SAR Native Artist Talk: Akilah Martinez

SAR Native Artist Talk:
Akilah Martinez – 2025 Mary Ella King Native Artist Fellow

Join Akilah Martinez (Diné), or Glittering World Girl, for an artist talk where she will share about her cultural heritage, creative process, and the projects she addressed while at SAR as this year’s Rollin and Mary Ella King Native Artist Fellow.

While in residence, Martinez began work on an interactive augmented reality experience focused on Navajo herbology and language.

“This project,” she shares, “will empower current ancestral knowledge holders by giving them the opportunity to see their way of life represented in modern media…[as well as]… community members who are trying to reconnect with ancestral knowledge by providing them with education materials that are artistically designed.”

About the artist:

Akilah Martinez is an award-winning futuristic artist, technologist, and culture bearer who uses XR (extended reality) technology (an umbrella term that includes augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality) to create immersive storytelling experiences rooted in Navajo culture and language.

Hosted at the School for Advanced Research campus and online.