Our history

Kwamena Boison is a social entrepreneur, multidisciplinary art enthusiast, and fashion designer based in Ghana. Drawing significant inspiration from centuries of sustainable Ghanaian fashion and artistic culture, Kwamena redesigns and makes aKwamena Boison is a social entrepreneur, multidisciplinary art enthusiast, and fashion designer based in Ghana. Drawing significant inspiration from centuries of sustainable Ghanaian fashion and artistic culture, Kwamena redesigns and makes art by collecting textile waste from landfills, bodies of water, and Kantamanto—one of the largest secondhand clothing markets in West Africa. Kwamena is the founder and head of design at AFRODISTRICT and THE REVIVAL, a community-led sustainable design initiative creating art with upcycled global textile waste, which has received recognition from international platforms, such as BBC, Channel 4, and France 24, among others. He has also worked in collaboration with fashion and culture brands, such as Ozwald Boateng, Art Comes First, M+Rc Noir, and Harris Elliott. Kwamena is the founder and head of design at AFRODISTRICT and THE REVIVAL, a community-led sustainable design initiative creating art with upcycled global textile waste, which has received recognition from international platforms, such as BBC, Channel 4, and France 24, among others. He has also worked in collaboration with fashion and culture brands, such as Ozwald Boateng, Art Comes First, M+Rc Noir, and Harris Elliott.

Mika’il the Muezzin is a storyteller, translator and social sculptor based in South Africa. His work centers around spatial storytelling and design for social impact and he aims to listen, unearth stories, and be a catalyst for translating user-experiences into spatial outcomes. Mikail’s practice is focused on intersectionality and the outcomes of his work lies at the confluence of space making, gender, sexual & ethnic identity, and social justice. His design practice fluently blends the modalities of architecture, urbanism, storytelling, film, graphic and exhibition design, and research.

Ngoc Nau is a new media artist based in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Throughout her wide range of research topics and fields, Ngoc mixes observations with life experiences and imagination. Some of the artist’s main early inspirations come from philosophical ideas about the cosmology in Buddhism and the structure of light coming from physical theories. Ngoc is also interested in the development of new technologies that have the power to change people’s view on the world. Starting from a macro perspective, she gradually moves to a micro level using real stories of daily life to find ways to build connections between the larger system and her own community.Ngoc has presented works at Documenta 15 via Sa Sa Art Projects collective, ArtBasel Hong Kong (2023), ThaiLand Biennale (2021), and Singapore Biennale (2019), among others.

Ujjwala Maharjan is a poet and educator from Kathmandu, Nepal. She believes in arts education as a pathway to a more empathetic and inclusive society and explores trauma-informed practices and narrative approaches with artists and educators. Upon her return to Nepal after finishing her Master’s in Education at the University of Pennsylvania, she decided to slow down and hold poetry and storytelling workshops. Throughout the pandemic, she was inspired by her former students and colleagues to study and experiment with the art of rap and hip-hop. Ujjwala is one of the co-founders of Word Warriors, a poetry group leading the spoken word movement in Nepal.

Arpita Akhanda is an artist based in Santiniketan, India, whose work involves paper weavings, performances, installations, drawings, and videos. During her artistic journey, Arpita has performed at Teertha International Performance Platform (Sri Lanka) and Chittagong Art College (Bangladesh). She has participated in India Art Fair’s residency program (2022), Gästatelier Krone Aarau’s residency program in Switzerland (2021), and Piramal Art Residency (2019-20). In addition, Arpita has received the Emerging Artist Award Extended Support Platform from FICA and Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation (2020), State Award Fellowship in New Media from Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation (2019), and National Scholarship by CCRT Ministry of Culture of India in Painting (2016).

Chidumaga Uzoma Orji is a creative technologist and visual artist born and based in Nigeria. He has exhibited his work at ‘Here, There, Everywhere’, Format Festival (2021), CultureHub ReFest (2020), and Lagos Photo Festival (2019). With his work, he’s interested in observing and creating representations of society and of history as visual metaphors that unpack the millennial Igbo Nigerian cultural context and explore post-colonial crises of identity by exploring how digital technologies can be used as tools to access ancestral truths in the present day.

Ahmed Qabel is an Egyptian photographer, currently studying at the Faculty of Commerce, Al-Azhar University in Cairo. His interest in photography began in 2018, and since then it has grown into a passion that occupies all his thoughts. Ahmed's work has been published in several digital blogs, and he has participated in several group exhibitions. His work focuses on marginalized communities, social and cultural issues.

Ibrahim Mahama is a visual artist based in Ghana. Mahama is known for his large-scale installations made from jute sacks previously used to transport cocoa beans and charcoal, which are emblematic of Ghana’s commodity dependency. His work explores themes of commodity, migration, globalization, and economic exchange. Mahama’s ambitious installations often transform urban spaces and are a commentary on labor and decay.His notable projects include "Out of Bounds" at the 2015 Venice Biennale and "A Straight Line Through the Carcass of History" which has been shown in various locations worldwide, including Athens, Kassel, and New York. These works critically examine the impact of the material history of post-colonial Ghana within the context of global commerce.

Kamala Ibrahim Ishag is a painter based in Sudan. A figure in the Khartoum School of Art, Ishag has influenced African art with her blend of spiritual symbolism and visual storytelling. Her practice, characterized by the exploration of women's experiences and mystical themes, interweaves traditional Sudanese aesthetics with contemporary issues.Her major works, such as the "Women in Crystal Cubes" and "Planes of Existence," have received international acclaim and have been exhibited in major venues such as the Sharjah Art Foundation and the Tate Modern. Ishag's contributions go beyond visual impact; her art challenges societal norms and inspires cultural introspection.

Thana Faroq is a Yemeni documentary photographer, writer, and educator. Her artistry employs photography, texts, and moving images to delve into her life's transformations and the nuanced sense of belonging she experiences in both Yemen and her new home in the Netherlands. Faroq's work, recognized for its depth in exploring migration, post-memory, and intergenerational trauma, has earned her various awards, including the 2018 Open Society Foundation Fellowship Grant and the 2019 Arab Documentary Fund. Her storytelling captures the strength of migrants and stateless individuals, many of whom have journeyed with her during her own period of transition.Selected projects like "I Don't Recognize Me in the Shadows" and "How Shall We Greet the Sun" reflect her focus on capturing the essence of her subjects' experiences, often returning to them to continue documenting their evolving stories. Her work has been showcased in numerous exhibitions across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States, and featured in leading publications such as The New York Times Lens, National Public Radio (NPR), and BBC.