Fashion, Culture, Futures

Brendan Fernandes (b. 1979, Nairobi, Kenya) is an internationally recognized Canadian artist, currently based in Chicago, working at the intersection of dance and visual arts. His projects address issues of race, queer culture, migration, protest, and other forms of collective movement, and are rooted in collaboration and foster solidarity. Brendan is a graduate of the Whitney Independent Study Program and a recipient of a Robert Rauschenberg Fellowship. In 2010, he was shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award, and is the recipient of a prestigious 2017 Canada Council New Chapters grant. He is also the recipient of the Artadia Award, a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant. His projects have shown at the 2019 Whitney Biennial; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; the Museum of Modern Art; The Getty Museum; the National Gallery of Canada; MAC (Montreal); among others. He is currently artist-in-residence and assistant professor at Northwestern University and is represented by Monique Meloche Gallery.

Darnell-Jamal Lisby is a fashion historian and the former project curatorial assistant of the Willi Smith: Street Couture exhibition and extending projects. Currently, he serves as an education associate handling public programs at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.

During her career as a photographer and creative director, Shannie founded UMMA Models after realizing the lack of diversity of modest clothing and representation in the fashion industry and media, despite the vast consumer market. The need for nakedness in the media and in quotidian consumption isolated many communities. Shannie works in her career to make a safe space for women within the fashion industry, allowing them to pursue a career in fashion modeling without compromising personal or religious beliefs.