DSXSO Artists
2017
SEAN G. CLARK was born and raised in Chattanooga Tennessee. After graduating high school, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia where he graduated with a B.S. in Biology. Fast forward to 2012 when he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana he began working in public health to spread awareness on various health issues. With a background in public-health and art, he aims to bridge the gap between art and public health. As an artist, he focuses on his surrounding environment and the issues people face in that environment. The subject matter of his art ranges from the external natural environment to one’s own internal environment, which includes topics such as African-American history, health, and the idea of home.
As an artist I focus on my surrounding environment and the issues people face in that environment. My art is aimed at creating questions and narratives in the minds of the viewer. Meeting notes is a series of drawings that began as subconscious sketches on a notepad during office meetings. Each drawing is a collection of shapes and lines that create a mask which are indicative of a deeper self and identity. |
Photo by Dave Armentor
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JOSE COTTO was born and raised in great brook valley, a housing project in worcester, massachusetts. the son of a single mother raising four kids, he often found himself being pulled between the streets and his desire to create. art was always a means to escape, a means to forget, and a means to remember.
fortunately, he found a way out of the projects and landed at the university of massachusetts amherst. the pioneer valley was about as opposite as one could get from great brook valley. trying to navigate his way through this new territory, he picked up a film camera and started documenting everything around him — each image developed in the darkroom shining a light on his own life. in 2012, he moved to new orleans to pursue a master’s in architecture at tulane. the crescent city has been home to his pops’ family for generations — having heard stories of this place for years, he knew this had to be his next home. what he did not know was how much of an inspiration new orleans would become for his work. as a creative, what motivates jose to keep pushing forward is the opportunity to connect with people. to focus in on the details of their lives and environments. to create honest moments. moments that would otherwise go unnoticed. moments that celebrate the true spirit of an individual or place. |
AMINA DESSELLE MASSEY is a freelance photographer and writer based in New Orleans, Louisiana. She creates images that document the significance of place in the way people relate to one another, with a focus on life in the African Diaspora. In addition to work within documentary and music photography, Amina's personal projects capture the quiet beauty of everyday living in diverse locations worldwide.
In addition to her work as a photographer, Amina also hosts the podcast Shotgun Griot. Each episode features an interview with a creative professional living and working in New Orleans. Amina interviews artists working within all creative forms about their personal journeys and professional visions. The podcast fosters creative community and provides a platform for those shaping the cultural landscape of New Orleans. |
FARI NZINGA earned her PhD in Cultural Anthropology in 2013 studying Black-led arts organizations and community rebuilding in the post-Katrina political economy. She presently works as an organizer, researcher, writer and educator in New Orleans.
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For more information visit:
facebook.com/sacredandtheprofane soundcloud.com/chriselda-pacheco/stripper-ramblings |
CHRISELDA PACHECO is a photographer, writer, public speaker, storyteller, community organizer, multimedia producer and performer. She uses her camera lens, the written word and social media journalism to explore the raw spots of our culture and the human condition, asking the tough questions and looking for the truth, beauty and dignity hidden within some of our society’s most painful realities – from orphanages in Haiti to the locker rooms of the sex industry. Chriselda holds a bachelor’s degree in English & Journalism from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. She was raised by her grandparents in Texas and currently resides in Austin, Texas.
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ROLANDO PALACIO was born in 1983 of Mexican immigrant parents. As a child his introduction to the arts begin through a summer youth program for migrant farm labor youth with the goal of attracting them to education rather than agricultural labor. In 2010, Palacio received his BFA from Michigan State University. Subsequent to that he attended the Art and Design Masters program at the University of Michigan where he received his MFA. He presently resides in the New Orleans area where he continues to photograph.
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NIK RICHARD is an artist, poet, and urban planner from New Orleans, Louisiana, with a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of New Orleans.
Since Hurricane Katrina ravaged his city in 2005, Nik has made it his mission to make a lasting impact in New Orleans through his work. His creativity in film has earned him an NAACP Award, AFI Silverdocs Award, and a PBS P.O.V. Award in the 2008 Myspace Film Your Issue contest for his interpretation of disaster tourism in New Orleans’ Lower 9th Ward. He is the author of two books of poetry, Love and Water, and A Dream For Sale, both which narrate his experiences living and growing in a post-storm New Orleans. Nik is currently a planner at the New Orleans Regional Planning Commission and sits as a member of the New Orleans Board of Zoning Adjustments. Understanding the importance of public spaces and public art, Nik is currently finding an intersection between his ongoing urban planning work and his lifelong desire to create by using his art to contribute to the ever changing narrative of the city that he works to rebuild. Nik is currently working on a project with the Arts Council of New Orleans to retell the story of the Tulane - Gravier neighborhood via steel panel illustrations that will be installed along the Gravier Street corridor. |
For more information visit:
ayoscott.com www.facebook.com/ayo.y.scott https://twitter.com/NOYOdesigns https://www.instagram.com/ayoscott |
AYO SCOTT: i am exploring color and what it means to multiple audiences and through multiple media.
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DSXSO ARTISTS
2012
MIGUEL ALVAREZ is an engineer, writer, photographer and award-winning filmmaker. He has received awards from the Directors’ Guild of America, Panavision’s Emerging Filmmaker program, the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, the Hamptons International Film Festival, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, and the TexasFilmmakers Production Fund for his previous films, Tadpoles, Veterans, KID and Mnemosyne Rising. A native of San Antonio, Texas, he currently resides in Austin where he teaches at the University of Texas while completing his first screenplay, La Perdida.
For more information visit: www.migalvarez.com |
When SHARON ARTEGA turned fifteen, she convinced her parents that a video camera was a better investment than the Quinceanera they wanted her to have. She wrote and directed short films using her church youth group as cast, crew, and producers. She received her B.S. in Radio, Television, Film in 2009. While in school, she produced "Duplex," a short film which won the Shorts Competition at the Binational Film Festival in El Paso, Texas. Her Undergraduate Thesis "hands." was an Official Selection for the Imago Film Festival, the Phoenix Int'l Christian film festival, and a Finalist in New York's Faith Film Festival.
"When I Grow Up" is her first short outside of the school system. It won the TAMI Award at 2010's Cine Las Americas, an Audience Award at 2011 SXSW Reel Women's Showcase. It was an Official Selection to 2011 CineSol and November 2011 Napa Valley Film Festival and screened at the 2010 NALIP conference in Santa Monica, the 2011 Center for Mexican American Studies & Research Conference in San Antonio, and 2011 MALI's Women's Film and Performing Arts Conference. Sharon's next short is a story about a group of children avoiding checkpoint via an aircraft. She also writes poetry and loves God a lot. For more information visit: www.facebook.com/sharon.arteaga |
MARU BUENDIA-SENTIES, winner of the Cary Grant Film Award by the Princess Grace Foundation (2007), obtained her MFA in Film Production at the University of Texas at Austin in December 2008, and worked for 3 years at Troublemaker Studios in the VFX Department. Her award-winning films showcase her writing and directing as she creates stories that portray deep interpersonal connections and unique idiosyncrasies that connect us all as humans.
For more information visit: www.marubuendia.com |
SERGIO CARVAJAL is a Venezuelan-American artist, filmmaker, performer and songwriter. He has written and directed an array of narrative, documentary, and experimental shorts which have been featured in festivals such as Tribeca, SXSW, Traverse City, among many others.
For more information visit: www.iamfacundo.com |
Award-winning Mexican-born film director ANGELA TORRES CAMARENA is devoted to creating meaningful films that explore social issues from a poetic perspective. Every one of her short films has been selected at international film festivals around the globe. In 2009, she won the Changemaker award by HBO at the Media That Matters Film Festival. Her films draw on her background as a fiction writer and her work in TV commercials and institutional videos.
For more information visit: www.angelatorrescamarena.com |
MARIO TRONCOSO is a filmmaker and a public television producer. He was born in Madrid, Spain and is now based in Austin, TX where he works for PBS. He began his film career as a writer before moving to Houston, TX in early 2000. There he soon joined a number of local artists and begun producing videos. With extensive agency and production company experience, Mario has worked on productions across many formats over a period of 9 years ranging from advertising to documentaries and fiction. He has written and directed To My Baby (2005), El Sentido de las Lagrimas (2007), Naïve (2010), Clowns Never Lie (2011), and Ebrima (2012). Mario studied Film Production and Latino Media Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
For more information visit: www.thetreeandthebear.com |
GABRIELA YEPES started as a television producer for the Peruvian National Broadcast Service (the Peruvian equivalent of American PBS). In 2004, she received a Fulbright Fellowship and moved to the United States to attend graduate film school. Her short films have screened in film festivals in Europe, Asia and the Americas. "Gaby" has worked also as assistant director and production manager in films in America and Eastern Europe. She holds a B.A. from the Communications School at the University of Lima, Peru, and an MFA in Film and Video Production from the University of Texas at Austin, USA.
For more information visit: http://danzak.wordpress.com/ |