund and the Greater New York Child Care Fund.

Featured in The Artist Magazine, Rockport's Letterhead & Logo Design 7, Rockport's Letterhead & Logo Design 8 (Top Design Studios), and several Carter's Corporate Identity Books.

Ken Tanabe is a multidisciplinary creative director whose professional practice unifies design specialties, technical disciplines, educational spaces, social change, and public engagement with diverse audiences. His eighteen years of creative experience includes work for Google, Beyoncé, and Emmy-winning studio Imaginary Forces. He has fourteen years of teaching experience at Parsons School of Design, where he received the Distinguished University Teaching Award. He is the founder of Loving Day, a design-driven social change project that is celebrated in dozens of cities as the world’s largest network of multicultural community celebrations. His work in design and social change has led to over eighty public speaking engagements at places like the Global PR Summit and the HOW Design Conference. Ken Tanabe and his work have been featured by CNN, NPR, BBC World, Print, Fast Company, and many others. See more at kentanabe.com

Rikki Byrd is a writer, educator and scholar, with research interests in Black studies, fashion history and cultural studies. She received her Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri and her Master of Arts in Fashion Studies from Parsons School of Design. Her master’s thesis, Black the Color We Wear, explores how blackness is centered in popular culture and offers a new approach to reimagining dialogue concerning the black body. Since then, her research has led her to creating innovative spaces to engage students, scholars, and industry professionals in conversations on race and representation. Rikki is the co-founder and co-editor of the Fashion and Race Syllabus with Parsons alum Kimberly Jenkins. rikkibyrd.com

Patricia was born on October 11, 1991 in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She began her BFA education at the School of Design Altos de Chavon, receiving the Technical Illustration title two years later and continued studies in the Graphic Design program receiving her associate degree in 2012. Patricia receives a full tuition scholarship for Parsons School of Design in New York City and finishes her BFA in May of 2014. Later on she is given the opportunity to participate on the the Biennial Centro Leon Jiménez and received the prize awarded by the city of Cadiz for a cultural immersion.cargocollective.com/patriciaencarnacion

Alston Green has enjoyed an extensive and exemplary career within the textile, home décor, and gifts and social expression industries. His passion and love for creating beautiful, functional products have prevailed throughout his career. Alston spent many years on Seventh Avenue, New York’s’ renowned epicenter of fashion, creating surface designs for children, women, men and home décor, as well as original patterns and textiles. Over time, he adapted his skills and talents when the greeting card industry came knocking. Alston developed and managed design exclusively for the Mahogany card and gift line, and worked on an assortment of products at Hallmark Cards Inc. in Kansas City Missouri - the world’s leading greeting card company. During his tenure at Hallmark, Alston had the opportunity to expand and redefine Hallmark’s ethnic products programs. In addition, he developed an array of products across the Hallmark brand. Alston’s bold, signature designs allowed him to soar to the top of his field, reshaping,redefining and reinvigorating the personal and social expression industry with products for the African American audience. This program radically changed how this underserved target market celebrates life’s occasions. Alston’s name was passed along to another social expression company on the west coast by way of design product brokers in China, who became aware of his work. alstongreen.com

Sara Jimenez is a multi-disciplinary Filipina-Canadian artist, currently living and working in New York. Through performance, installation, sculpture, and drawing, she investigates relationships between material impermanence and transcultural memory. Throughout her projects, she is interested in complicating and reimagining existing narratives around concepts of home, absence, and origins.

Jimenez received her BA from the University of Toronto (2008) and her MFA from Parsons School of Design (2013). Residencies include Brooklyn Art Space (2014), Wave Hill’s Winter Workspace (2015), a full artist fellowship to The Vermont Studio Center (2016), and the Bronx Museum’s AIM program (2016). Jimenez has exhibited at the Pinto Art Museum (Philippines), Rush Arts Gallery (NY), BRIC Gallery, FiveMyles Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, and Wayfarers Gallery (NY), among others. She has performed numerous venues including The Noguchi Museum, Dixon Place, and Smack Mellon. Most recently, Jimenez exhibited at the Bronx Museum as part of the AIM Biennial.

Joy McKinney was born in Montgomery, Alabama. She received her undergraduate degree from the Atlanta College of Art and her MFA in photography from Parsons School of Design, New York. McKinney uses photography and video to explore contemporary social and cultural attitudes towards gender and race. Her work is rooted in social awareness and each of her projects is a deep exploration of one of its many facets. In her work, Joy McKinney transcends social norms and is not afraid to put herself in unconventional social positions in order to create a strong connection with her subjects and capture the strength and intensity of their emotions. With her experimental approach, she is able to challenge the socially accepted boundaries between people and connect with strangers in a real and meaningful way, in a bid to break down social barriers and social norms. Using photography as a deep spiritual practice, Joy McKinney is able to use her energy to draw the viewers into the photograph and show them something that can transcend and transform our beliefs about one another. Her work has been presented in various venues in Europe and the United States. Recipient of several awards, Joy McKinney was invited as guest speaker at the Design Indaba World Conference and guest lecturer at Parsons School of Design. Some of the publications that featured her artwork include Vogue, The Guardian, LensCulture, Peta Pixel, Core 77, The Huffington Post, Daily Mail, and Reframing Photography.

Inyegumena Nosegbe is an honors graduate from Parsons School of Design. She received her BFA in Communications Design in 2016 and delivered the commencement speech for her graduation ceremony. As a multidisciplinary designer, Inyegumena's personal work materializes at the intersection of art, culture and the exploration of the evolving identity of the African Diaspora. inyegumena.com

Kaitlynn Redell is a visual artist based in Los Angeles, CA. She received her BFA from Otis College of Art and Design in 2009 and her MFA from Parsons School Of Design in 2013. Her practice is invested in the exploration of race and gender in relation to the body and how the body becomes codified within these socially constructed categorizations. More specifically she is interested in inbetweeness and how “unidentifiable” bodies—that do not identify with standard categories—negotiate identity. She has participated in numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally including at El Museo del Barrio (NYC), Rush Arts Gallery (NYC), A.I.R. Gallery (NYC), Western Project (LA), Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LA), Charlie James Gallery (LA) and Museo Laboratorio - Ex Manifattura Tabacchi (Italy). Her work is currently on view at the 32nd Biennial of Graphic Arts: Birth As Criterion, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In October, she will have work included in No Longer Negotiable at Nous Tous in Chinatown, Los Angeles.

James Terrell is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Northeast, Washington, DC. His paintings incorporate ideas of ancestry and identity alongside formal concerns of color and composition. Terrell holds a MFA in painting from Parsons School of Design and a BFA from Howard University. He has exhibited throughout Washington, DC for over 15 years, including at the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum and the Howard University Gallery of Fine Art. He works as an art teacher in the DC Public Schools.

The Honfleur Gallery presented James Terrell with the 2017 East of the River Distinguished Artist Award. The Honfleur Gallery exemplifies high standards of art and culture from across the city and nation. In 2012, the East of the River Distinguished Artist Award was created, to celebrate the exemplary caliber of artists from Ward 7 and 8. thecolorofsound.org

Raquel de Anda is a curator, producer, and cultural organizer based in Brooklyn, NY. Born and raised on the U.S. Mexico border, much of her work approaches themes of duality, connection, separation, inclusion and the intersections of migrant rights with other movements for social justice. She is a firm believer in the power of art and culture to ignite social change. Raquel began her career as Associate Curator at Galería de la Raza, a contemporary Latino arts organization in San Francisco, CA. Her work spans a variety of practices, including designing an interactive installation at the Tribeca Film Festival, curating exhibitions at Project Row Houses (Houston, TX) and The Museum of the Americas (Washington DC), and overseeing creative production for the historic People’s Climate March (New York City). In 2014, de Anda was awarded the Robert Rauschenberg Artist as Activist Fellow as part of her work with People’s Climate Arts Collective. De Anda received an MS from Parsons School of Design, with a focus on integrating cultural equity in the field of arts and culture. She is currently Director of Public Engagement at No Longer Empty, an organization that activates engagement with art and social issues through site-responsive exhibitions, education and cultural programs. raqueldeanda.org

Noelle Flores Theard is a Programs Associate at the Magnum Foundation. She holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, an MA in African Diaspora Studies from Florida International University, and an MFA in Photography from Parsons School Of Design. Before joining the Magnum Foundation, Noelle taught in the Art History and African Diaspora programs at Florida International University in Miami and was the photography coordinator for photography at YoungArts, a foundation that supports young artists in ten different artistic disciplines. In addition she worked for many years as a stringer for the Miami Herald. She is a cofounder of FotoKonbit, a non-profit that teaches photography in Haiti in order to provide Haitians with training and opportunities to tell their own stories through photography. Noelle was the Director of Photography for Dr. Yaba Blay's book and web project titled (1)ne Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race. noelletheard.com

Kim Jenkins specializes in the sociocultural and historical influences behind why we wear what we wear, specifically addressing how politics, psychology, race and gender shapes the way we ‘fashion’ our identity. She is a part-time lecturer at Parsons School of Design, Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute, and amongst the pioneering cohort of graduates from the MA Fashion Studies program at Parsons. In Fall 2016, Kim debuted the undergraduate course “Fashion and Race” at Parsons, examining the implications of the social construct of race in fashion history, business and image-making. kimberlymjenkins.com

Born in Seoul, Korea, in 1986, Yuni Kim Lang received a MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA from Parsons School of Design. Lang is a Michigan-based visual artist who creates sculptures, photographs and wearable art that explores themes of weight, mass, accumulation, hair and cultural identity. She creates sculptures out of rope and synthetic materials where it transcends its materiality and becomes bodily. She is fascinated by what people give power and meaning to, along with our obsession with adornment.

Lang has had solo exhibitions at the Frost Art Museum in Miami, Florida and with Sienna Gallery in Lenox, Massachusetts. She has shown at the Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI, Collective 2 Design Art Fair in New York, NY, Parsons Alumni Juried exhibition, New York, NY, Brooklyn Metal Works, Brooklyn, NY, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services, Farmington, MI, Galerie Marzee, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Lang has done a residency at Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China and received a Merit-based Scholarship for her Residency at the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont. yunikimlang.com

Living between the United States and the Dominican Republic (and having lived in Belgium for a while) has made Minaya aware of her own difference and subjectivity depending on context. Influenced by this, her work meditates on representation, identity constructions, gender roles, migration and nature from a personal place but also through larger transcultural and historical frames.

She graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Artes Visuales (ENAV) in Santo Domingo, D.R. in 2009, the Altos de Chavón School of Design in La Romana, D.R. in 2011 and Parsons School Of Design in 2013. She attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2013.

Minaya is the recipient of Emerging Artist Awards from the Rema Hort Mann Foundation (2016) and the Joan Mitchell Foundation (2015), a Great Prize and the Audience Award in the XXV Concurso de Arte Eduardo León Jimenes at the Centro León in Santiago, D.R., and the Great Prize of the XXVII National Biennial of the Museum of Modern Art in Santo Domingo.

She lives and works in Manhattan, NY, maintaining a strong artistic presence in the Dominican Republic. joiriminaya.com

Ayo is an artist and interactive designer living and working in New York. He studied Visual Arts and Philosophy at Rutgers the State University of New Jersey where he earned his B.A. His works range from painting and speculative design to physically interactive works, wearable technology and explorations of Afrofuturism. Okunseinde was the co-founder and creative director of Dissident Display Studios, an award winning studio and art gallery based in Washington DC. As a collaborator with, amongst others, choreographer Maida Withers, Carmen Wong, and Yoko K., Okunseinde has created several interactive performance based works and has performed in several countries including Mexico, Finland, and Croatia. Okunseinde art residency participation includes Finland’s Invitation to Helsinki, IDEO’s Fortnight, and Eyebeam’s Creative Residency. Ayodamola (Ayo) Okunseinde holds an MFA in Design and Technology from The New School, Parsons School of Design in New York where he is currently an adjunct faculty member.

Jeff Ng (aka "jeffstaple") is an established graphic and fashion designer, curator, branding expert, footwear aficionado, and all-around creative visionary. He founded Staple Design, Inc. in 1997: now a well-known streetwear brand (@StaplePigeon), creative consulting agency (Staple Design) and retail concept (@ReedSpace, founded in 2002). Some clients include HBO, Levi’s, Sony, Microsoft, Nike, Burton Snowboards, LVMH, Uniqlo, Kid Robot, Kia and ESPN. Over the years, Jeff has taken Staple's motto, "A Positive Social Contagion" to whole new levels, spreading his instinctual design know-how and fresh knowledge across all media platforms and worldwide.
Stapledesign.com | Staplepigeon.com | thereedspace.com