Theme 2: Watch Me Fly

Daniella is a photographer who developed her passion for the craft as a student studying computer and telecommunications at the Iteletique School in Burundi. Of her love of photography Daniella states, “Photography is a beautiful thing. Both easy and difficult. We don't all have the same perception of things...from the moment you find satisfaction in taking a photo, that's enough.” Though much of her photographic career has been punctuated by the challenges of being a female in a male-dominated space, she believes that her female perspective is important to furthering the power of her work.

Hawa Jane Bangura is a visual artist who lives and works in Freetown, Sierra Leone. She studied Art in the UK and USA, holds a degree in law, and boasts a successful career as a lawyer at the New York State Bar and later in the corporate sector in Sierra Leone.

In 2013 she set up an art collective, The Barray, comprising about 15 local visual artists, to whom she provided skills training and tutoring in art history and contemporary art.

Hawa Jane’s work challenges the way in which African women have been traditionally portrayed in art by projecting bold images of confidence, power, strength, elegance and beauty. Having been educated in the West, Hawa Jane was not exposed to the very rich pre-colonial history of the African continent and its people. She uses art to explore that hidden history and culture, depict an alternate African identity, and represent African women within that context.

Mia Collis and Cynara Vetch are a Kenya-based photographer and a journalist who founded the “She Shapes The City,” a unique multimedia project celebrating the power of African women in bringing positive change to the city of Nairobi. Featuring real Nairobi women—intellectuals, creatives, athletes, and entrepreneurs through image, written text, and audio—it is a continuously growing collection of inspiring stories of perseverance, often in almost impossible circumstances, that brings positive change to the identity of the Kenya’s capital. Of her photography, Mia Collis states, “The human element fascinates me. Through my photography I’m inspired by the interplay of light and life and how stories can be told in an instant. I aim to capture narratives that challenge stereotypes and reveal emotion.”  

Phindile Mamba is a self-taught artist from Mbabane, Eswatini, who has been painting full time since 2014 after participating in the Livi laBomake (Women's Voices) empowerment project organized by the Yebo! ArtReach NGO to promote a nationwide dialogue on women’s rights and gender equality through art creation and display. In a men-dominated culture, she dedicates her work to honoring women. A single mother of three, she admits that becoming an artist has empowered her, made her feel free, and given her self-esteem and independence. Her work has been exhibited in group exhibitions in Eswatini and South Africa since 2014; she had her first solo show in December 2020.

Enas Satir, born in 1985 in Sudan, is a visual artist who currently resides in Toronto. She received her Bachelors’ degree in Architecture from the University of Khartoum before going on to work as a designer for Sudanese-based companies Almawja and XPO, Art and Design Magazine. She now works as a graphic designer for the Spirt of Math Schools while maintaining her own freelance design company, Satir Designs. In her work she focuses on issues of race, blackness, and African identity and is inspired by the complexity and beauty of her background and home country of Sudan. Her most recent project is one with ceramic artist Erin Candela, a partnership funded by the Toronto Art Council.

Modupeola Fadugba is a Nigerian multi-disciplinary artist who lives and works between the US and Nigeria, and holds degrees in chemical engineering, economics, and education. Her art practice spans painting, drawing, and socially-engaged installations and is influenced by the six years she spent working in research, policy, and administration within Nigeria’s education sector. Her work continues to be informed by statistical, archival, and historical research.  

Among her many achievements, in 2016 Fadugba won the Grand Prize at the Dakar Biennale in Senegal for her installation The People’s Algorithm. This interactive work uses a game format to explore the complex structure and challenges of the Nigerian education system through ideas of chance, strategy, and luck.

Emmanuelle Laté was born in 1982 in Libreville, Gabon. She began her graduate studies at the European Academy of Visual and Graphic Arts in Lille, France, eventually obtaining a diploma in architecture from ENSAP Bordeaux in 2012. After several internships in architecture, she founded her own architecture firm 2EL Architects in Libreville. In addition to architecture, Laté pursues a career in fine arts and design, her biggest passion being photography. Her photographs cover a broad range of subjects, from tracing the vanishing architectural heritage to capturing the natural beauty of the human body.  

The Tournesol (Sunflower) series was inspired by the acumen of young women who stand up against the trend in consumer culture that links lighter complexion with social and professional success in order to promote skin-lightening products. Photographs in this series feature women's portraits in black-and-white highlighted with the bright-yellow color of flowers. This color juxtaposition allows Laté to accentuate the natural beauty of the intense and luminous dark skin, which becomes a rarity because of the proliferation of skin bleaching products that not only efface this magnificent beauty but also have harmful health effects.

Born in Maseru, Lesotho, ‘Matlali Matabane came to art later in life. She began her professional career in the corporate world, deciding in 2019 to switch full time into the arts. She is now currently enrolled in an Interdisciplinary Arts and Cultural Studies degree at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa where she built a digital media creative practice focused on themes of femininity, Bosotho (those peoples native to Lesotho and South Africa), and representation politics.

In pursuing a career in the arts, with exhibitions in Ghana and Lesotho, ‘Matlati also seeks to explore the power of the visual in educational settings, looking at how visual storytelling can help younger generations build literacy and creative problems solving skills and understand their own cultural histories more fully.

Puno Selesho is a Spoken Word artist, born and raised in Pretoria, South Africa. She graduated from the University of Pretoria with a BA Law and LLB degree. Her artistic journey began at a young age, and her repertoire includes writing, voice overs, and live performances. She has performed on both international and local platforms for over 10 years, including TEDx Pretoria, and international conferences such as Standard Bank Women in Innovation in South Africa and Re:publica in Berlin.

Puno is an active agent of change on the community level, creating many organizations focused on enriching the human capital of the people around her. She is the founder of The Cherry Blossom Project which provides Matric Dance dresses (Prom dresses) for underprivileged girls, and The Park Exchange, a platform for professionals, students and creatives to engage on crucial social issues.

Puno is now a freelance Spoken Word artist, strategist for Spoken Sessions SA, and founder of Harvest (Pty) Ltd, where she helps clients create and nurture wholesome communities through bespoke communications and curated events.

Photographer Kani Sissoko is a graduate of the National Institute of the Arts of Bamako, Mali. Having first discovered the art of photography during an internship at the National Museum of Mali where she documented the collection, she subsequently worked in documentary photography with several international NGOs focusing on the role of women in society beginning to exhibit her work in 2015. Today, winner of numerous professional awards and educator in photography and journalism, Kani challenges the clichés about women both through her career achievements and the subjects she engages with.

“When the Walls Speak” is a series in which Kani appealed to the symbolism of a wall as a protective yet confining structure to break silence surrounding the cultural norms and practices limiting the freedom, empowerment and integrity of women in today’s Malian society.