Larissa Nez is of the Mud People and born for the Mountain Cove People. Her maternal grandfather is of the Red Running Into the Water People and her paternal grandfather is of the Big Water People. She was born and raised on the Navajo Nation, in a small community in northern Arizona. Larissa is currently a first-year Master of Arts student in Public Humanities at Brown University. She is an alumna of the University of Notre Dame where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Art History and Sociology. Larissa’s academic research interests include modern and contemporary art, cultural heritage and historic preservation, critical theory, Diné and Indigenous Studies, Black Studies, and public health. Her words, research, and knowledge have been published in the University of Michigan – NCID’s Spark Magazine, Terra Incognita Media, ND Today, SELF Magazine, the NM Political Reporter, Teen Vogue, The South Bend Tribune, and The Observer. Larissa holds a Special Higher Education Fellowship with the American Indian Graduate Center and a Curatorial Fellowship with the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity at Brown University. She is the recipient of awards from the American Indian Graduate Center, Navajo Nation, Davis-Putter Scholarship Fund, Council for Museum Anthropology, Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums, Portland Community College, and the Institute for International Education. / Hashtł’ishnii nishłį, / Dził Tł’ahnii báshíshchíín. / Táchii’nii éí da shicheii. / Tótsohnii éí da shinálí. / Ákó t’éégo Diné Asdzáán nishłį.”

Project: Larissa will assist with the development of educational materials for the traveling exhibition, “Color Riot!”, featuring Navajo textiles from c. 1860 to 2018.