The Luminary and Sixty Inches From Center Announce 2026 Critics-in-Residence
The Luminary and Sixty Inches From Center Announce 2026 Critics-in-Residence
The Luminary is pleased to announce the selection of Xiao Faria daCunha AND Camryn Daniels as 2026 CriticS-in-Residence
Xiao Faria daCunha
Camryn Daniels
This year's residency attracted a remarkable pool of applicants from St. Louis and across the Midwest. We were energized by the range of voices, perspectives, and approaches to criticism represented in the submissions, which reflected the vitality of contemporary arts writing and cultural criticism in our region. We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who applied and shared their work with us.
This residency supports arts writers and cultural critics who are invested not only in interpretation and analysis, but in how ideas move, circulate, and take form in the world. Rooted in The Luminary's commitment to art, thought, and action, the program encourages expansive approaches to criticism through essays, print ephemera, DIY publishing, zines, experimental forms, and other modes of distribution beyond traditional platforms.
During their residency, Xiao and Camryn will spend time immersed in St. Louis, engaging with the city's histories, communities, artists, and cultural landscape through the distinct lens of The Luminary. The residency is designed to foster deep study and place-based inquiry, creating space for critics to develop new questions and perspectives informed by the complexities of the region.
About the Critics
Xiao Faria daCunha (Visiting Critic)
Xiao Faria daCunha is a practicing visual artist and independent journalist covering lifestyle, art, and culture across the Midwest. Her visual art practice includes mixed-media illustration, printmaking, and collage, while her journalism has appeared in outlets including Chicago Reader, Block Club Chicago, BRIDGE.CHICAGO, KCUR, The Pitch KC, and more. Previously the Managing Editor of Urban Matter Chicago, Xiao's work explores the intimate and vulnerable truths of BIPOC, migrant, immigrant, and diaspora communities.
Considering all of her work a form of art journalism, Xiao seeks to amplify voices that have not been heard and illuminate stories that have not been seen. By weaving personal experience with broader cultural narratives, she creates emotionally resonant conversations that challenge and expand perceptions of women, Asian diasporas, and immigrant communities.
Camryn Daniels (Local Critic)
Camryn Daniels is a zine author, essayist, graphic designer, fiber artist, and community organizer. A former museum professional, her work is grounded in imagining worlds beyond the limitations of institutional structures and is informed by a deep desire to understand herself in relation to those who came before her.
Drawing inspiration from Black communist and womanist thinkers, Camryn's writing, organizing, and creative practice are shaped by an ongoing commitment to anti-capitalist frameworks. She is also a collaborator with the Fiber Arts Circle, where she develops publication and marketing materials that support the collective's work.
About the Program
This residency is part of a larger network of Critic-in-Residence Programs taking place across the Midwest through Midwest Satellites, a Sixty Inches From Center initiative focused on co-created projects between Sixty and aligned collaborators throughout the region.
Sixty's 2026 Critic-in-Residence Program brings together partners across Ohio, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Missouri—including ATNSC: Center for Healing and Creative Leadership, BULK Space, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, First Peoples Fund and the Oglala Lakota Artspace, and The Luminary—to support immersive research and place-based critical writing.
This summer, each partner organization will host local and visiting critics who will bring their own perspectives to the cities they inhabit, the communities they engage, and the writings they ultimately publish. Together, these residencies form a constellation of critical voices examining contemporary culture across the Midwest.
We are thrilled to welcome Xiao and Camryn to The Luminary and look forward to supporting their research, conversations, and writing in St. Louis.