Star Mitchell (they/them) is a luminous force of rebirth—a transdisciplinary artist and native New Yorker boldly walking in their creative audacity. Their work is rooted in the spirit of Sankofa—“Go Back and Get It”—a principle that anchors their desire to uproot and recover lost histories, and speak unspoken truths. Star has performed at The Shed, Judson Memorial Church, CPR, BAAD!, Princeton University, and Abrons Arts Center. Their current focus is community-centered, bringing movement as liberation into everyday life. They offer services including intimacy direction, choreographic support, workshops, creative assistance, and program coordination. Star just had their off broadway debut at Ars Nova’s Ant Fest (2025), is a 2025 MODArts Resident and Pioneers Go East NEXT! Mentee. 2023 EMERGENYC Alum, 2022 CPR Artist-in-Residence, and 2021 City Artist Corps Recipient.
My name is Sharon Lyons. I am a writer, mother, grandmother, and swimmer. I have been writing poetry since the Covid-19 Pandemic. As terrible as that time was, it was a revelation for me. Being shut in the pen and pages because my company and I have been writing since. My poems had been in several anthologies through the Brooklyn Public library created writing. And Age Friendly News Letter. Thank you for this opportunity to have my poems in your exhibition.
Stella Tillery-Lee (New York, NY) began her training at The Ailey School Junior Division, where she discovered her passion for dance and studied under the direction of Tiffany Barnes from 2009 to 2024. She is a graduate of Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School, where she deepened her practice across ballet, modern, Horton, and contemporary techniques. A versatile dancer, Tillery-Lee further honed her artistry at the Debbie Allen Dance Academy Summer Intensive in Los Angeles (2022, 2023), led by Debbie Allen, and The Ailey School Summer Intensive (2019, 2021). She is now attending NYU Tisch School of the Arts to get a BFA in Dance. With over 15 years of training and a commitment to artistic growth, Tillery-Lee brings a dynamic presence to every stage she graces.
Makeda Kumasi is the founder of WE 3 PRODUCTIONS. She attend Cal Arts before receiving her B.A. in Communications from CSUF and her M.F.A in Theater form USC. Kumasi received the 2023 Living Cultures Grant from the Alliance for California Traditional Arts, as well as the California Arts Council grant through Creative Corps Inland Empire. Kumasi published two books: I See Hip Hop Afrika and 12 Days in Senegal; An Artist’s Journey, which both contain pencil sketches of the journey. Kumasi released her first wide release album, A Spoken Word Experience including music videos for the tracks Maat and Electricity. As a visual artist, Kumasi’s paintings have been featured across Southern California including the exhibit Under The Baobab Tree in San Bernardino and An Urban Djali Tour Experience at the “African Americans & the Arts” Exhibit Opening by the Petaluma Blacks for Community Development, Petaluma, CA 2024. Her painting ‘Betrayal’ was featured at the Author Rose Museum at Claflin University in South Caroline as part of a Woman’s Month event entitled The IYA Exhibit. ‘Betrayal’ and other visual and performing art pieces will be showcased in the “Women Who...” project that features a virtual museum curated by artist Sharon Lee Minor Ph.D. on the artplacer.com website platform from June 19th - September 30th, 2025.
My name is Richard Murray. I create in various disciplines: a narrator, a calligrapher, an llustrator, a writer, a book reviewer, a computer programmer, not a lawyer, not a pediatrician. I was born and raised in Harlem, not all of New York City. I love jogo bonito, the beautiful game. Find me on Kobo.com as Richard Murray, or Deviantart.com as HDdeviant, or AALBC.com
Samira Mendoza is a transdisciplinary performance artist, curator, and educator based in Brooklyn. Their work centers improvisation through different mediums including sound, sculpture, organizing, and movement to investigate oppressive systems, familial history in Latin America and the Caribbean, and my personal experiences growing up in the South. Mendoza sees improvisation as an act of resistance, a space to reject formal structures and create new ideas. Their current projects include Dendarry Bakery, Las Mariquitas, Tó Ara, Dyspheric, and the Uhaul Disco. Dendarry Bakery is an experimental performance trio including Gladstone Deluxe and Mobéy Lola Irizarry. Dendarry Bakery combines Afro-Caribbean and electronic percussion, bass, improvisatory Spanglish vocal performance, and childrens games as well as games of the pre-colonization era to pose reflections on mother-tongues, queerness, transness, and liberation. Las Mariquitas is a queer and trans-centered Salsa band aiming to create space for people to feel safe and comfortable in a genre that is usually cis-hetero dominated. Dyspheric is a collective based in Pittsburgh that centers black and brown queer and trans DJs including: Steph Alona aka XC-17 and Jessica Fuquay aka Yessi. The Uhaul Disco is a sporadic DIY party made to connect people from different cultures and generations to celebrate each other.
Gatekeeper is a Non-binary Trans Femme visual artist, filmmaker, & entrepreneur based in Brooklyn, NY. As a visual artist, her primary medium is filmmaking but also includes: graphic art, large scale murals, executive producing and creative direction. The focus of her work is to center, celebrate, and empower Black Queer & Trans people with an emphasis on capturing of nuances & beauty of our experiences. Their visual art and paintings are heavily influenced by traditional African aesthetics, customs, and spirituality - with modern interpretations.
Their work has been featured on PBS, NBC, BTFA, in the Leslie-Lohman Museum of art, and most recently in the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center. They currently own their own production company and produce a number of podcasts including ‘Stonewall Generations’ & ‘FQ Crazy, Sexy, Cool’.
Kneaku Ashae (they/them) is a filmmaker, producer, performer and dj, affectionately known as Sp3cial K. They have an expansive background in film production and live performance as they hold a Bachelor’s degree in Digital Media & Video Production and Theatre Arts, and enjoys utilizing a multidisciplinary approach to their work. A storyteller of many mediums, Kneaku loves to expand the familiar with the unknown and is inspired by the fables and intimate truths of black queer culture.
Amina Ross is an interdisciplinary artist exploring power, perception, and embodiment through video, sound, sculpture, and installation. Their work has shown at MoMA PS1, the Hessel Museum, and the Tang Teaching Museum, with films screened at Tate London and The Walker Art Center. Ross is a 2024 MacDowell Fellow, a 2023 Flaherty Film Seminar featured artist, and the 2023–2024 Estelle Lebowitz Artist in Residence at Rutgers. They hold an MFA from Yale and a BFA from SAIC. Writing on their work appears in Liquid Blackness, BOMB Magazine, and publications from Feminist Press and Soberscove.