INDIGENERDS ASSEMBLE - Open Air Gallery on Civic Plaza, Albuquerque, New Mexico

The gallery’s inaugural show is Indiginerds Assemble—Indigenous comic art. Indiginerds Assemble highlights artists and creators who combine their own Indigenous worldview with representations of Indigenous peoples in pop culture, mass media, and myth. The show features 13 Indigenous graphic and comic book artists from around the world, from New Mexico to Australia. The artwork draws from science fiction, Star Wars, pop culture, TV, comics, and the Native gaming industry.

The Indiginerds show includes: Dale DeForest (Diné), a digital graphic artist whose works have been displayed on the cover of New York Times; Kayla Shaggy (Diné), a comic illustrator who draws creativity from Indigenous futurism; Ryan Singer (Diné) an oil painter of pop culture images and references through the lens of a traditional Indigenous lifestyle; Connor Alexander (Cherokee) a futurist artist whose work is on a TTRPG (Tabletop Role Playing Game) entitled Coyote and Crow; Roy Boney (Cherokee), who uses a variety of mixed mediums to create award-winning pieces that reverberate the spirit of cultural reminiscences; Debra Yepa-Pappan (Jemez), a mixed media artist who develops pop art through the perspective of Indigenous individuality; Elizabeth LaPensee (Anishinaabe), a well-established game designer and community leader who has written graphic novels and comics with traditional and pop culture references; W Alvitre, a Tongva and Scottish comic book artist who reimagines sci-fi through cultural storytelling; Sade Esquivel (Mexican Indigenous), who incorporates bold colors into futuristic pieces that invoke a modern and vibrant ambiance; Miguel Espinoza (Mexican), another TTRPG artist who uses dark and subtle contrast bodes in bold “urban fantasy” scenes; Luka Morin (Chippewa), an up-and-coming illustrator who merges Indigenous figures and the manga artform; Johnnie Jae (Choctaw), the founder of A Tribe Called Geek who expresses cultural eccentricity and originality in multi-media artworks; and Tim Truman (non-Native ally), a featured artist and designer of the first Native American-centered comic book, Scout.