Kayla Briët^US/TW

Kayla Briët is a multidisciplinary artist exploring themes of futurity and belonging. With works spanning film scores and documentary to virtual reality installations, she aims to amplify muted stories and write love letters to the diaspora communities she grew up in. She is the director of Smoke That Travels (2016), an award-winning short film that immerses viewers in her Prairie Band Potawatomi heritage. Through intimate live performances, she shares stories by mixing electronic beats with guzheng zither, blending multi-cultural influences. In film music, she aims to accent emotion on screen. She has scored films spanning topics of truth and reconciliation, queer environmental futures, and decolonial love--including a score for Dear Georgina, a follow-up to the Emmy award-winning film DAWNLAND (2018). Her work has been exhibited by MoMA, PBS, NYT, SXSW, Smithsonian APAC, SWAIA, and NMAI. Briët was named a 2018 MacArthur Foundation x Sundance Indigenous x New Frontier Fellow, 2017 TED Fellow, and 2023 New Music USA grantee. As a 2022 Asian Cultural Council Fellow, she independently researched expressions of asian and indigenous futurisms in Taiwan. A proud graduate of Fullerton Community College, she is currently exploring collective memory and archival as a Graduate Researcher at MIT Media Lab.