From top, left to right:
Maunica Devi, Fiction; Washington, D.C. –
Maunica is a fiction writer based in Washington, DC. Her roots are in India, Uganda and Louisiana. She is the daughter of stateless refugees and the mother of two children. Maunica is relatively new to creative writing, and the endeavor of artmaking as a vocation. Her parents did not have the luxury of obtaining a formal education, and she took their scarcity mindset into the field of social justice lawyering. Maunica is a non-traditional emerging writer, as both a woman of color and a middle aged working mom of two. She writes fiction because she believes stories have the magical capacity to connect us to each other, and to the very essence of humanity. Through her writing, she tells stories of non-dominant communities whose voices are not often heard.
Karen Mok, Fiction; Brooklyn, NY – Asian American Writers Workshop Margins Fellow –
Karen is a fiction writer born and raised in South Carolina. Her work is interested in mental health, power and class in the Asian American community. She is a 2024 Asian American Writers Workshop Margins Fellw. Her work has received support from The Massachusetts Review, American Short Fiction, The Sewanee Writers’ Workshop and Periplus.
Khải Đơn, Fiction; Bien Hoa City, Vietnam – Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network Fellow –
Khải is a journalist turned poet and writer. Her creative sphere is centered on the Mekong Delta, the land of her fascination and the sinking devastation into the rising sea. Her works negotiate the change of land and human fates. She suggests how women and daughters imagine a liveable space after the catastrophe. Her poetry was exhibited in Barbican (London), Gropius Bau (Berlin), along with the Shifting Sand Exhibition in 2023. Her poetry was published in The POETRY Magazine, Orion Magazine, Cha Asian Magazine, DiaCritics, sin cesar, and Poetry Daily. Her debut poetry collection, Drowning Dragon Slips by Burning Plains, was published by DVAN and Texas Tech University Press in 2023. She is working on a speculative novel about the shifting land and the devastation of childhood in far-flung places where the forces of the world economy finally reach and crush it.
Mary Hanrahan, Poetry; East Lansing, MI –
Mary holds an MFA in creative writing and an MA in counseling. Her work appears in The Missouri Review, Booth, Boudin, The Artful Dodge, Sugar House Review, The McNeese Review, and elsewhere online and in print. She lives on a wetland in the middle of Michigan with her family. She is survivor of SA and gun violence and hopes to one day live in a world free from weapons.
William Jae, Composing; Los Angeles, CA –
As a pianist, composer, and entrepreneur, his broad interest in the arts and sciences combined with his keen sense of melody and harmony has pushed him to explore and discover unique connections through his music. William first began his musical studies, teaching himself piano at around the age of 10. From 2018 to 2020, he became the recipient of the Herbert Zipper Scholarship, which allowed him to study music at the Colburn School of Music. From 2019 to 2020, he was a fellow at the Composer Fellowship Program where he was mentored by renowned composers such as Andrew Norman, Sarah Gibson, and Thomas Kotcheff. His first string trio, “Alabaster Wool”, premiered in 2019 at Choral Hall inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall and was performed by the renowned Lyris Quartet. During the pandemic, William became the recipient of the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Young Artists Award. In 2021, he was selected by OSSIA, a student-run new music ensemble at Eastman, to compose a chamber ensemble piece drawing inspiration from fog and city lights. At just 19 years old, William scored his first independent feature film titled, “Eddie.”, in Rochester, New York, which has received several accolades at various film festivals. William has also scored a dark comedy short film titled, “Black Magic”, incorporating aleatoric sounds and a rich tapestry of electronics.. In June 2024, William will be premiering a new piece with the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in San Francisco. William is currently an undergraduate senior at the Eastman School of Music pursuing a dual degree in music composition and psychology. Outside the classroom, he is the artistic director for a student-run chamber orchestra where he works to build a rich and inclusive community of musicians and educators.
M Slater, Visual Arts: Philadelphia, PA –
M is an interdisciplinary artist who lives and works in West Philadelphia, PA. They have exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the TILT Institute for the Contemporary Image, Vox Populi Gallery, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, The Woodmere Art Museum, Fjord Gallery, and Little Berlin (Philadelphia, PA). Their work has also been published in ‘Title Magazine’ and ‘Facility.’ M received their B.A. at the University of Pennsylvania in 2016. They have been honored with the Fine Arts Chair Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Senior Thesis, a 2019 residency with the Studios at Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA, and a 2022 Illuminate the Arts Grant from The City of Philadelphia Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy.
Alongside (and in communication with) their studio practice, M works in graphic design under the alter-ego ‘Belsh’ (belsh.net) where they collaborate with other artists and cultural institutions on exhibition design, art direction, and long-term art projects. They are also currently leading a project to photograph and catalog the permanent art collection at the William Way LGBT Center Archives for eventual online public access. In addition, M is also the Designer-In-Residence at RAIR (Recycled Artist in Residency), an active construction and demolition waste recycling plant, where they work on graphic projects for artists and while developing typographic work through the lens of sustainable material sourcing and waste disposal.
Previously, from 2016–2019, M was the graphic designer & digital media editor for Philadelphia Contemporary, where they helped produce site-specific installations, poetry festivals, and performance series across the city. In 2019, they were a main collaborating artist and performer in the lesbian-feminist performance art piece ‘Killjoy’s Kastle’ at the Icebox Project Space, Philadelphia.
Luisa Turuani, Visual Arts; Milan, Italy –
Luisa received her Master Fine Art in Sculpture at Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan in 2017. After the graduation, she took part in several exhibitions, prizes and residencies. In 2022, she won the Italian Council, an open call promoted by the DGCC within the Italian Ministry of Culture, with the research project “1 second 1 gram”. Between 2022 and 2023, the project has involved many cultural partners and it has been exposed in several places, among them: Modo asbl (Bruxelles), La Rada (Locarno), OnCurating Project Space (Zurich), the Italian Institute of Culture (Zurich), the International Museum of Ceramics (Faenza), Careof (Milan), BAC (Berna), the Academies of Fine Arts in Venice, Verona and Milan. She took part in others several contests; she won: Special Prize Arte Laguna (2022); Opera Viva Barriera di Milano – il Manifesto (2020), AccadeMibact Prize (2019), Combat Prize (2019), Nocivelli Prize (2018); she was also finalist at Arte Laguna Prize (2018 and 2022), Exibart Prize (2021 and 2022), Francesco Fabbri Prize (2021); Arteam Prize (2018).
Recent solo exhibitions include: dots dots, Naples, 2023; Aspettando Ermanno Cristini, riss(e), Varese, 2022; Un altro giorno felice, SEM, Milan, 2022; Riserva di caccia, La Nica Gallery, Rome, 2020. Recent collective exhibitions include: Dialogos Part Seven, Naples, 2023; Gaze Off, within Wopart Fair, Lugano, Switzerland, 2022; Travel Diary – the first crypto art exhibition in Italy, Decentraland, Snark.art, NY, 2021.
Her works are visible in numerous publications including, “1 second 1 gram” (2024), supported by the Italian Council – Edition 11 is part of the Stedelijk Museum library; other relevant publications: Camminare l’orizzonte: finestre, La Centrale Editions, 2023.