Welcome 2025 Massachusetts Artists-In-Residence!
Meet this month’s artists-in-residence!
Residency session:
February 12 - February 24th, 2025
Photo by: Holli Margell/Native Light Photography
C.M. Green
C.M. Green (they/them) is a Boston-based writer with a focus on history, memory, gender, and religion. Their poetry and short fiction has been featured in Full House Literary, beestung, and elsewhere, and their creative nonfiction has been nominated for the Best of the Net. They are a graduate of GrubStreet's Novel Immersive for Queer and Trans Writers, and a participant in the 2023 StoryBoard fiction workshop at Story Studio in Chicago. Their short fiction was a semifinalist in Sundress's open reading period, and their debut hybrid chapbook, I Am Never Leaving Williamsburg, is forthcoming from fifth wheel press in February 2025. Their current projects include a poetry collection exploring faith, madness, and gender, and a historical novel about experiences of gender and sexuality in Leningrad in the 1980s.
Easton Smith
Easton Smith's writing has appeared or is forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, The Rumpus, The Sonora Review, The Columbia Journal, and elsewhere. He lives in Western Massachusetts with his partner, his friends, and three beautiful chickens.
Emily Rose
Emily Rose is an interdisciplinary multimedia artist. Themes of home, identity, and memory are central in her paintings, drawings, sculptures, and installations. Surrounded by her family’s oral stories, a blend of cultures, food, celebrations, and spiritual beliefs, Emily Rose infuses these narratives using found objects, textiles, dreams, and memory into her work. In the retelling of these stories and memories, the artist borrows some of the original elements while changing other parts, straddling between reality, make-believe, and nostalgia.
Emily Rose is a recipient of the Wagner Impact Studio Award, Massachusetts Cultural Council Grants for Creative Individuals, and the Boston Media Arts Empowerment Award. Group exhibitions of her work included: Jean McDonough Arts Center, Worcester, MA; Elevated Thought, Lawrence, MA; ShowUp Inc., Boston, MA; Kathryn Schultz Gallery, Cambridge, MA; The Dodge House Gallery, Providence, RI; and The Urbano Project, Boston, MA. Publications of her work can be found in Raandoom, the Boston Art Review, and Artscope.
Photo by Jose Gomez Pleitez.
Eva Lin Fahey 张雯林
Eva Lin Fahey 张雯林 (she/her) is a visual artist born in Jingmen, China during the One Child Policy (in place from approximately 1979-2016). A transracial adoptee, she became a US citizen at age 3. Since completing a BFA Magna Cum Laude in Painting from the University of Massachusetts Amherst within the Commonwealth Honors College, she has exhibited across Massachusetts as well as in El Dorado, Arkansas. With a studio based in Florence, MA, she is joining as an MFA Visual Arts candidate at Clark University in January 2025. Eva was a 2023 ValleyCreates Capacity-Building grantee through MASS MoCA’s Assets for Artists program and her work was recently featured in AGNI’s Afterlives: An AGNI Portfolio of Asian Adoptee Diaspora Writing.
“My work begins with a wiping of the slate—biologically, phonetically, and geographically—caused by the wide-reaching impact of China’s One-Child Policy. From this erasure, I move forward through intentional re-learning, centering my work around ancestral memory and loss. I draw past and future ghosts into the messiness of the present, exploring how loss shapes my experience within the Asian adoptee diaspora.
Contextualized by my experience of motherhood, my work also examines the implications of personal choice within broader systems of control, migration, and cultural identity. My work seeks to understand how personal autonomy intersects with broader narratives of belonging and displacement—flowing in liminal spaces of unresolved longings.”
Jo Nanajian
Inspired by the interplay of materials, narrative, and identity, artist Jo Nanajian’s creative journey is marked by a relentless exploration of form and meaning. Recently, her practice evolved from 2-dimensional painting to encompass wall-mounted sculpture. Originally from Beirut, Lebanon, she moved to the United States in 2008 and holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Her exhibition history spans venues in Boston, New York, and Tokyo. Nanjian’s work was showcased alongside prominent artists and curators, including Hank Willis Thomas’ collective and For Freedoms, who featured her work at Praise Shadows Gallery. These exhibitions underline her commitment to pushing boundaries, from the introspective depth of Narration Within the Materials in Tokyo to the provocative engagement of Let Love Quiet Fear in Boston. Nanajian was awarded residencies at the Boston Center for the Arts and Fountainhead in Miami, which provided invaluable opportunities for immersion in new environments, collaborations with fellow artists, and the time and space to further refine her craft. Earning recognition from a notable base, Nanajian’s work is featured in the private collection of Miami arts patron Jorge Pérez. Her work has also been spotlighted in publications such as ArtScope Magazine and the Boston Art Review, recognizing her exploration of identity and innovative approach to sculpture.
Nirmal Raja
Nirmal Raja is an interdisciplinary artist who recently relocated to Cambridge, MA after living and working in Milwaukee for over 24 years. She had lived in India, South Korea, and Hong Kong before immigrating to the United States thirty years ago. She holds a BA in English Literature from St. Francis College in Hyderabad, India; a BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She has participated in solo and group shows in the Midwest, nationally, and internationally. She received several awards including “Graduate of The Decade” from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Raja received the Mary L. Nohl Fellowship for individual artists for 2020 and the Mildred L. Harpole Artists of the Year 2022 award from the Milwaukee Arts Board. Her art residencies include the Arts/Industry Residency at Kohler WI and Vermont Studio Center among others. She collaborates with other artists and strongly believes in investing energy into her immediate community while considering the global. She periodically curates exhibitions that bring people from different cultures and backgrounds together.
At the core of her practice is a compelling refusal to be defined by others. She is committed to letting curiosity and experimentation guide her path. Her work revolves around understanding the impact of migration on women, the weight of cultural responsibilities placed on women while traversing geographic boundaries, and material culture as a witness and testament to these experiences.
Sharinna Travieso
Sharinna Travieso is a self-taught Latinx muralist and painter based in Worcester, MA. Her work celebrates diversity, inclusion, and the beauty of human connection while raising awareness about environmental sustainability. Through her vibrant public art, Sharinna strives to unite communities and spark meaningful conversations. Her recent projects include murals at the Worcester Public Library, the DCU Center, Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), the AT&T building in downtown Worcester and the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts.
Sharinna’s passion for sustainable art drives her to reuse recycled materials in her creations, reflecting her commitment to earth preservation. Her murals often depict themes of connection, community, and celebration, showcasing her ability to transform public spaces into vibrant, inspiring works of art.
Beyond murals, Sharinna has a strong background in community engagement and education. She works extensively with children in summer and after-school programs, fostering creativity and encouraging self-expression through art.
As an event coordinator, Sharinna has organized numerous community-focused initiatives, including the Creative Interlude series, Matheson Mural Project, and Catch Basin Mural Project. She is also a member of a local art collective that hosts free community art events and block parties. Her notable projects, such as the Diversity in STEM mural at WPI and “Our Planet, Our Future” AT&T mural, reflect her dedication to empowering communities, celebrating inclusion, and advocating for social change.
Whether working with acrylics, oils, watercolors, or sculptures, Sharinna uses art as a tool for healing, connection, and education. Her mission is to inspire future generations, foster meaningful conversations, and showcase the transformative power of creativity.
Veronica Melendez
Veronica Melendez is an interdisciplinary artist, publisher, and curator based in Greenfield, MA. Having been raised in Washington D.C amongst one of the largest Central American populations in the U.S, her work centers the intricate tapestry of ‘home’, investigating its multifaceted construction within the context of being born in the diaspora. She is a founder of La Horchata, an arts publication highlighting creatives from the Central American diaspora. She was selected for the 2018 Archive of Documentary Arts Collection Award for Documentarians of the American South by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University. Her work has been featured in the Washington Post, NPR, VICE, Hyperallergic, and The Brooklyn Rail among others. La Horchata has been exhibited at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, CA and the inaugural exhibition Presente! in the Molina Family Latino Gallery at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She is an Assistant Professor of Photography, Creative Arts and Visual Culture at Hampshire College.
Luana Dias David
A native of São Paulo, Brazil, Luana Dias David is a multidisciplinary artist and choreographer whose work has been presented globally, spanning over two decades and capturing the vibrant intersections of dance, cultural tradition, and storytelling. Her Brazilian cultural performances have been featured on national television, including Italy’s RAI Uno (2019) and Russia’s Rossiya 1 (2008), as well as in a prestigious performance for Italian President Silvio Berlusconi at Rome’s Piazza Navona.
Luana is the Creator behind the “Quilombo Experience” a showcase project that educates about the power of multicultural connections throughout Brazilian history. Her focus on this work deepens her exploration into Music, Dance and costume design, revealing rich cultural narratives and honoring ancestral aesthetics.
Selected as a 2025 MASS MoCA artist-in-residence, Luana will expand research and focus on the costume design part of the project.
Luana’s career has been profoundly shaped by her mastery in traditional dance forms, alongside her ardent belief in fostering community. She shares
“I create to celebrate belonging and to honor everything that brings us closer to one another.”
This vision is at the heart of the Quilombo Experience, embodying resilience and the beauty of shared heritage.
May Lee Tom
May Lee Tom knew from an early age that she wanted to be an artist. She attended classes at the Rhode Island School of Design and the Worcester Center for Crafts. The daughter of Chinese immigrants presents Asian American history through relief sculpture. Discovering and telling their stories offers a more accurate and fuller picture of our nation’s history. She is a Studio Assistant at the Worcester Center for Crafts.
