Tsismosas: Metamorphosis
Tsismosas x From Here to Sunday presents
Metamorphosis
a pre-cursor to 'Ihalas'
August 22 - September 13, 2026
Opening Reception: August 22, 2-5pm
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Metamorphosis: A Pre-Cursor To 'Ihalas' is a collective exhibition celebrating the creative practices and artwork of Alitha A. Alford, Cassandra Balbas, and Andrea Miralles, founders of Tsismosas Art Collective.
Tsismosas was founded to highlight and amplify women artists in an art world where women of color are too often overlooked. Metamorphosis reflects the artistic, creative, and internal journey of each artist in recent years, the evolution from chrysalis to unbounded, liberated creator. The threads that bind the Tsismosas are the same threads that caused their union as a collective—healing through the transformative power of art, the desire to nurture genuine human connection, and love of culture, mythology, and femininity.
Metamorphosis teases Tsismosas Collective’s grand 9-woman October show Ihalas: We Were Never Meant To Be Tamed. Ihalas (wild: Cebuano) is a call to live your authentic life unapologetically. It celebrates the resilience, strength, and power of women while honoring their capacity to nurture, create, lead, and inspire positive change through their phenomenal minds, courageous spirits, and adaptive, dynamic bodies. A refusal to be diminished, subdued, or “tamed.”
Through the Tsismosas’ artwork, they share their lived experiences, life lessons, activism, and stories while inviting others into meaningful, transformative dialogue. They hope these conversations create pause and reflection, cultivate empathy, and encourage collective action toward positive change in how people see themselves, one another, and the world.
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Tsismosas Art Collective is a Pinay-led collective of women artists founded in 2022 based in New York City. The creation of the collective is a response to the need for greater representation of Filipina/x, AAPI, and BIPOC artists through art exhibitions, workshops, networking events, and collaborative projects and programming.
Inspired by the Filipino tradition of gathering to share stories (“tsismis”), they reclaim conversation as a form of care, cultural preservation, and collective empowerment. What is often dismissed as gossip becomes something much deeper: the passing down of wisdom and the joy, grief, and healing of spreading knowledge and understanding by sharing life stories with each other.
Rooted in healing, artistic exploration, and the celebration of history and culture, Tsismosas believes in the transformative power of art. They have created spaces to encourage honest conversations about heritage, mental health, belonging, and self-expression. Through grassroots organizing and collaboration, the collective facilitates inclusive spaces where artists are supported, inspired, and empowered to tell their stories.
Tsismosas envisions a future where female artists from communities that have been historically underrepresented in the arts have equitable access to creative opportunities, sustainable careers, and spaces where their voices are not only amplified but their talents are celebrated, recognized, and respected.
Instagram: @tsismosasnyc
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Alitha Alford (she/her/hers) is a mixed media collage artist and acrylic painter based in Gowanus, Brooklyn. An Asian American and multi-racial creative, her vibrant, tribal-inspired work blends abstraction, sculptural painting, and collage to explore themes of healing, unity, and identity, particularly within multi-racial and Indigenous communities. Alitha is the co-founder of The Tsismosas Art Collective, a Pinay-led collective of women artists founded in 2022, that is based in New York City. She’s also an active member of Arts Gowanus and The Brooklyn Art Cluster Collective. Her art practice extends into her heartfelt brand, leeleeluvjoyart, which promotes healing, wellness, and self-care through handmade goods, therapeutic art kits, and joyful, intention-filled artworks. Through both her artwork and offerings, Alitha aims to spread light, love, healing and connection in every space she enters.
Instagram: @leeleeluvjoyart
Website: alithaaalford.com
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Cassandra Balbas is a Brooklyn-based lettering artist, illustrator, and product designer from Anaheim, CA. Since receiving her BA in Art at UC Irvine, she’s found a calling in visually expressing the Filipino diasporic identity. She’s proudest of illustrating Fil-Am children’s books, organizing art shows with her collective, the Tsismosas, and selling original Ilokano-inspired works through her merch line, We Are Sun-Raised.
Instagram: @cassandrabalbas
Website: cassandrabalbas.com
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Andrea Miralles is a Bay Area, CA native and Newark-based fine artist, illustrator, brand designer, and web designer. Through her creative studio, she crafts visual systems that build trust, visibility, and community impact for founders creating positive change. She partners with climate, hospitality, consumer, and service-based brands to create thoughtful, elevated identities that make waves and attract bigger opportunities.
She is a self-taught artist with a BA in Cognitive Science from Cal and background in software engineering and community organizing. Her art practice is rooted in deep ecology, mythology, and womanhood.
A co-founder of Tsismosas Collective, she enjoys curating exhibitions and community events rooted in heritage, healing, and feminism.
Instagram: @andreamiralles.studio
Website: andreamiralles.com
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Tsismosas is fundraising for their annual October show that is highlighting Filipina artists, Ihalas: We Were Never Meant to Be Tamed.
Donations are kindly accepted at their GoFundMe page.