In the month leading up to MLK Day, Repair the World’s blog featured diverse expressions of art created by people of color. The blog highlighted some of the most dynamic visual artists, performers, poets, and filmmakers working today, and explored creative outlets that express the various ways racial injustice exists today. In case you missed the series, here are 11 amazing artists who you should get to know in 2017 – and beyond.

Roxane Gay – a writer, scholar, and cultural critic who writes about feminism…and just about everything else! (Read more.)

Saeed Jones – a poet who writes deeply and tenaciously about race, sexuality, and family. (Read more and watch him perform a poem.)

Toshi Reagon – a performer with music in her DNA, and a constant force of powerful, progressive music. (Read more and listen to her sing.)

Cameron Awkward Rich – a poet and scholar who writes about race, class, gender identity, and society. (Read more and watch him perform a poem.)

Anthony Mordechai Tzvi Russell – a classically trained opera singer who focuses on Yiddish art and folk songs, and the convergence of Ashkenazi and African American musical forms. (Read more and listen to him sing.)

Aaron Samuels – a poet and educator who’s identity as a black Jew is woven into his work. (Read more and watch him perform a poem.)

Lacey Schwartz – a filmmaker who directed a documentary about her search for identity as a black Jew. (Read more and watch the film trailer.)

Ingrid Silva – a Brazilian dancer who faced poverty and discrimination while becoming a professional ballerina. (Read more and watch her dancing.)

Danez Smith – a poet writing with incredible depth and power on the subjects of race, sexuality, and justice. (Read more and watch them perform a poem.)

Kehinde Wiley – a visual artist who’s vivid paintings – like the one pictured above – explore race, class, and the concept of masculinity. (Read more and see his art.)

Hank Willis Thomas – a visual artist who uses photography and sculpture to create pieces focused on history, identity, and race. (Read more and see his art.)