Photographed by Avery Savage

As part of our ongoing collaboration with The Shed to spotlight artists from the Open Call: Portals exhibition (June 27–August 24), SHEER spent time inside the immersive installation of visual artist, writer, and producer Marwa Eltahir: 99 Names: My Liberation Is Tied To Yours.

Her installation creates a sacred, sensory space for reflection. Modeled after majlis-style communal seating found along sub-Saharan caravan routes, the work invites audiences to rest on woven rugs beneath sheer white curtains, surrounded by sound, stillness, and prayer. A projected film plays in a loop, opening with the Azan and unfolding into spoken word narration and original composition.

film, healing art, visual activismBianca Jean-PierreJuly 24, 2025spirituality, filmmaker, Sudan, The Shed, Open CallComment

ARTIST & DESIGNER TO KNOW: MEL CORCHADO

Photography by Avery Savage

SHEER had the chance to visit the Brooklyn studio of fashion designer and artist Mel Corchado ahead of her exhibition debut. Mel’s practice is rooted in slowness and intention. Whether she’s sewing by hand, gathering with community, or experimenting with unconventional materials like sugar, her work invites us to think beyond product and into process, care, and cultural memory.

Her installation for Portals, titled $TICKY $IN$, features garments made of hardened sugar. These glimmering, fragile structures explore the material’s ties to colonial labor, Puerto Rican identity, and the shifting nature of time. In person, they feel less like clothes and more like quiet vessels of transformation.

ARTISTS TO KNOW: ALANIS FORDE

Photography by Shalaina Joy

As we approach the Affordable Art Fair Spring Edition opening this Wednesday, March 19th in NYC, we are excited to spotlight Alanis Forde, one of SHEER's exhibiting artists. Alanis is a figurative portraiture and surrealist artist who lives and works in Barbados. She works mainly with oil paint and collage on traditional canvas. The use of unrefined brushstrokes, dotted textures, patterns and vibrant colors allows the viewer’s eye to be in constant motion and transports them into a paradisiacal dystopia.

art, collages, healing art, identity, mixed media, visual artistBianca Jean-PierreMarch 17, 2025collage, Barbados, caribbean artistsComment

ARTISTS TO KNOW: ASARI AIBANGBEE

Photography by Kalynn Youngblood

As SHEER prepares to exhibit at the Affordable Art Fair in NYC opening Wednesday, March 19th, we are proud to showcase Asari Aibangbee’s stunning fiber works that explore themes of personal evolution, joy, and cultural lineage through rich textures and vibrant hues. Joining a roster of exceptional artists, Asari, continues to push the boundaries of contemporary art, using color, craft, and collective memory as tools for transformation.

art, healing art, mixed media, visual artistBianca Jean-PierreMarch 12, 2025fiber art, textiles, artists to know, queer artistsComment

ARTISTS TO KNOW: DESTINY BRANAY

Photography by Jordan Carter

The star motif has become Destiny’s iconic artistic signature which she describes as “symbolic of the light that exists in Black people that refuses to be dimmed.” Through her thoughtful and colorful large-scale oil paintings, Destiny highlights Black folk in community with one another, centered around the idea of hope as an act of resistance against oppressive systems in America. Destiny’s work not only honors the resiliency of her ancestors who came before her, but serves as a beacon of hope in the midst of the work that is still left to be done.

ARTISTS TO KNOW: ROSSANA ROMERO

Photography by Nabila Wirakusumah

Rossana Romero is a prime example of what it means to be an artist. Not afraid to use her art to speak on topics such as colonialism and historical trauma, while creating a path to healing through her work that carves new, imaginative ways of being that ignite hope, resilience, self actualization, and self empowerment. Her preferred artistic mediums inspired by magic realism, are beautifully vibrant oil paintings of fantasy landscapes referencing the lush terrains of the Amazon featuring her iconic animal motifs which she also molds into textured paper mâché sculptures and frames.

3D, art, healing art, visual artistBianca Jean-PierreJune 28, 2024artists to know, colombian, paper mache, oil paintings, spiritualityComment

ARTISTS TO KNOW: REN WHALEBOAT

Ren Whaleboat is an Indigenous artist based in Sydney, Australia with both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander roots. Ren’s preferred medium is realism charcoal with contrasting line work portraiture resulting in breathtaking canvases that celebrate diverse features by precisely capturing every detail of the human face and body.

ARTIST & MUSICIAN TO KNOW: ANGEL BOYD

Photography by Tianna Howard, Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Angel Boyd is an NYC-based creative director and vocalist in the sibling band Infinity Song which is signed by Jay-Z to his record label RocNation.

healing art, identity, photography, musicBianca Jean-PierreOctober 30, 2022photography, creative advice, family, music, NYC, RocNationComment

ARTISTS TO KNOW: JORDAN CHANETSA

Jordan Chanetsa is a performance artist, writer, and activist for LGBTQIA+ rights from Harare, Zimbabwe and currently based in Cologne, Germany. As a trans woman and creative from Zimbabwe, Jordan aims to use her voice and platform to inspire and empower the overlooked and underserved queer community

healing art, identity, visual activismBianca Jean-PierreAugust 7, 2022LGBTQ, Zimbabwe, performing arts, artists to know, creative adviceComment

PHOTOGRAPHERS TO KNOW: SOUKAYNA DIENG

Soukayna Dieng is a New York based director, photographer, producer and healing artist born to Senegalese parents. She creates imagery that is deeply inspired by human identity, connection and ascension. Soukayna’s work has been featured in Vogue Italia, Cosmopolitan Magazine, Forbes Magazine

fashion, photography, beauty, healing artBianca Jean-PierreJanuary 31, 2022photography, portraits, NYC, Senegalese, meditationComment