Taliyah Shepard

(They/Them)
Radical Educator Apprentices

"TINK" (she/he/they) is a multifaceted creative who focuses on the Black femme experience,
punk dreamscapes, comic art, and the reality of being Young, Black, and Excellent.

Taliyah’s most recent shows include Resilient Voices (2025) at the LGBT Center in NYC, Anti-
Valentine's Day (2025) at Neighborhood Studios in Jersey City, NJ, and participated in and won

Up Mag’s Art Battle (January 2025), solo shows including the MCA BFA thesis Welcome to
STARWORLD: exhume the Last MC (2024), and No Cops, Creeps, Phobes (2024). They have
appeared in many publications, such as Artistas de Color Unidos (2023) and Yarnbomb (2023).
He has been honored with the Student Showcase Merit Award (2021) and the Alumni Award
(2023) and graduated with honors from Montserrat College of Art.
In her own words, her art focuses on connection and understanding. “I am not a revolutionary. I
create with the intent to bless. To set off an emotion, thought, or connection to something in my
work. My work says, ‘I see you, you are loved, you are art, be blessed, stay blessed.’ There's
nothing better than that feeling.”

After graduating, TINK worked as an Associate at the Montclair Art Museum and interned at the
Newark Arts Festival. They partnered with Windows of Understanding to create a window
display for Bridges Outreach, an outreach that helps people facing homelessness. The artist
started NOIR
RENAISSANCE, a group focused on creating space for young POC creatives in the NJ/ NY
area.

These days TINK is focused on curation with the Upcoming “Give Her Flowers” exhibition
collaboration between Jamm Gallery, NOIR RENAISSANCE, and Darkside Industries.