ARTIST ADVANCEMENT

COLLAGE

maryhope|whitehead|lee is an interdisciplinary analog collagist whose work explores housing and food insecurity, family violence, migration in the Sonora–Arizona borderlands, and the intersections of memory, identity, and place. Over the past six years, she has created multiple bodies of work, including an homage to Frida Kahlo and an abstract series featuring hummingbirds in unexpected contexts.

Her work has appeared in numerous print and digital publications and has been exhibited throughout Phoenix and at the Kolaj Institute Gallery in New Orleans. She is a recipient of Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist Opportunity Grants (2022 and 2024) and a 2025 Artists to Work grant from the City of Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Anitah Imani is a portrait, event, and editorial photographer, writer, and journalist based in Phoenix, Arizona. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Fashion from Arizona State University in 2024.

Anitah is the co-founder of ENVY Magazine, a digital editorial publication dedicated to amplifying underrepresented stories from Phoenix's arts and culture community while connecting the city to the broader art world. Influenced by Black culture, pop culture, Afrofuturism, surrealism, and vibrant color, her work explores identity, creativity, and contemporary visual storytelling.

DANCE

Belizean Garifuna artist Shanaleigh Mejia has embarked on a vibrant dance journey spanning continents and cultures. Through Congolese traditional dance, she found a bridge connecting her Garifuna Indigenous Caribbean roots to the heart of Africa. As a member of Mfouambila Kongo, she performed and traveled throughout New York, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, and France.

With more than 14 years of training, Shanaleigh founded Reconnecting to Africa after relocating to Arizona in 2022. Her choreography has been featured at festivals, schools, and virtual events, with each performance honoring ancestry, cultural connection, and the unifying power of dance.

MUSIC, POETRY

Theresa Lovely, known to many as Poetess Love, is a Phoenix-based poet and lyricist whose work blends spirituality with the warmth and soul of Neo-Soul. Originally from Los Angeles and a proud first-generation Congolese American, she carries the rhythms of her heritage into her artistry.

Through poetry and music, Poetess Love creates work that uplifts, heals, and connects, inviting audiences into stories of love, resilience, and truth.

ILLUSTRATION

Mackenzie Reid is a multidisciplinary illustrator and designer who loves breaking open tiny mechanisms to discover what makes them work. Soft plastic edges, circuit boards, and capacitors meet rosewood and ebony in creations that are equal parts creature and instrument, offering a whimsical reimagining of the aesthetics and forms of classical music.s here

PAINTING

Myja Lark is a multidisciplinary artist working in acrylics and oils, creating paintings that weave together themes of identity, resilience, and cultural memory. Rooted in storytelling, her practice draws on ancestral symbols, natural forms, and everyday objects to reflect both personal healing and collective experience.

A self-taught artist, Myja developed her voice through a daily painting practice that sharpened her technique while grounding her in the meditative power of creative process. Her work ranges from still lifes and desert landscapes to large-scale figurative series such as Nappy Roots and SoftHer, centering Black identity, womanhood, and lived history. For Myja, painting is a homecoming—an act of reclaiming, witnessing, and building connection.

POETRY, RAP, PERFORMANCE

Sean Avery Medlin (they/he) is a poet, rapper, and essayist whose work questions the limitations of Black masculinity, media diversity, and personal narrative. Their writing has been featured in Phoenix New Times, Chicago Tribune, and Teen Vogue. They are the author of 808s & Otherworlds: Memories, Remixes, & Mythologies (Two Dollar Radio, 2021), a collection of essays and poetry in print, digital, and audiobook formats.

POETRY, PERFORMANCE ART, MULTI-MEDIA

Trinity Miracle (she/they) is a young Black queer interdisciplinary artist creating captivating and radical work through spoken word poetry and performance art. Trinity considers themself a trier of all things, weaving dreamy yet honest storytelling throughout their practice while centering the Black experience in its many artistic manifestations.

Named to Next Gen America's 30 Around 30: Young Black Changemakers list in 2022, Trinity's work is a testament to the power of storytelling as a catalyst for community change.

DANCE/MOVEMENT ARTS, MUSIC

Born in the United States to immigrants from Lesotho, a small country surrounded by South Africa, Thiditsana "Didi" embodies the richness of living between cultures. Navigating the experience of growing up in one culture while embracing another, she found solace and self-expression through movement and music.

Despite expectations to pursue a more conventional career, Didi discovered her true calling through yoga, dance, and music, realizing these expressive practices were her path to genuine fulfillment. Today, she has woven these art forms into the fabric of her life, finding joy, purpose, and connection through their transformative power.

GRAPHIC DESIGN, PAINTING, MUSIC, WRITING

Felicia loves the privilege of being able to create everyday. She works full-time as a graphic designer, and also writes creative non-fiction and does oil painting in her spare time. Her artwork can be found in public spaces throughout Phoenix and Tempe.

MUSIC/DANCE

Jae Beau is a Nigerian American artist whose creative journey began at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, where he studied from sixth through twelfth grade. His training spanned musical theatre, classical music, African dance, step, and drill. He later earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the State University of New York at Fredonia School of Music.

Drawing from a lifetime of cross-cultural experiences, Jae uses the arts to build bridges across communities. His work is driven by a desire to foster greater understanding and unity by celebrating the connections between the many cultures that have shaped his life.

PAINTING, DIGITAL, COLLAGE, EVENTS

Muse is a Southwest-based Southern belle from Mississippi on a mission to invite Black women back to their bodies, to curiosity, to boldness, and to joy.

After moving to Arizona with little more than a dream, returning home to regroup, and eventually finding her way back, Muse transformed what once felt like a desert into an oasis. Her journey of resilience and self-discovery inspired both her name and her purpose.

Through movement, storytelling, and creative expression, Muse encourages others to embrace their fullest selves, believing that understanding who you are is the key to living a life of freedom and possibility.here