Diahndra Grill

Diahndra (ella, her) is a multimedia artist, educator, and intersectional feminista. She is the co-founder of JustWrite, a non-profit organization focused in the education sector and with those incarcerated and in transition, engaging visual and literary arts as catalysts for healing, self discovery, and bridging communities to reimagine new worlds and possibilities.

Diahndra serves as the Chair of the ACM SIGGRAPH Rio Grande Chapter, a community promoting dialogue and activities in digital arts and interactive media. She served as the President of the SAFE House Board of Directors, an organization that shelters and empowers survivors of intimate partner domestic violence and works to improve the way New Mexico responds to violence.

Diahndra received her MA in Chicana and Chicano Studies at the University of New Mexico and is currently a PhD student in Chicanx Studies at UNM. Her research is situated at the convergence of education, incarceration, and embodied practice, centering the experiences of people of color and indigenous knowledge and world making. Her research builds on a praxis that imagines a world without prisons in all its forms, is predicated on solidarity and the sharing of information and resources, mutual support, learning from one another, formulating critical discourse, and bridging communities toward a more just and equitable society. Diahndra’s art reflects the personal and political experience while engaging the power of interwoven relationships and storytelling to dismantle borders and reconnect us with where we come from, who we are, and the connections we have with each other and the land. Her individual and collaborative creative works have been featured in spaces that include 516 ARTS, Amnesty International Regional Conference, and Harwood Art Center.