Engaging children with artists who look like them, have similar experiences, and come from similar backgrounds is a great source of inspiration and empowerment. By reflecting their own identities, experiences and motivations (mirrors) and also providing insight into the identities, experiences and motivations of others (windows) can move students toward more nuanced perceptions of the world around them (sliding glass doors).* Discover new BIPOC artists to add to your curriculum.
*Source: By Rudine Sims Bishop, The Ohio State University. "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors"
Conceptual / Performance
Artists have many layered identities and art educators need to present them as such.
Representing diverse artists in your curriculum is only part of an Anti-Bias, Anti-Racist curriculum. It needs to be more than a symbolic effort and art educators need to take into account intersectionality when introducing these artists to students. How do aspects of an artists’ social and political identities (ex. gender, sex, race, class, sexuality, religion, ability, physical appearance, etc.) intersect within their work?
In addition, we recognize that race is socially constructed and it is impossible to put humans in clearly defined categories by race. Racial identity is deeply personal, and artists within any given subgroup define themselves differently. Race, ethnicity, and nationality are all factors artist's individually consider as their personal identity. However, as mentioned previously that is not all that there is to their identity. We know that artists have many layered identities and art educators need to do the research to present them as such.
For the purpose of accessibility, we have attempted to organize artists into 8 subgroups: Asian, Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Middle Eastern/North African, Multiracial/Multiethnic, Pacific Islander/SE Asian, and South Asian. Our goal is to use present artists based on how each artist defines themselves in relation to their work. These groupings are not perfect, as humans are not meant to be divided into boxes. We hope this resource can help art educators identify who is missing from their curriculum in order to create a curriculum more representative of the incredible diversity among students and artists today.
A
Ahmed Mater
Saudi Arabian (Middle Eastern)
Ai Weiwei
Chinese (Asian)
Aki Sasamoto
Japanese (Asian)
Allora & Calzadilla Puerto Rican Based Duo (Latinx)
Ana Mendieta
Cuban (Latinx)
Anna Jane McIntyre
Canadian (Black)
Anuto Chavajay Ixtetela
Guatemalan (Latinx)
Ashanté Kindle
American (Black)
Aung Ko
Burmese (Southeast Asian)
Ayşe Erkmen
Turkish (Middle Eastern)
B
Bingyi
Chinese (Asian)
Bonnie Devine
Serpent River Ojibwa (Indigenous)
C
Camille Turner
Canadian (Black)
Cauleen Smith
American (Black)
Chaw Ei Thein
Burmese (Southeast Asian)
D
Dana Claxton Hunkpapa Lakota (Indigenous)
E-F-G
Faisal Samra
Saudi Arabian (Middle Eastern)
Fred Wilson
American (Black)
H-I
Halil Altındere
Turkish (Middle Eastern)
Han Hsiang-Ning
Chinese (Asian)
Hiwa K
Iraqi (Middle Eastern)
Hoesy Corona
Mexican (Latinx)
J
Jacolby Satterwhite
American (Black)
Jingfang Hao & Lingjie Wang (duo) Chinese (Asian)
Joiri Minaya
Dominican-United Statesian (Black, Latinx)
K
Kao Jun-Honn
Taiwanese (Southeast Asian)
Kent Monkman
Canadian Cree (Indigenous)
Kite (aka Dr Suzanne Kite) Oglala Lakota (Indigenous)
Kimsooja
Korean (Asian)
L
Lilliam Nieves
Puerto Rican (Latinx)
M
Manit Sriwanichpoom
Thai (Asian)
Mel Chin
Chinese American (Asian)
Moe Satt
Burmese (Southeast Asian)
Moon Kyungwon
Korean (Asian)
N
Nezaket Ekici
German-Turkish (Multiethnic)
Nick Cave
American (Black)
Nilbar Güreş
Turkish (Middle Eastern)
O-P
Preetika Rajgariah
Indian American (South Asian)
Q-R
Raphael Montañez Ortiz
Yaqui-Puerto Rican (Latinx)
Rashid Johnson
American (Black)
Rebecca Belmore Anishinaabekwe (Indigenous)
Reiko Fujii
Japanese American (Asian)
S
Shadia Heenan Nilforoush
Iranian-American (Middle Eastern)
Sydney Pursel
Ioway (Indigenous)
Szu-Han Ho
Taiwanese (Southeast Asian)
T
Tania Bruguera
Cuban (Latinx)
Tanya Lukin Linklater Alutiiq (Indigenous)
Tehching Hsieh
Taiwanese (Southeast Asian)
Teresita De La Torre
Mexican (Latinx)
Tiffany Chung
Vietnamese American (Asian American)
U-V-W
Vishal Jugdeo
Indo-Guyanese descent (Black)
Willie Cole
American (Black)
Vikram Divecha
X-Y-Z
Yoko Ono
Japanese (Asian)
Young In Hong
Korean (Asian)
Zhang Huan
Chinese (Asian)
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Asian: a native or inhabitant of Asia, or a person of Asian descent.
BIPOC: Black, Indigenous and People of Color.
Black: of or relating to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin or ancestry originating in Africa.
Ethnicity: a group of people who identify with one another with similarities such as history, culture, language, ancestry, etc.
Indigenous: ethnic groups who are the original or earliest known inhabitants of an area, in contrast to groups that have settled, occupied or colonized the area more recently.
LatinX: a person of Latin origin or descent.
Middle Eastern: a person of Middle Eastern origin or descent.
Multiethnic: of two or more ethnicities.
Multiracial: of two or more races.
Nationality: the status of belonging to a particular nation.
North African: Peoples with origins based in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, Western Sahara belonging to a particular nation.
Pacific Islander, or Pasifika, are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. It is a geographic and ethnic/racial term to describe the inhabitants and diaspora of any of the three major sub-regions of Oceania. It is not used to describe non-indigenous inhabitants of the Pacific islands.
Person of color: a person who is not white or of European parentage.
Race: a group of people who share cultural elements such as language, history, etc.
South Asian: a person of origin or descent from Southern Asia.
South East Asian: a person of origin or descent from the South Eastern part of Asia