About the Artists in LIT 41
Allison Guan 
(on the cover) Splice
Allison Guan is a poet and photographer from the San Francisco Bay Area. In her free time, she can be found falling down Wikipedia rabbit-holes and figuratively consuming textbook pages.
Stephanie Ann Farra of Philadelphia, is a photographer and writer whose work explores the subtle intersections of nature and human expression. With a deep appreciation for history and storytelling, she uses both imagery and language to capture moments that feel timeless.
Richard Hanus is an artist of few words whose work has previously appeared in LIT 36.
Besan Khamis is a Palestinian-American artist based in Baltimore, Maryland. His paintings forage the landscape of personal and family memory, blending these elements into realist and surrealist abstractions. His sculptural works follow a similar genealogy. Tapping into his own inventory of imagery and the collective subconscious, he uses playfulness to turn the ordinary unexpected, illustrating the thin line that separates comedy and tragedy, while offering an implicit critique of social relations. Instagram @besan_khamis Website: https://besankhamis.com/
Catherine McGuire has been both a writer and artist for decades, switching between right and left brain self-expression; they are both necessary for the whole. Her recent introduction to gel printing has opened a new field of synchronistic discovery. The printing isn’t controllable, and her unconscious finds image and symbol from the colors and textures, knowing that art can get past the ego’s censors and reach deep within; she hopes her art can do that for the viewers. Catherine uses gel printing with stamping and stenciling to make the images. Website: www.cathymcguire.com
Yasser Alaa Mobarak (b. 1993) is a multi-award-winning photographer represented by ZUMA Press from Alexandria, Egypt. He is a Visiting Instructor at the Delhi College of Photography in India and a Licentiate of the Royal Photographic Society in Great Britain. Yasser has received international recognition for his images from esteemed competitions, including Travel Photographer of the Year Award, National Geographic Award, Sony World Photography Awards, the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, the Sarajevo Photography Festival, the International Photo Awards, Egypt Press Photo, Paris Photo Prize and the Royal Photographic Society. https://www.yasseralaamobarak.com
https://www.instagram.com/yasseralaamobarak
Robert Rogers‘ (b. Memphis, TN) artistic practice spans painting, digital photography, drawing, and writing. Drawn from intimate reflections and a studied curiosity about belief systems, his work often engages with secular culture while drawing inspiration from devotional art and Judeo-Christian spirituality. He holds an M.A. in Advertising and a B.A. in American Studies from The University of Texas at Austin, along with a Graduate Certificate in Visual Arts from Harvard Extension School. He studied visual arts at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Harvard University; and the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Rogers’ work has been exhibited at Independent & Image Art Space, Chongqing, China; The Naturalist Gallery of Contemporary Art, Washington, DC; The San Diego Museum of Art Artists Guild; Photo Artfolio, Boston, MA; and has been published in Abstract: Contemporary Expressions and Vita Poetica Journal. His work is included in private collections and corporate settings, including Mass General Brigham, as well as Hilton and Marriott hotels. https://inventingvision.com/
Sherry Shahan is a 76-year-old woman who studies ballet and pole dancing in a small California beach town. She earned an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize in Poetry and Fiction and Best American Short Stories. Her photography lives in the Los Angeles Times, Country Living, Backpacker, Mother Earth News, San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere.
