Idris Hassan

Idris Hassan is a photographer and cultural documentarian working in Oakland, CA, and throughout the Bay Area. She is a graduate of Cal State East Bay and Naropa University with a Masters in Liberal Arts. Hassan’s work explores the deep context between the subjects and their environment, incorporating the themes of healing, belonging, and an exploration of the Diaspora. With an archive of twenty plus years of work, Hassan has traveled abroad capturing the visual essence of various communities. While transitioning from 35mm photography to digital, Idris began to incorporate collage mixed media works into her portfolio. Her photography, mixed media, and collage work have been featured in the “Black Artists on Art” Legacy Exhibit at Oakstop Gallery, the Annual “Art of Living Black” Exhibition at the Richmond Art Center, the “Oakland Women's Day” exhibition at Betti Ono Gallery, Afro Solo's "Reflecting the Light Series" at the San Francisco Public Library, and at various exhibitions in the Bay Area. Ms. Hassan's work has also been featured in the Summer 2015 issue of “African Voices”, a Collection of Soulful Art and Literature. In 2018 her photography was featured in “Photoville” in Brooklyn, NY, and in 2019 at Photoville: LA as part of the exhibition “Altar: Prayer, Ritual, Offerings” curated by Women Photographers of the African Diaspora. In 2020 she was a featured artist in "Don't Shoot: An Opus to the Opulence of Blackness" at the Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco. Idris Hassan is a documentarian and participating artist in the annual "Black Woman is God Exhibition".

"Masks Sold Here" is a digital collage exploring the intersection of a piece of historic Oakland facing a global pandemic, the world uprising against racist oppression, and Citizen’s uplifting healing energy in the midst of a deeply transformational time on this planet.

Serqet

Serqet “She Who Breathes” named by her elders- Founder of EMPWR ME ART, lives in Northern, Ca. As a new and passionate freelance artist, inspired by modern and innovative art forms. She loves working with photography, natural mediums, acrylic paint while exploring new techniques to cultivate her journey as an emerging artist and her need for self-reflection as the divine feminine. Most pieces are abstract/organic paintings with metal and reusable multimedia materials. Commission work is an option.

My intent for the pieces you see before you- in reverence of the 2020 movement #BlackLivesMatter . . . are the manifestations of an inward ancestral dialogue, as a woman of the African Diaspora and of the divine feminine.

iam4Muze

Mianta McKnight, from San Francisco, is a self-taught artist who is spreading her wings and sharing the world through her lens. She finds art healing, and for her, there are various forms of creative expression, that she embodies. She also is a professional dancer who finds freedom through movement and performs with the Daktari Dance Medicine Collective. Creative expression is a part of who she is. Drawing, airbrushing, murals, logo design, website designing, and artwork has allowed her to capture the creativity and has been a new form of communication when words can't quite express. So join her on this art journey and see the world through the eyes of iam4muze.

The moonlight owl warrior woman piece is about embracing feminine energy and sensuality while being energised by the moon while embracing the wisdom of the owl medicine.

Nathalie Okra

Painting Femininity, motherhood, childhood, simplicity, spontaneity, energy, Africa is a deep inspiration for the artist, discovering his identity, Caribbean, European.
Many of Nathalie Okra's works are mixed portraits mixing the figurative and the abstract, the natural and the urban, the geometric and the fluid, inspired by both African (primitive art, African masks, symbols) and European (symbolism) arts. , surrealism, contemporary art) it is a mixture of the two worlds which meet on the canvas, resulting from a double culture the artist shows it and expresses it in his work without ambiguity.
Acrylic paint as well as other materials like spray paint, or chalk are used vividly and contrast on canvas or paper, she emphasizes color, but sometimes likes to mix black and white elements with it. His works are contrasted by their colors, the materials, and the emotions that emerge from them. His art is in motion and is not fixed in a final form, it is in perpetual evolution.

Nathalie Okra art gives strong and powerful images of Black representation, she melts all her origins in one pot and brings something different but familiar.
Flavours of Culture from West Indies, France, and Africa dance on canvas, in so many different ways, but always succeed to mix with some kind of harmony. Universal and Local at the same time. She wants to explore videos, Visual art, and performance, she already did a short fiction, and she really likes to express through moving images.

Marissa Arterberry

Marissa’s work is inspired by the spiritual and cultural traditions of the African Diaspora. She paints goddesses who oversee various realms of the spirit and aspects of healing. Many of the deities Marissa paints appear to her in dreams and visions. She paints what she sees, then conducts historical research on the origins of what she has painted. Marissa blends her watercolor and acrylic paintings with textiles and objects she finds in nature such as seeds, branches, shells, and flowers from her garden.

Ritual and Self Care During a Global Pandemic

I took this moment of unraveling, doors closing, and life making a major shift as an opportunity to go within. There was literally nowhere else to go. Art making is a healing practice for me, and I leaned on it heavily to center myself and help my spirit survive this tumultuous time. I painted, I sang, I prayed, I read, I dreamed. This is what came.

My intention for the virtual exhibit is to bring all these pieces together to create an altar. I will also be incorporating lyrics from two Candomble Orixa songs. I got together with my Candomble community on zoom every Sunday to pray and sing, and it was another practice that helped ground me. I will be painting the lyrics on watercolor paper ( size 4.5 x 6”) and adding them to the altar.

Snowwhite

Snowwhite Silas is a passionate female artist trained in the Institute of Management and Technology, (IMT), Enugu, Nigeria. She tells her stories using diverse media but her best is charcoal and acrylic on canvas. Her best subjects are those relating to the girlchild and womanhood. In her own words, she says, "I am a woman with a difference. I believe every woman is made for more than the kitchen. The society may be against the woman in diverse ways. Our lives may be characterized by teas and pains but amidst the pains and sorrows of the woman emerges that inner beauty that is worth more than silver and gold."

Snowwhite envisions a world where women are appreciated, respected and honoured. The woman is the last born of God's creation and carries in her that ability to recreate, nurture and preserve. We must not sit down and watch the woman trampled upon for in her lies potentials untapped. She may seem weak at some point but beyond that weakness lies a great strength unseen. Women can change the world for good. Invest in a woman and change the world for good.

Marsha Hatcher

A South Georgia born artist who lives and creates art in Jacksonville, Florida for the past 30 years. A military wife for many years, Marsha has traveled around the world and most of her art captures these experiences and the people she has met. Marsha is an artist who loves creating art and her artwork defines who she is and what she is passionate about. The vast majority of her art is painting and people of color is her subject matter. Acrylic, oils, and sometimes wood is her preferred medium. Marsha has a variety of techniques when it comes to creating art. An artist whose work is in many private collections enjoys experimenting with colors, and different mediums to keep her viewers excited. Marsha has often competed in art contest where she has placed in every category. She has recently been awarded her second Art Venture Grant from The Community Foundation. Marsha received her Bachelor of Art degree from Albany State University. A member of Hopewell, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. founding and current board member of Jacksonville Cultural Development Corporation formerly (JCAAA) and The Art Center Cooperative, Inc.

Painting Black people is my passion.

Traci Mims

Traci Mims is a native of St. Petersburg, Florida currently living and working in Jacksonville, Florida. She says “Art has always been a part of my life. I have been drawing since the age of 4.” About the meaning and content of her work, she states “My work is often expressed in the form of cultural allegory and social realism. I am motivated by art that has an underlying message that engages the viewer in a way they can relate to. Art for me is many things but mainly it is my passion and my voice when I have a statement to make. It has also been my protest when circumstances of injustice arise. I never grow weary creating only resentful that there is no more time in a day to print, draw, or paint.” Ms. Mims is formally trained in the visual arts with degrees from Florida A and M University (BA)and Tyler school of art, Temple University(MFA).

As an artist Traci Mims seeks to provoke thought, educate, and create change. As a black female her art is the perfect platform. The work She create tells the story about some of the aspects of black womanhood and how they are perceived stereotypically and treated socially. It also represents their attitudes in dealing with this and the strength over adversity that most have to demonstrate on a regular basis. She does this through allegory and symbolism.

She states “I have always had a great sensitivity toward social and cultural issues, even as a very young artist. To quote Elizabeth Catlett, “Art for me now must develop from a necessity within my people. It must answer a question, or wake somebody up, or give a shove in the right direction. Our liberation.”