Featured Artists

Meet the Artists

 


 

Artwork by Mark Modimola
Photograph of Mark Modimola

Mark Modimola (He/Him)

I am an African Visual Artist, born in South Africa. Originally a graphic designer, I consider myself a versatile creator, with a portfolio that explores the cadences of African identity and spirituality, often through the cultural aesthetics of portraiture and surrealism. I aim to emphasize the experience of blackness through my work. 

I believe in sharing positive representation to and for the black community while translating the complexity we bring to the world through vivid imagery. I am highly inspired by nature, it’s authenticity, unending originality and innovation. As such, my passions are tied in with Africa; its land and its people, this can be seen in my work.

View more of my work on instagram at @mark_draws.

a young woman gathers medicine from the earth, she, like the materials she gathers, is blue, branches reach out and blue birds perch atop. Surrounding the girl are four scenes: a healer offers the girl medicine; two women wrapped in white garments gather artemisia; a man lays in repose, his eyes are closed is supported by coral-like shrubs; a man with a white cloth wrapped around his waist holds his hand out to the girl and looks out to the viewer.

ARTEMISIA i. The Healer


 

 
Photograph of Mark Modimola

Roger Fernandes (He/Him)

I am a Native American artist and storyteller whose work focuses on the art and legends of the Coast Salish tribes of western Washington. I am an enrolled member of the Lower Elwha S’Klallam Tribe and I have a B.A. in Native American Studies from The Evergreen State College and a Masters Degree in Whole Systems Design from Antioch University.

I have worked in the field of Native education for over 40 years and use both art and storytelling as basic pathways for Indigenous learning. As such, I do classroom presentations for students and trainings for teachers to utilize their inherent gifts of art and story.

As a storyteller I help the audience see the meaning of storytelling in their modern lives and as an artist I strive to have them use this gift to enhance communication and learning.

The Boy and the Wolf


 

 
Photograph of Mark Modimola

Saiyare Refaei (They/Them/She/Her)

I am a Chinese Iranian artist based on the traditional lands of the Puyallup and Coast Salish peoples referred to as Tacoma, Washington. My favorite mediums include community murals, printmaking, drawings, and poetry. I strive to utilize art as a means of community building, education, and healing.

In 2020, I became a member of Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative, a transnational decentralized network of artists committed to social, environmental, and political engagement. You can find more of my work online or on Instagram at  @_saikick_.

hands extend from the top of the canvas holding, offering, a green bowl filled with rice.  Many rice pieces come together to form the word WE . Handwritten text radiates from the offering: we take care of each other, we turn our pain into power,  we will be communicated to in our culture, we are generationally abundant,  we are empowered by our  traditional ways of being, we are improving scientific innovation together, we will no longer suffer in silence,  we belong here, we build trust, we will be called what we want to be called,  we are interdependent.

We


 

 
Photograph of Mark Modimola

Ariadne Campanella-Dosé (They/Them/She/Her)

I am a queer, non-binary trans woman and mixed media artist based in the Duwamish land currently occupied by the city of Seattle. I draw great inspiration from the inherent complexities of the mundane and the events and materials that shape and color our everyday lives, and strive to use those observations as a means of keeping alive the hopes, dreams, fears, and passions of people in my community who have been forgotten, abandoned, abused, or otherwise have had their voices taken from them.

In the face of constant fear, hate, and threats of extermination, I hope to offer my art as a message to all in my community to know that you are heard, wanted, understood, and, most importantly, loved.

You can find more of my work online.

"Me As Loving You" is painted on white letters on a patchwork canvas of blue, yellow, and cream. Layered underneath the painted letters and patches are handwritten statements  "Please God let me live to 60", "As of April 27, 2023 in 2023 alone there have been 379 anti-trans bills passed"

Block #3249 (Mend)