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"
Photography / Video
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
Adde Adesokan
German / Nigerian (Black)
Aïda Muluneh
Ethiopian (Black)
Alia Ali Yemeni-Bosnian-American (Multiethnic)
Amanda Heng
Singaporean (Southeast Asian)
Amina Menia
Algerian (North African)
Andrea Chung
American (Black)
Ang Song Nian
Singaporean (Southeast Asian)
Amir Abdul-Shakur
American (Black)
Andrea Chung
Jamaican/Chinese and Trinidadian (Multiethnic)
Angelica Dass
Brazilian (Black, Latinx)
Angki Purbandono Indonesian (Southeast Asian)
An-My Lê
Vietnamese (Asian)
Anna Jane McIntyre
Canadian (Black)
Arif al-Nomay
Yemeni (Middle Eastern)
Aung Ko
Burmese (Southeast Asian)
Aye Ko
Burmese (Southeast Asian)
Ayesha Khalid
Pakistani (South Asia)
Archan Nair
Indian
Arlene Mejorado
American (Latinx)
B
Barbara Horiuchi
Japanese American (Asian)
Bayeté Ross Smith
American (Black)
Brittany Bravo
Chicana
C
Cao Fei
Chinese (Asian)
Cara Romero
Chemehuevi (Latinx)
Carolina Caycedo
Colombian (Latinx)
Carrie Mae Weems
American (Black)
Chaw Ei Thein
Burmese (Southeast Asian)
Chemi Rosado-Seijo
Puerto Rican (Latinx)
Cecil J. Williams
Black, White, & Indigenous (Multiracial)
D
Dana Claxton Hunkpapa Lakota (Indigenous)
Dawoud Bey
American (Black)
Deana Lawson
American (Black)
Devin Allen
American (Black)
Délio Jasse
Angolan (Black)
Diana Li
Chinese & Peruvian (Multiethnic)
E
Ejatu Shaw
British (Black)
Elia Alba
Dominican American (Latinx)
Elle Pérez
Puerto Rican (Latinx)
Erica Lord
Finnish-American & Iñupiaq/Athabascan (Indigenous)
F
Farah Al Qasimi
Emirati (Middle Eastern)
FX Harsono
Indonesian (Southeast Asian)
G
Gabi Pérez-Silver
Puerto Rican (Latinx)
Gabriel García Román
Mexican-Amaricón (Latinx)
Gayle Tanaka
Japanese American (Asian)
Gelare Khoshgozaran
Iranian-American (Middle Eastern)
Gordon Parks
American (Black)
Graciela Iturbide
Mexican
H
Hale Tenger
Turkish (Middle Eastern)
Han Hsiang-Ning
Chinese (Asian)
Hassan Hajjaj
Moroccan (North African)
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Japanese (Asian)
Huma Mulji
Pakistani (South Asian)
I
Ibi Ibrahim
American-Yemeni (Middle Eastern)
Itiri Ngaro
Cook Islander (Pacific Islander)
Irene Antonia Diane Reece
American (Black)
J
Jade Purple Brown
American (Black)
James Luna
La Jolla Luiseño-Ipi-and Mexican-American (Indigenous)
Jamel Shabazz
African American (Black)
Jananne Al-Ani
Iraqi-Irish (Multiethnic)
JeeYoung Lee
Korean (Asian)
Jeon Bora
Korean
(Asian)
Jitish Kallat
Indian (South Asian)
John Clang
Singaporean (Southeast Asian)
Jun Ahn
Korean (Asian)
K
Ka-Man Tse
Chinese-American (Asian)
Kalisolaite ‘Uhila
Tongan (Pacific Islander)
Kao Jun-Honn
Taiwanese (Asian)
Kenny Alvin Baird
(Cree)/Métis (Indigenous)
Kent Monkman
Canadian Cree (Indigenous)
L
Lalla Essaydi
Moroccan (North African)
LaToya Ruby Frazier
American (Black)
Leila Alaoui
French-Moroccan (North African)
Lilliam Nieves
Puerto Rican (Latinx)
Lim Minouk
Korean (Asian)
Lina Iris Viktor
British-Liberian (Black)
Lorena Cruz
Mexican-American (Latinx)
Lorna Simpson
American (Black)
M
Maitree Siriboon
Thai (Southeast Asian)
Manit Sriwanichpoom
Thai (Southeast Asian)
Mao Chenyu
Chinese (Asian)
Mario Eduardo Testino Peruvian (Latinx)
Mark Kushimi
Hawaiian (Pacific Islander)
Martha Atienza
Dutch and Filipino (Multiethnic)
Matika Wilbur
Swinomish and Tulalip (Indigenous)
Mariam Ghani
Afghan–American (Middle Eastern)
Marlon Riggs
American (Black)
Meriem Bennani
Moroccan (North African)
Merritt Johnson
Mohawk and Blackfoot (Indigenous)
Mercedes Dorame Member of the Gabrielino Tongva Indians of Californa
Moe Satt
Burmese (Southeast Asian)
Mohammad Rakibul Hasan Bangladeshi (South Asian)
Musquiqui Chihying
Taiwanese (Asian)
N-O
Nalini Malani
Indian (South Asian)
Natasha Cunningham
Jamaican (Black)
Newsha Tavakolian
Iranian (Middle Eastern)
Nge Lay
Burmese (Southeast Asian)
Nikki S. Lee
Korean (Asian-American)
Nontsikelelo ‘Lolo’ Veleko
South African (Black)
P-Q
Park Chan-kyong
Korean (Asian)
Pinar Yolaçan
Turkish (Middle Eastern)
Priscilla Monge
Costa Rican (Latinx)
Prince Gyasi Nyantakyi
Ghanaian
R
Rachelle Mozman Solano
Panamanian (Latinx)
Rahman Taha
Yemeni (Middle Eastern)
Raphael Montañez Ortiz
Yaqui-Puerto Rican (Latinx)
Rashid Rana
Pakistani (South Asian)
Rashod Taylor
American (Black)
Reem Al Faisal
Saudi Arabian (Middle Eastern)
Reiko Fujii
Japanese American (Asian)
Renee Cox
Jamaican-American (Black)
Rodríguez Calero
Puerto Rican (Latinx)
S
Sadegh Tirafkan
Iranian (Middle Eastern)
Sarah Choo Jing
Singaporean (Southeast Asian)
Shadi Ghadirian
Iranian (Middle Eastern)
Shadia Heenan Nilforoush
Iranian-American (Middle Eastern)
Sheida Soleimani
Iranian-American
Shelley Niro
Mohawk (Indigenous)
Shilpa Gupta
Indian (South Asian)
Shirin Aliabadi
Iranian (Middle Eastern)
Shirin Neshat
Iranian (Middle Eastern)
Stephen Marc
American (Black)
Stephanie Mei Huang
Asian American
Sydney Pursel
Ioway (Indigenous)
Saks Afridi
Pakistani
Saba Khan
Szu-Han Ho
Taiwanese (Asian)
Star Montana
T-U
Tawny Chatmon
American (Black)
Tehching Hsieh
Taiwanese (Asian)
Temi Coker
Nigerian (Black)
Teresita De La Torre
Mexican (Latinx)
Thukral & Tagra
Indian (South Asian)
Tre Crews
American (Black)
Tatsuya Tanaka
Japanese (Asian)
Trinh T. Minh-ha
(Thi Minh-Ha Trinh)
Vietnamese
Tommy Kha
V
Vandy Rattana
Cambodian (Southeast Asian)
Vick Quezada
Mexican American
Victoria Villasana
Mexican (Latinx)
Virgil Ortiz
Cochiti Pueblo (Indigenous)
Vishal Jugdeo
Indo-Guyanese descent (Black)
W
Wendy Red Star
Apsáalooke (Crow)
William Camargo
Chicanx (Latinx)
Will Wilson
Navajo, Diné (Indigenous)
X-Y
Yoshio Itagaki
Japanese (Asian)
Yumna al-Arashi
Yemeni Egyptian (Middle Eastern)
Young In Hong
Korean (Asian)
Z
Zanele Muholi
South African (Black)
Zhang Huan
Chinese (Asian)
Zora J Murff
American (Black)
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Diversify Photo
En Foco, Inc.
En Foco, Inc. is a non-profit that supports U.S.-based photographers of African, Asian, Latino, Native American, and Pacific Islander heritage.
Women Photograph
a non-profit that launched in 2017 to elevate the voices of women* and nonbinary visual journalists
Photographers of Colour
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