Inaugural Exhibition

Interdisciplinary artist Nida Bangash was born in Iran and raised in Pakistan. Utilizing intricate patterns and precise details, Bangash’s works weave in personal identity and experience to investigate the complexities of immigration, colonialism, culture, and race. Bangash earned a MA in Visual Arts from the National College of Arts in Lahore and an MFA from Southern Methodist University. Additionally, Bangash received the Charles Wallace Arts Fellowship to study at the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts in London.

Lauren Cross is an interdisciplinary artist, filmmaker, curator, and scholar whose work has been screened and exhibited across the country. Cross earned a BA in Art, Design, and Media from Richmond, the American International University in London, England, and an MFA in Visual Arts from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has a Ph.D in Multicultural Women’s and Gender Studies from Texas Woman’s University. She is a passionate advocate for diversity in the arts, and has written and contributed research in the fields of women’s studies, visual studies, and multicultural studies.

Born in Egypt, Rehab El Sadek is a conceptual artist whose career has spanned over 25 years, working and exhibiting in 17 countries and on 4 continents. Utilizing media such as sound, photography, sculpture, and the written word, she explores issues related to immigration, belonging, communication, and language. She earned a BFA in painting from Alexandria University, Egypt.

A native of Dallas, Angela Faz is a multi-disciplinary artist focusing on creating community. A printmaker for over twenty years, Faz co-founded Nopalistxs in 2020 to fill the public streets with images and words to support emotional and mental health, share resources, and inspire people to dream of more than just the future. Faz holds a BA in Visual Communications from Collins College in Tempe, Arizona. Their handcarved print Collective Care was recently acquired by the Library of Congress.

Pallavi Govindnathan is a multidisciplinary visual artist who was born in India, and grew up in Thailand. She moved to the U.S. to pursue an undergraduate degree in Fine Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She was awarded Post-Baccalaureate and Masters degrees in Painting and New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute. Calling various geographical locations her home, she has dedicated her academic life to studying cultural and social norms that violate human rights, focusing primarily on women.

Lahib Jaddo creates her work through processes of improvisation and self-discovery exploring questions of identity and home in the context of diaspora. Jaddo was born in Baghdad and spent her childhood in Iraq until her family was exiled to Beirut, Lebanon. At 22, she moved to the U.S. and continued her education in architecture and art, and for twenty years she served as a professor at the College of Architecture at Texas Tech University before becoming a full time artist in 2016.

Pat Johnson’s narrative ceramic sculpture and tile work reference political and social issues; her influences range from images from antiquity to today’s popular culture. In these imagined scenarios, she depicts herself as the protagonist or “the artist” taking action against racial injustice, political corruption and corporate greed. A professional artist for more than 40 years, she received a BFA from North Texas State University (now University of North Texas).

Lovie Olivia is a multidisciplinary visual artist who uses the media of printmaking, painting, and installation to explore themes of gender, sexuality, race, and class. Olivia’s work has been exhibited nationally and is in numerous private and public collections including the National Museum of African American History and Culture at the Smithsonian Institute.

Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga grew up among the Kikuyu people of Kenya. She earned a BA in Design from the University of Nairobi, continued graduate work at UCLA, and has exhibited internationally. Her sculptural works are made from sheet metal and steel wire that combine traditional techniques with contemporary processes. This sheet metal – known as mabati – is infused with Gakunga’s childhood memories and Kenya’s history. By replacing their traditional thatched roofs with mabati, Kenyan women created a source for clean drinking water. Instead of going to the river, women collected water from their roofs which dramatically affected the quality of their lives and increased their political standing. These stories of struggle and triumph have had a large influence on Gakunga’s work.