Imaginary Borders

About The Author

Xiuhtezcatl is a twenty-five-year-old Indigenous environmental activist, recording artist, and author. Since the age of six, he has used his voice and art to inspire a new wave of activism that centers youth and Indigenous perspectives in global climate action.Xiuhtezcatl first emerged as an influential environmental activist in his childhood for protesting the fossil fuel industry in his Colorado community. At fifteen, he became the youngest person to address the United Nations General Assembly on the topic of climate change and, months later, sued the federal government for failing to act on the climate crisis in the landmark lawsuit Juliana v. United States.Over the past decade, Xiuhtezcatl has delivered speeches and performed at more than one hundred conferences, schools, and institutions around the world. His two books, We Rise and Imaginary Borders, are taught in thousands of classrooms, with his work being featured on major media outlets, including The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Real Time with Bill Maher, PBS NewsHour, CNN, MSNBC, and Univision.In recent years, Xiuhtezcatl has solidified his music as an extension of his activism, blending English, Spanish, and his ancestral language, Nawatl, across hip-hop, indie, and Latin genres. Named in TIME magazine’s “30 Under 30” and Rolling Stone’s “25 Under 25” lists, he is the face of global campaigns with brands like Levi’s, Nike, Dr. Martens, and Patagonia.Xiuhtezcatl grew up between Colorado and his Indigenous homelands in Xochimilco, Mexico. He is now based in Los Angeles, where he is working on his upcoming album and composing for film and television. He is represented by Gifted Management, Next Models, and Creative Artists Agency (CAA).Ashley Lukashevsky is an illustrator and visual artist born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, currently based in Los Angeles. Ashley uses illustration and art as tools to strengthen social movements against systemic racism, sexism, and anti-immigrant policy. She aims to tear down these systems of oppression through first envisioning and drawing a world without them. Her clients include Refinery29, Broadly, The Washington Post, Planned Parenthood, Girls Who Code, GOOD magazine, Brooklyn magazine, ACLU, Red Bull, Snapchat, Air Jordan, and Logo TV. Ashley is also the illustrator of the best-selling Antiracist Baby, by Ibram X. Kendi.