KEHINDE APPLEWHITE

CO-FOUNDER & Facilitator of the OCTAVIA BUTLER BOOK CLUB FAN CLUB

KEHINDE APPLEWHITE (b. in California, US) is a Baltimore-based textile artist. Their unique approach to textile art seeks to materialize ideas such as space, time, movement, and memory using a wide variety of textile mediums to create abstract forms. Applewhite's work is both visually stunning and intellectually stimulating, encouraging viewers to contemplate the deeper meanings behind the shapes and forms that they create

VILLAGER

CO-FOUNDER & Facilitator of CONVERSATIONS IN CANVAS

VILLAGER (b. in Lagos, Nigeria; based in Baltimore, MD), is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose work is centered around investigating humanity as a product of culture and social conditions through an Afro-diasporic lens. Growing up in Lagos, Nigeria, and only immigrating to the United States in 2013, their work incorporates visual and material elements from their personal experiences in both the cultural landscapes of Nigeria and the US. Through their artistic practice, VILLAGER endeavors to scrutinize, deconstruct, and redefine the existential and paradoxical question of what it means to be a "contemporary African."

ALICIA ASTRONOMO

GRANT WRITER AND ASSET MANAGEMENT

Alicia Astronomo (b. and based in Baltimore, MD) is a multi-disciplinary artist, Communications major, and studio assistant whose work focuses on self discovery, documentation, archival, and the preservation of narratives to work against the history rewritten by oppressive infrastructures. Her current projects consist of her virtual gallery, naked art museum, and her blog (future channel and magazine), vomitmouth; both of which are intended to put the verity of the artist at the forefront, praising them for their authenticity rather than their ambiguity.