Arvie Smith transforms the history of oppressed and stereotyped segments of the American experience into lyrical two-dimensional master works. His paintings are commonly of psychological images revealing deep sympathy for the dispossessed and marginalized members of society in an unrelenting search for beauty, meaning, and equality. Smith's work reflects powerful injustices and the will to resist and survive. His memories of growing up in the South add to his awareness of the legacy that the slavery of African American's has left with all Americans today. His intention is to solidify the memory of atrocities and oppression so they will never be forgotten nor duplicated. Smith creates this work because he must.

My documentary and multi-media work is shaped and influenced by my direct experience as a daughter raised by garment worker parents. Upon arrival from Hong Kong over thirty-seven years ago, my parents toiled under sweatshop conditions. This upbringing undoubtedly formed who I am as an artist today. In my artwork, I approach social issues through my own personal story, family narrative and community’s history. My body of work has explored issues ranging from the labor rights, immigrant justice, gender equity and militarism. The subject of my projects usually documents the courage and resilience of communities who have boldly come forward to advocate for social change.

"the multifarious nature of care ~ swaddling sessions ~ a new age parody"
keyon gaskin prefers not to contextualize their performances with their credentials.

The first encounter with the web-cam performance artist Molly Soda’s work will probably not occur in a traditional gallery or museum setting, and may not even occur within a typical art context at all. Instead Soda has generated a significant online following, sharing her web-based performances across social media platforms including Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. Through opening up and expressing her vulnerability online, via the private space of her bedroom, Soda explores the technological mediation of self-identity, contemporary feminism, culture and perversion.

I construct narratives, scenes, and stories which point to the tensions found between the individual and communities. I utilize autobiographical threads to inform larger universal fields of experience. Gestures of alienation and displacement are both the aesthetic and subject of much of my work. Often using landscapes and tableaus with day laborers or myself, I explore the way an image is inhabited, and the way that spaces, objects and people are translated into images. My work serves as an expressive and intimate point of contact between the broader realms of subjectivity and political contingency. Through my videos and photographs, I make images that feel at the same time familiar yet distant. I engage the viewer in questions concerning the ways in which the formation and experience of each work is situated—how they exist in and out of place.

Pochas Radicales is an ongoing project founded during an undergraduate experience at Portland State University. The lack of support and space for queer latinas/chicanas/pochas in academia and community pushed members to create an environment in which to discuss the experience of such an identity in the Pacific Northwest. As a queer Latinx art collective, Pochas Radicales work toward community engagement through art and activism.