Agyakomah
Music Artist
NYC | Ghana
Agyakomah is an artist-singer-songwriter that utilizes her cultural background and unique upbringing as a young first-generation woman to create music that reflects her story. What she categorizes as Afrofusion, not only represents her West African and R&B/Soul blend, but the outcome of a fusion of different lifestyles, languages, experiences and generational stories that is highlighted in her artistry. Agyakomah pushes boundaries of the African narrative by creating stories reflective of the everyday experiences of young Africans like herself who may reside on or off the continent.
She recently performed alongside artists across the world by participating in the The Great Lockdown Online Music Festival, and has released music consistently throughout the year. Her latest single, “Pay Me What You Owe” calls out employers by detailing the realities of post-grad life, for a young professional and the frustrations behind feeling undervalued. She aims to close out 2020 with the new collaboration and drop of her debut EP.
Kelly Greenlight
Ritual Performance Artist/Organizer
Nairobi | USA
Currently based in Nairobi, Kenya, Kelly 'GreenLight' Thomas is a ritual performance artist, wellness worker and cultural organizer. A New Jersey girl with roots in Alabama and The Commonwealth of Dominica, Kelly is currently pulling from her diverse cultural background to build a body of children’s music that addresses positive self esteem, cultivating healthy relationships and embracing the natural world. For over a decade, Kelly has been creating music & performance around emotional health, women’s narratives, and nature. As a performance artist, Kelly conceives interactive & transcendent arts experiences that activate her background in gender studies, theater, group dynamics, Afro-Diasporic cultural practice, and holistic healing.
Kelly is the foundress of Black Arts Retreat, a community arts organization which focuses on exploring African diasporic art and culture, communing with nature and holistic wellness through retreats, workshops and affinity groups in the US, digitally and around the world. Through Black Arts Retreat, Kelly has facilitated groups in Bahia, Brazil Berlin, Germany and throughout Haiti since 2016. Kelly holds a Bachelor's Degree in Educational Theater from NYU's Steinhardt School and a Sound and Music Integrated Practitioner Credential from the New York Open Center
Tshepiso Mabula ka Ndongeni
Photography
Johannesburg | South Africa
Tshepiso Mabula is a photographer and writer born in the Lephalale district of Limpopo, South Africa. Mabula’s interest in photography sparked when visiting a family member she was introduced to photographer Santu Mofokeng’s work. This Led to her studying photojournalism and documentary photography at the Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg where she became a recipient of the Tierney fellowship in 2018./ where she received the 2018 Tierney fellowship.
Ifayomi Christine
Filmmaker/Multidisciplinary Artist
Detroit | USA
Ashley ‘Ifayomi’ Douglas is a Black Queer multidisciplinary artist, healer, and filmmaker currently based in Detroit, MI. Ifayomi’s work is centered around ritual, memory, self intimacy, and prayer. She finds inspiration in the layered stories and experiences of Black Femmes, African diasporic connections to water, ancestral magic, and finding “home.” Her objective is to synthesize the worlds of ancestral healing, art, and wellness with intention centered on accessibility. Her artistic credits include Allied Media Conference’s Ethics and Aesthetics Film screening, Detroit Narrative Agency’s Radical Remedies Film Series, Art Basel 2019 for N’Namdi Gallery, and Danny Brown’s “Flower Car” with Eightfold Collective Studios and Lisa Waud
Trabolee
Rapper Artist
Nairobi | Kenya
Truth Reigns Above But Only Love Exists Eternally is coded in my rap name while Tra is Art is a mantra that mirrors my innermost reflections when I'm creating. I've always been amazed at how the mundane nothingness of life can be transformed into a canvas ,especially if one is in-tune enough to see the patterns and connections that are always presenting themselves in the now.
I'm a recording and performing artist who conveys his creativity through the genres of Hip Hop and spoken word poetry but not necessarily limited by them. My art stretches the imagination through varied subject matter that ranges extensively from the sacred to the profane, from the profound to the mundane.
Afatasi The Artist
Fine Art Textile Artist
San Francisco, CA | USA
Afatasi The Artist, is a cultural curator of Afro-Polynesia. Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Afatasi is a multidisciplinary creative, whose mediums include, and are not limited to: textile artist, designer, writer, poet, photographer, and singer/songwriter. She creates fashion, art, prose, and music, all through her unique Afro-Polynesian lens and perspective. A few of her personal values include: honoring ancestors, the DECOLONIZATION of spaces, Black Lives Matter, self-love and Afros.
Tayleur Crenshaw
Spoken Word Artist/Writer
Oakland, CA | USA
Though Tayleur wrote stories and poetry her whole life, she never considered herself to be a writer. What she did know was that she loved seeing her people thrive and being in spaces that inspired her. As fate would have it, those two things became what eventually developed her career as a writer and poet and co-founder of @Gold.Beams. Through @Gold.Beams, Tayleur curates amazing events, programming and productions for black creatives and her black community at large. As a writer and poet Tayleur shares her art and teaches art in schools and youth programs.
Tayleur is also a New York native, Howard University alumna. Her ultimate goal is to love on black people and to support their wildest dreams.
Kiazi Malonga
Performer/Instructor
Oakland | Congo Brazzaville
Kiazi Malonga was initiated in Congolese dance/drum culture at two years old by my late father Malonga Casquelourd. Casquelourd, former principal dancer with the National Congolese Dance Company, and Tanawa, co-founder (first US based central African dance company) was instrumental in helping build the African diaspora artistic community in the Bay Area and beyond. Organizations within this community include Mandeleo Institute, Worlds Arts West, University of California and Cal State campuses, and Everybody’s Creative Arts. Kiazi has been deeply steeped in this community my entire life, and feel fortunate to be a leading educator, advocate, and performer in the African music community.
Demetrius Borge
Filmmaker
Middlebury| USA
Demetrius has been producing videos since he accidentally erased all the family photos during a summer trip. In an attempt to make up for it he began making claymations in middle school, and transitioned to live-action in high school.
He attended Middlebury College as a Film and Media Culture major and produced videos for different student organizations, academic departments, and independently with friends.
From there he worked as a Digital Media Producer for Middlebury College’s Communications and Marketing Department, where he produced, directed, and edited videos for the college. In addition, he has worked as a producer, director, editor, and cinematographer on multiple short films and commercials.
He now co-owns 273 Productions where he continues to make videos.
Sephora Woldu
Filmmaker
San Francisco | Eritrea/USA
Sephora Woldu is an Eritrean American filmmaker.. Named one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine, her work has gained audiences from the American Film Institute to Eritrean community centers in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Toronto, London, and New York. She is the owner of Abyssurdian Productions, a creative studio based in the Tenderloin of San Francisco, CA.
Sephora received the Emerging Filmmaker Award (Indie Memphis) and the Jury Prize for Bold Innovation (RiverRun International Film Festival) for her debut feature length narrative film, Life is Fare. She is currently developing its prequel, Aliens in Eritrea, with support from FilmHouse (SFFILM) and IFP Week. Her hobbies include dangling out of open windows, extreme journalling, and dreaming about the history/ scheming about the future of Eritrea. She lives in San Francisco with her bright red Castelfidardo accordion (Mushu) because among other things, she is full of surprises
Mal The Oddity
Musician, Video Artist
Brooklyn, New York| USA
Mal the Oddity is a songwriter, producer, and video artist based in Brooklyn, NY. Drawing inspiration from hip hop, bedroom pop, and neo-noir films, Mal's work explores love, places, and self-reflection through stories drawn from his lived experience. His songs are the soundtrack to the futuristic cityscape developing around him in NYC, and to the sometimes dystopian digital existence we feel ourselves trapped in, where music helps us to feel real again.
Damilola Onafuwa
Documentary Photographer
Lagos | Nigeria
Damilola Onafuwa is a documentary storyteller based in Lagos, Nigeria. He focuses on human-interest stories that create consciousness about social issues. His works are geared towards how human cultures are formed and how they shape our perception of the world. He has worked with notable organizations, NGOs and corporations; both locally and internationally. He is a member of APJD (Africa Photo-Journalism Database) and an Associate fellow at The Royal Commonwealth Society. He was a Fellow at Akoma, an African Storytelling Fellowship between 2017-2018 and a Skoll World Forum Fellow in 2019. He is the founder of StoryMaxima, a brand creating innovative stories for organizations, while training young photographers, filmmakers and storytellers and also encouraging them to share their stories.