If It Wasn’t for the Women: The Art of Living

About the panelists

Sydney Oreoluwa is a Nigerian American multidisciplinary artist and curator whose work bridges the intersections of art, design, and cultural preservation. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, her practice is deeply rooted in the documentation of Black experiences—serving as both an archive and a mirror, reflecting the beauty, complexity, and nostalgia embedded within personal and collective histories.

Her latest project, Circa 1998, delves into the interplay between nostalgia and delayed gratification, weaving together film photography and pixelated paintings to capture fleeting moments that linger in memory. Beyond Circa 1998, Sydney’s artistic vision extends into immersive and interactive experiences. Whether through curated exhibitions, community-driven projects, or conceptual installations, her work encourages engagement and participation, transforming nostalgia into a living, breathing entity. With an ever-evolving approach, she continues to push the boundaries of documentation, preserving the past while reimagining its presence in contemporary culture.

Christine Espinal is a spatial designer with a background in interior design from the Art Institute of Philadelphia. Born in New York, she recently moved to Los Angeles to continue her passion for designing furniture and spaces. She holds a BFA in visual presentation and exhibition design from the Fashion Institute of Technology. In March 2021, she was appointed spatial designer at Lichen NYC. Her work focuses on creating functional, thoughtfully designed spaces and objects that evoke a sense of home, all through her unique approach to design.

glyneisha is a polydisciplinary artist, educator, and community caretaker archiving the inherent healing nature of matrilineal Blackness through processes of ethical collaboration informed by Black feminist scholarship. She organizes workshops and spaces for communal reflection. She also produces living archives, installations, and exhibition work examining the public and private experiential nature of the Black interior as a source of refuge, healing, and imagination. glyneisha is cofounder of Strange Fruit Femmes, a Black and Brown femme-lead collective that provides free programming for youth and adults centering transformative healing through the arts.

She is a 2024 Futures Fund Grantee through the Luminary Arts in St. Louis. She is a 2022 Cultural Producers Grantee and 2020 Charlotte Street Award Fellow and recipient of the Bryon C. Cohen Award through the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri. She has exhibited, presented, and been in residence at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, Art Omi, Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, SCAD Museum of Art, Springfield Museum of Art, and more.