2021 Gallery
Tricultural-MISS -
2021 Gallery
In March 2021, 10 young Black and AAPINH artists worked to create a self-portrait that represented their experience as a misrepresented person of color in New Mexico. Together, their work created Tricultural-MISS, the inaugural True NM project.
The Artists and their Artwork
Kai Warrior, 18
she/her/hers
african-american
I chose to base my piece around the
mutual feeling that all underrepresented
people have.
Whether that be race, gender identity,
sexuality, etc., I wanted my piece to bring a
sense of community and empowerment.
Not only am I a Black woman,
I am a Black queer woman.
Cat Younis, 13
sher/her/hers
aapi (vietnamese)/mixed
My piece is to make the unknown know
It was woven with thread
And it’s being sews seeds
To discover oneselves
True identity
Each section’s symbolic
Each color is true
Each stitch that was placed
means the world, not yet to you
It took a skys length of time
The the sun and the moon
To create this structure
Bestowed unto you
Donald Ali Roberts, 23
they/them/theirs
jamaican
I photograph my form in a landscape of love
and sorrow.
The sand leaves whispers on my skin.
I photograph my form as if to say.
“I am.”
“I am.”
“I am.”
Sowang Kundeling, 17
she/her/hers
aapi (tibetan)
In the form of cubism and collage, I create
pieces that reflect my Tibetan-American
experience and the abundant issues and
joys the Asian American Pacific Islander
community faces.
This piece in particular addresses recent
tragedies regarding my community and a
coming of age moment in my life.
Brian Bishop, 21
no pronoun preference
african-american
I collaborated with four artists from the
New Mexico Community:
“Water your Roots” by Alfredo Quiroz @artpxpi_
“Aquilegia” by Aleja @ap.teniflora
“Journeys” by Eamon @_quackley_
“Emergence” by Gilbert White @abqcrew
100% of the profits from the sale of these
custom water bottles will go towards
supporting a water project in Kenya.
Raine Fisher, 19
they/them/theirs
black
As an artist, I try to use my work to
focus on intersectionality in representation.
Mostly, this means I use my art to talk about
marginalized people and marginalized bodies.
I try to drive home the point that marginalized
people can be anywhere and do anything,
often using imagery of science fiction and
history to show marginalized people where
we don’t expect to see them.
Naima Pyarali, 16
she/her/hers
aapi (indian)
Samia Dominguez, 15
she/her/they/them
black-latin/mixed
This art piece is an inanimate representation
of parts of me. It will be in other words, myself
in a physical form other than my physical human
body. I wish to express my poetry, my art, my love,
and my life with one continuous aluminum frame.
Covering it, then, with another material, will be
a depiction of thoughts and negativity.
This covering material represents outside
perspectives and foreign opinions; it depicts
those who feel they have a right to label me
and place me in boxes instead of allowing
me to share myself as I am.
Sonja Larson, 19
she/her/hers
aapi (papua new guinean-american)
I created this art piece as a way reconnect
with my Oceanic heritage and also highlighted
my diasporic identity. I choose to create a
Meri Blouse covered with images of
Black Power Movements and icons.
The photographs I chose were taken of
movements from both Oceania and the
United States, and are used to create a
visual art piece that represented the complexity
of Black-Pacific identity throughout the
American diaspora.
Amanda Younis, 14
she/her/they/them
aapi (vietnamese)/mixed
“I wanted my animation to represent my
personal feelings both in the time of the
present, the past, and the future.
I’m not much of a talker, but I wanted to
express my feelings in a way that I feel
most comfortable with.
Archive of
2021 Events
True NM 2021 Online Exhibition (April 25th, 2021)
True NM 2021 at Albuquerque Art Walk #1 (May 7th, 2021)
True NM 2021 at Albuquerque Art Walk #2 (August 6th, 2021)
2021 Support
Provided By
This collection of work was supported by the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund (2020-2021 Anti-Racism and Intersectional Justice Grant).
