Artist | Designer | Death Doula

Mala (she/they)

Mala is an Ilokano, queer death doula, artist, and designer currently residing on Lenapehoking (Brooklyn, NY).

Her work manifests as a fiber-embodied play practice, deeply informed by her relationship to trauma and healing. This approach is guided by the principles of "Economics. Art. Transformation." (created by Economics 4 Emancipation, art.coop, and Collective BAE), alongside her training from Going with Grace End of Life Training. She holds a core belief that true healing comes from lovingly tending to both the challenging and the effortless parts of life, approaching these lessons with a curious and compassionate, multidisciplinary yet pragmatic artistic lens.

She has lent her artistic and design support to initiatives like the Community Deathcare Digest, various local activist spaces, and Filipinx collectives. Additionally, she cultivates her own collaborative space, HypoFutures—dedicated to experimental learning at the intersections of death, design, and art. Through HypoFutures, she envisions fostering more spaces where people can share and support each other through solidarity economies.

What could it be like if we took seriously the depths of our feelings and the wisdom of our bodies? What could we learn if we really listened to ourselves?