During her time as Amplifier’s artist in residence in 2017, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh delved deep into the stories and experiences of BIPOC in Seattle. For her campaign, aptly titled Seattle is Black, she interviewed dozens of people, photographed them, and turned their narratives into drawings and video documentation.

“One thing that seemed consistent in their experiences was the frustration of navigating racist systems and people that present as liberal and progressive on the surface,” she says. This theme is prevalent throughout the series, which is part of Fazlalizadeh’s larger project, America Is Black. Through her collaboration with Amplifier and her independent projects, the artist strives to reclaim and recenter the voices of BIPOC to show the reality of what it means to be “American.”