Amara “Rebel Betty” Martin

Amara “Rebel Betty” Martin (she/her) is an Afro Indigenous Puerto Rican poet, multidisciplinary artist, and cultural worker based in Chicago. Rebel is using a multidisciplinary approach to depict the magic and movement of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities and to trace back ancestral forms of resistance and culture through storytelling and archiving moments in history. Her visual art, organizing, and cultural work center on the preservation of culture in Black and Brown communities through facilitated dialogue, poetry, music, education, and the arts.

Rebel's visual art makes use of historical archives and contemporary photography to create colorful and impactful multimedia collages and videos that speak truth to power and document the power and beauty of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities. Themes in Rebel's work are gentrification, decolonization, and honoring Black and Indigenous struggles for liberation and healing through connection to the past.