Kulsoom is a Chinese Medicine practitioner whose work centers around facilitating integration of the body, mind, and soul. She collaborates with #MaskOutHate as a mind-body practices guide, and shares a common desire with our artist and designer collaborators to create safe, empowering space for folks to harness dialogue and creativity as a means of self expression and catharsis. The tools she uses are based in a belief that we can feel grounded and secure through understanding the nature of our minds and bodies, and giving ourselves the care and attention our souls crave. 

In her work, Kulsoom has found that BIPOC communities in the United States are underrepresented as both practitioners and recipients of Chinese Medicine. Having personally experienced the benefits of conscious movement and breathwork in her own journey of healing and self discovery, she is gifted in helping community workshop participants find a brief reprieve from the chaos of the world. She contributes mindfulness practices which can be taken into daily life for continued support, helping to create more self-awareness around the experience of masking so that folks can free themselves from any associated feelings of anxiety or fear.

Kulsoom practices and teaches Qi Gong in Salem, Oregon. You can learn more about her offerings, including remote health and wellness coaching sessions, at yinspring.com.

Cleo Davis, current Artist in Residence at the City of Portand Archives, co-Artist of the Historic Black Williams Art Project and the Alberta Street Black Heritage markers, combines disciplines of cultural and creative arts while utilizing design, historic preservation, economic development and city policy. Davis' work takes a critical view of social, political and cultural issues, reproducing familiar visual signs, arranging them into new conceptually layered pieces, while advocating for tools of economic growth and policy change. Most recently, Cleo orchestrated moving a historic house in order to create a BlackAfro-American cornerstone of creative genius that promotes art, research, and imagination. buildingcornerstones.org

Creator and innovator, Kayin Talton Davis' work centers around her passion for fusing art grounded in Black heritage and culture with graphic design, mechanical engineering, community building and education. Known for her vibrant color palettes and unique aesthetic, Talton Davis founded Soapbox Theory™ in 2001, with the mission of "Cultivating Black Joy™" Kayin is a current City of Portland Archives Artist in Residence, and co-artist of the Historic Black Williams Art Project and the Alberta Street Black Heritage Markers. Her most recent permanent public installation, "We've Been Here" - highlighting Oregon Black women in the early 1900s, is located in the Portland Building. @soapboxtheory, soapboxtheory.com

My name is Mohammed Murshed; I was born in Taiz and raised in Sana'a, Yemen. While living with my parents and my little brother, the community was lively and full of friends and neighbors. Unfortunately, many died due to the war, especially the devastating war in 2015 with the Saudi-led coalition. I moved to the United States during the Arab Spring and saw many of my friends vanish. I consider myself one of the lucky ones able to escape war before it was too late for me.

I work with paint, sculpture, textile, video, sound, programming for art, and video games. I am interested in challenging myself and in trying things that I haven't done before. In my art, I aspire to bring awareness to Yemen's issues and unpack my trauma layers. @mnmurshed, mnmurshed.com, YouTube

Sarah Farahat is a transdisciplinary Egyptian American artist, activist and educator dreaming of a more collective future amongst the rubble of capitalist empires. For the past twelve years she has organized her life around questions of identity, assimilation, grief, socio-political struggle, collective liberation and self-determination. She loves learning through stories, plants, music, food traditions and healing arts. Her work lives in protests, archives, non-profit, public and digital spaces and in the permanent collection of the Poor People's Campaign, The Arab American Museum Library, The Palestine Poster Project, and the Center for Political Graphics. She is a member of the Just Seeds Artists' Cooperative and teaches children in her community as well as at Pacific Northwest College of Art. @ankhinkh, sarahfarahat.com, justseeds.org/artist/sarahfarahat

"I think that [the #MaskOutHate] project asks an important and timely question. How can we make public space a safer environment for all people? Can art help us to better see one another as humans? How has a pandemic fueled uprising ignited the way we walk through public space in a city with a track record of racialized violence? Can a well designed mask empower and embolden the people in our communities that have historically been racially or ethnically profiled? — Sarah Farahat, Artist

Brenda is a multidisciplinary designer living in Portland Oregon, focusing on branding, illustration, and  animation. Her playful practices and contemporary design taste are driven by her love of the creative process, vibrant colors use, and storytelling. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Portland State University. brendamadrigal.com

Hola! I am Sol. I was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Currently living in the beautiful city of Portland, OR. I am passionate about creating multi-sensorial experiences beyond the boundaries of perception in every way. From fashion design to installation art, my goal is for the viewer to experience my work beyond just the visual form. Connecting ideas with sculptural elements and lighting allows me to tell a story, a story that evokes an ultimate spatial experience.

My grandparents immigrated from Spain to Buenos Aires, and when I was 19, I packed a bag and came to the US on my own. For ten years, I worked as an interpreter assisting undocumented families and as a paraeducator. Last year I started a graphic design enrichment class at a private school for underprivileged children. I always felt a connection for those who leave everything behind them in pursuit of a better life. Now more than ever, I want to help make a stand with design, using expression against oppression in any way I can.

Wendi YuLing [Anderson] (she/her) is a self-taught artist and activist of Filipino, Chinese, Scottish, and Dutch descent. She was born to a mother from Washington state and a father from Wai'anae, Hawai'i. Her home base is Portland, Oregon. Wendi's work is sometimes collaborative, often ephemeral, and typically incognito. Costume, performance, and ritual grant access to hidden spaces, give shape to the intangible, and bid us take notice of significance. Painting and illustration are conduits for the energy of social movements. All create entry points into dialogue and discovery. @wanderingwonton, wanderingwonton.me

Sophia is an Architect with nearly a decade of experience strengthening community and culture through design activism. She enjoys finding the strengths in others and bringing their experience and voice into a robust process of co-creation.

Sophia's work as a spatial designer spans art, media, and Architecture, producing art and architecture which are not objects to be looked at, but experiences to be seen or lived through. In her immersive installations, she allows people to impact the places they occupy, while shifting the way those occupied conditions are perceived.

Karim is an interdisciplinary, values-driven designer committed to supporting civic engagement and creating a more just world in everything they do. Karim thinks and works at multiple scales--from storytelling to event coordination to urban design--always with a commitment to collaborative relationships based on trust and empathy. 

Karim currently serves as board chair of Open Signal, a nonprofit community center in Portland, OR focused on amplifying the voices of communities historically underrepresented or misrepresented in broadcast media. They are a member of the Portland Architecture Lobby chapter and a Core Organizer with Design As Protest.