New Orleans based artist, Ariya Martin works from personal narrative and daily life. Recurrent imagery of everyday, mundane items and acts, are examined and recontextualized through image, moving image, sound and text. She received her Masters of Fine Arts in Imaging Arts-Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and has worked at significant photographic institutions, George Eastman House and Kodak.

Ariya is a founding member of the all-female photography collective, Southerly Gold. She is also the co-founder of the non-profit One Bird, an organization dedicated to community arts programs that work with children, using photography, writing, mixed media and emerging technologies in order to assist them in sharing their stories, and has most recently spent summers working with youth in Haiti. Ariya currently serves as an Artist in Residence at the University of New Orleans.