Student Bios & Acknowledgements

Liz Godbey (they/them) was born and raised in the Bay Area. They are inspired by the surrounding ecosystem and create ceramic sculptures and mixed-media works based on the organic forms and textures found there. Their written work and research include theories of enchantment, ecology, queer theory, and the intersections of settler colonialism and Western science, with consideration of their own ancestry as a person of Western European and Ojibwe descent. Godbey holds a bachelor’s degree from Pomona College and is a candidate for a dual MA/MFA degree in Fine Art and Visual & Critical Studies at California College of the Arts.

Thesis Committee: Angela Hennessy, Jacqueline Francis, and Elizabeth Travelslight.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to my fellow VCS cohort members, Alex Hwang and Wenmi Klobah Collins, for their support and inspiration over the years. My deepest gratitude to the members of my thesis committee Jacqueline Francis, Việt Lê, and Angela Hennessy and to my professors Helen Klonaris, Cindy Bello, Mia Liu, Tom Haakenson, Elizabeth Travelslight, and Jeanette Roan. To Deborah Valoma. To my MFA advisors and professors. And finally, to my partner Sam, my mother Megan, and to all of my loving family and friends.

Alexander Antai Hwang is a writer, drawer, and skater from the San Francisco Bay Area. After receiving a BA in Economics with a minor in Art History and Visual Culture Studies from Whitman College, he now attends California College of the Arts where he is completing an MA in Visual & Critical Studies. As a 1.5 generation Korean-Chinese-American, Hwang draws inspiration from the rich and ongoing history of Asian American art and culture in order to break cycles of trauma and generate new ways for Asian Americans to grow and thrive.

Thesis Committee: Nilgün Bayraktar, Jacqueline Francis, and Elizabeth Travelslight.

Acknowledgements: I would like to first thank my wonderful classmates, Liz Godbey and Wenmi Klobah-Collins for all their support and insight over the past two years. Thank you to my professors for guiding my thinking: Việt Lê, Jackie Francis, Elizabeth Travelslight, Michael Wahington, Mia Liu, Jeanette Roan, and Thomas Haakenson. A special thanks to my Thesis Advisor Nilgün Bayraktar. Your encouragement was vital in completing this project. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude to all my friends who have listened to my story.

Wenmimareba Klobah Collins is an artist, performer, writer, and cultural critic from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her creative and academic work explore the Caribbean—specifically Puerto Rico—as a geo-social and spiritual space. She’s interested in the studies of regional linguistics, speculative reimagination, textiles, and urban music. Klobah Collins seeks to engage multiple forms of resistance-making that serve as a model for creating paths into the future. She holds a BFA and a BA in Literature from the University of Puerto Rico (2020). Klobah Collins is also currently a dual-degree MFA/MA candidate in Creative Writing (poetry) and Visual & Critical Studies (VCS) at the California College of the Arts. She works as a museum educator and is passionate about cultivating curiosity, hands-on learning, and ecological stewardship.

Thesis Committee: Marcel Pardo Ariza, Jacqueline Francis, and Elizabeth Travelslight.

Acknowledgements: Jacqueline Francis, Marcel Pardo Ariza, Việt Lê, my mother, Güiro Prieto Avilés, the VCS and MFA cohorts, Samara Erin Williams, Elizabeth Travelslight, Thomas Haakenson, Mia Liu, Jeanette Roan, Cindy Bello, Lynette Cintrón Ortiz, mis cuires rebeldes, and every urban musician that has dared to remix a beat.