Marlene Tafoya is an Indigenous artist, performer, and manicurist from the Los Angeles Harbor Area. In 2015, she received a BA in Studio Art from California State University Long Beach and is currently pursuing her MFA in Sculpture at the University of New Mexico. Breaking the traditional barriers of presenting artwork, Marlene enjoys involving her family and friends through interaction and exchange. While addressing decolonization as a means of survival, building trust and humor are the two main formalities of her work. Trying her best to live by words from Oasa DuVerney, (in Five Ways to Disrupt White Supremacy in the Mainstream Art World) Marlene, hopes to be “gangsta” and continue creating for current and future generations to come. Tafoya has exhibited her work at Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach CA, Honor Fraser, Los Angeles CA, University Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM, Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque NM, Vincent Price Art Museum, Los Angeles CA, and LAXART, Hollywood CA. Additionally, she co-curated Language, a union among artists and The International Leonard Peltier Defense Committee and Safe Space LA, an alternative art space hosted by Slanguage Studio.