The Art Exchange: Moving Image programme is a collaborative and cross-cultural curatorial professional development and exhibition programme for early to mid-career visual arts curators from Sub-Saharan Africa working with moving images. It is also supported by the British Council and organized by LUX, the UK agency for the support and promotion of artists working with Moving Image, Yinka Shonibare Foundation and Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.) Foundation, Nigeria.

The programme has announced its winning curators, who will receive professional development and networking opportunities. They include:

Abbey IT-A (Ghana):

Abbey IT-A is a Ghanian versatile artist and curator. His creative journey spans a myriad of mediums, including drawing, performance, installation, video, photography, and text. As an associate at the Foundation for Contemporary Art – Ghana (FCA-Ghana), Abbey passionately champions contemporary art discourse. Through rigorous research, workshops, seminars, exhibitions, interventions, and critical discussions, he contributes significantly to the thriving art scene in Ghana.

Abbey IT-A also earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree from the esteemed Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts (MFA), he continues to push the boundaries of artistic expression and curatorial exploration. Abbey IT-A deeply engages with contemporary art, making them an innovative beacon in Ghana’s art scene.

Ese Emmanuel (Nigeria):

Ese Emmanuel, a dedicated writer, cultural worker, and curator, resides at the heart of Nigeria’s creative hub. She is a key member of the team at Monangambee, a nomadic Lagos-based microcinema. There, Ese plays a vital role in organizing screenings that engage with black continental and diasporic filmmakers, Third Cinema, and cinematic movements from the Global South. Ese also fosters radical imagination, creating cinema spaces for collaboration, play, care, and rest in innovative ways. She currently lives and works between Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria.

Jesse Gerard Mpango (Tanzania):

Jesse Gerard Mpango is a captivating storyteller from Kasulu, Tanzania. He is a founding member of Ajabu Ajabu, a multimedia curatorial collective based in Dar es Salaam. Ajabu Ajabu has been trailblazing in engaging, documenting, and reinforcing subcultures. This follows a profound commitment to de-centralized and communal forms of presentation, production, and preservation of audiovisual work in Tanzania. Jesse also explores innovative distribution, preserving indigenous stories globally, using unrestricted, community-based methods for preservation and restitution.

Recent projects include “Manifested Belonging,” exploring Dar es Salaam’s screen communities, and also an award-winning documentary short, “Apostles Of Cinema.”

Kefiloe Siwisa (South Africa):

Grounded in curatorial consciousness, Kefiloe Siwisa is a cultural worker and curator based in the bustling city of Johannesburg. With a deep sense of emotional literacy, empathy, and collective presence, Kefiloe’s practice further prioritizes restoration and mindfulness. Previous roles include Senior Associate at Stevenson Gallery, Lead Curator of Turbine Art Fair (2019), and Assistant Curator of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fairs’ public programming platform Forum. Siwisa has also collaborated with institutions in South Africa, the UK, the US, Canada, and Morocco.

Siwisa is also the co-founder of Queertopia, a queer-centered experiential festival conceptualized around Being (in all one’s multiplicity) as a radical act of future world-building. She holds an MFA in Curating (Goldsmiths University of London). In addition, she holds a BA in Drama, Art History, and Visual Culture (University of Cape Town).

E.N Mirembe (Uganda):

E.N Mirembe, a curator, writer, and researcher, brings a unique interdisciplinary perspective to her work. She primarily explores literary and visual cultures through a black studies lens. Her commitment to promoting visibility for female artists is further reflected in her endeavours with the Njabala Foundation in Kampala. Mirembe has an extensive background in curatorial research residencies and fellowships. Mirembe is currently a research fellow with the Center for Humanities Research at the University of the Western Cape. She has held fellowships and residencies with the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town, the Arak Art Collection in Doha, the Center for Arts, Design + Social Research in Boston, 32° Degrees East | Ugandan Arts Trust in Kampala, and Bag Factory Artists’ Studios in Johannesburg.

Mirembe’s writing has also been published in Artforum, Africa is a Country, African Arguments, Literary Hub, Johannesburg Review of Books, African Feminism, and others.

Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo (Kenya):

Rosie Olang’ Odhiambo (she/her) is a curator, artist, and bookmaker based in Nairobi, Kenya. With a commitment to generative collaborative processes, Rosie centers local context and deep research in her work.

She is currently exploring zines, and artists’ books as formats to play across various disciplines engaging with decolonial, queer, feminist, and black radical traditions. More recently, alongside Down River Road and friends, she has been experimenting with sound art and installation formats.

Rosie has worked in research, editorial, communications, writing, and project management roles with literary and visual arts and culture organizations in East Africa and the United States and has previously served as the Head of Programs at the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute(NCAI).

The six winning curators, selected through an open call, will receive mentoring support from LUX and G.A.S., as well as a dedicated programme of professional development and networking opportunities. These activities will be delivered alongside a fully-funded research trip to the UK in Autumn 2023, an opportunity to work with moving image works in the British Council visual arts collection as well as logistical and financial support to stage a final exhibition. They also receive a curatorial fee and their host venue will receive funding for the exhibition staging.