FROM SOUL TO HUMANITY

Adelaide Damoah

British-Ghanaian multi-disciplinary artist Adelaide Damoah stands at the confluence of painting and performance, her artistry resonating within the tapestry of themes encompassing colonialism, ecology, identity, feminism, and radical joy. After graduating from Kingston University London with a degree in applied biology, her career within the pharmaceutical industry was curtailed when she received a diagnosis of the chronic illness, endometriosis. It was during multiple periods of convalescence that she discovered her devotion to art.

In her current practice, Damoah employs an array of mediums and techniques, including storytelling through performance and filmmaking, utilising artificial intelligence, image transfer methods, body printing, and painting.

Asia 'Wildmoon' Clarke

Enam Gbewonyo

Maggie Sade Coker

Sianeh A. Kpukuyou

Black Girls Glow

SAFOA AÏSHA CABLYE-GAISIE

Founder

Safoa Aisha is a singularly dexterous interior designer and decorative artist, with over a decade of experience working with both private and commercial clients-in her native Ghana and across the African continent. At Lamra Galleries, where she still maintains her position as Design/Creative Executive, Safoa’s earned a watertight reputation as a keen listener, who possesses an aptitude for curtailing the requested, not to mention the unsaid, into a remarkable aesthetic conclusion.

CHANTEL AKWORKOR THOMPSON

Executive Director

Akworkor is an educator, curator and social justice advocate who believes that everybody should have an equal opportunity to live, learn and love in a nurturing environment that supports their growth. Fuelled by a wealth of rich experiences garnered from years of travel to far flung places, living amongst unique societies, she curates enriching experiences using art as a portal to undiscovered ideas, demonstrating the possibilities of cross-cultural exchange.

Her work within schools, social justice and anti-racist organisations have allowed her to support others to thrive as they journey towards creating a world that promotes belonging, where all live free of the shackles of injustice and instead within the light of the effulgence of existence.

BRIGHT OPANIN BOAKYE-DANQUAH

Senior Producer

Over the past fourteen years Bright Opanin Boakye – Danquah has been working in the creative arts and advertising industry. The latter eight years have been spent leading teams as creative producer or director for high profile projects with brands such as Gucci, Miss Universe, MTN and Government of Ghana. Bright employs persuasive communication skills to deliver inspiring stories and contribute to the evolving narrative of African identity. From across the continent in countries like Ghana and South Africa to global projects in the Middle East, the Americas, and Europe, Bright has collaborated with diverse teams, forging strategic connections that have grown over time. Bright’s work as a storyteller using various media places him at the nexus of art and communications.

AMA BARTELS-KODWO

Development and Fundraising Coordinator

Ama Bartels-Kodwo brings a unique blend of strategic vision and a deep appreciation for the arts to her role at LaFA. With a background in investment promotion and trade services support, Ama combines business acumen with a passion for preserving cultural heritage. Hailing from a family of artists and art enthusiasts, including a grandmother and sister who are artists themselves, Ama understands the intrinsic value of the arts in shaping and preserving our cultural identity. She is committed to nurturing creativity and fostering a deeper connection to our artistic traditions, and is dedicated to advancing the mission of the art foundation, ensuring that the arts remain a vibrant and integral part of our society.

Dancer, performer, and choreographer from Togo, Koffi-Kégou Afiadegnigban has been influenced by the traditional songs and rhythms of his country. In 2009, he undertook his first professional training in traditional dance, and later graduated from the professional training in contemporary dance "yelen don" at the Termitière Choreographic Development Center. Since then, he has conducted several dance workshops, particularly in Togo and the surrounding region.

Tchinjo Estelle Ornela, popularly known as Nela Elle, is a dynamic Cameroonian dance artist and community worker. She has worked on several projects as a performer, choreographer, director and producer. She teaches but also hosts dance projects in collaboration with other artists from Africa and beyond. Her work is deeply inspired by spirituality, mental health, and sexuality; as she places a lot of focus on telling narratives which raise awareness on these topics.

Oscar Korbla Mawuli Awuku also known by his brand name Yonga Arts is an Accra-based multidisciplinary Ghanaian artist. He explores precolonial culture as well as decolonizing practices in contemporary culture, the essence of black identity, advocates for women and seeks to ask empowering questions in society.His works are fueled by the African traditional mask and its creators as well as re-echoing the collective knowledge and wisdom of his ancestors, which is gradually losing their vigor among contemporary audiences.

Akumbu Uche is a writer and poet from Nigeria. Her work has been published in several publications including Brittle Paper, The Cincinnati Review, Engaging Borders Africa, Ibua Journal, The Lagos Review, and Sprinng.
She has also worked with cultural organisations including the Abuja Literary Society, Saraba Magazine, and most recently, the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora (LOATAD).

Jodi Minnis (b. 1995, Nassau, The Bahamas) is a cultural worker whose practice manifests through curating, writing, and visual arts. Minnis' curatorial practice centers on history through art in contemporary Caribbean art approaches. Minnis holds an Associates Degree in Fine Arts from the College of The Bahamas (2015).  She studied for a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree at the University of Tampa and holds a National Youth Award for Arts and Culture and the prestigious Prime Minister's Cup award from the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture (2019). Minnis has exhibited in the US, Australia, and Aruba. Minnis currently serves as the Exhibitions and Programming Lead of TERN Gallery in Nassau, The Bahamas.

Akeim Toussaint Buck is an interdisciplinary performer and maker, born in Jamaica and raised in England. Graduating from The Northern School of Contemporary Dance in 2014, Akeim began creating his own work in 2015. His intention is to create moving, thought provoking, accessible and free-spirited projects. Exploring a variety of themes to challenge, enlighten and entertain audiences in a visceral way, calling on multiple art forms to weave a spectacle. Audiences are invited to not just observe, they are implicit in the experience. The work aims to reflect on reality, looking at ongoing socio-political issues, with a humanitarian intention.

The aesthetic of Toussaint's work combines dance, creative writing, film, poetry, beat-box, singing and acting. Fused to tell stories capable of bridging the gaps between a variety of audiences. His movement is informed by methodologies of kick boxing, Yoga, Capoeira, Caribbean Dance, Hip Hop and Contemporary Dance. His performances aspire to an orchestral musicality involving spoken word poetry, singing, and beatboxing. With improvisation and acute listening at the core of his practice of vocality and movement, which he calls Beatmotion, the artist embraces the holistic potential of dance to translate the affective dimension of socio-political realities.

Recent achievements include:
IRIE Dance Theatre's Artist in Residence for 2019-2020, becoming the Artist for NSCD, Yorkshire Dance and Spin Arts' Catapult 2019. Deda Theatre in Derby where Akeim has been recently appointed Associate Artist 2020-onwards. Geraldine Connor Foundation where Akeim is an Associate Artist. Awarded Arts Foundation Futures Award in Dance Theatre 2023. Akeim's work has been supported by Yorkshire Dance, Leeds Playhouse, Leeds Inspired, IRIE! Dance Theatre, Spin Arts, Serendipity, NSCD, Sadlers Wells and Arts Council England.

Emmanuel Unaji (b.1994) is a British-born Nigerian multidisciplinary artist & co-founder of the award-winning design company, Unaji & Co. He studied fashion
design and graduated with a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Kingston University (2021). Bold and unconventional, Emmanuel's unique style is to mechanically deconstruct icons to reverse engineer the unconscious bias applied to portraiture. His signature portraits combining collage, drawing, and painting have gained widespread recognition in the creative industries and have been featured in household institutions including Le Carreau du Temple Paris, The Royal Exchange, Tate Britain, Adidas Flagship Store, London Fashion Week, and The Freemasons Hall. Coined as 'new talent to watch' by several publications and brands such as Forbes, British GQ and Adidas, Unaji explores the socio-economic movement of the African body, sculpting his own space, at the intersection of fashion,
luxury, street, and fine art.

He has participated in several exhibitions and fairs such as Letitia Wright x Flannels, Immersive Exhibition, W1Curates, London (2022), AKAA Paris 22, International Art & Design Fair, Fashion Illustration, Acid Gallery, Lille, France (2020), Superstar Showcase, Adidas Originals x Creative Debuts, Oxford Circus, London (2020), Roubaix, France (2021) and Acid Gallery x Serié Noire, Lille Centre, France

Henrika is a cultural practitioner who uses her capacity as an art enthusiast, yogi, writer and facilitator to understand herself, make sense of the world, collaborate across boundaries, and to enable and drive change.

She empowers others by creating community dedicated to compassion, growth, wellness and development, while holding space for authenticity within herself and others.

Henrika’s approach to the art world has been through the lens of her combined interests in gender equity, culture, local patronage, and storytelling, while seeing it for the financial market it is but never losing the sense of its magic and potential to change lives and worlds.

She is currently the Gallery Executive at ADA contemporary art gallery in Accra, Ghana.

Neequaye Dreph currently serves as an Illustration lecturer at the University of Portsmouth and has also taught at numerous secondary schools and universities in the UK.

He takes pride in integrating real-life experiences gained from working with clients such as Toyota, Manchester United, and the Jordan Brand into his teaching.

In 2019, he delivered a TEDx talk in Tottenham about his DIY approach to art-making an. Neequaye has shown work at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and New Art Exchange and was an invited artist for the World Reimagined project.

With a career spanning over three decades, he is passionate about guiding and supporting artists in reaching their goals and building sustainable careers.

In 2022 he was one of five mentors of the Tate’s Beyond Boundaries public art project and he recently served as a judge for the site-specific category of the 2024 World Illustration Awards.

Ghanaian-born Stephen Allotey is a multidisciplinary art practitioner who graduated from the prestigious Ghanatta College of Art and Design with a diploma in painting and a Higher National Diploma in sculpture from Takoradi Technical University.  As the manager at Amoako Boafo’s art incubator, Allotey is a key player in the emerging art scene in Accra, home of some of the world’s most sought-after artists of today. He has been instrumental in the success of rising Ghanaian stars Eric Adjei Tawiah and Aplerh Doku Borlabi, both known for their unique visual languages, which combine formal portraiture elements with traditional Ghanaian materials.

With his extensive knowledge of the classical canon of art, he has been able to guide and develop emerging artists in Accra, encouraging them to interrogate and recontextualise classical canonical codes and conventions to communicate their innovative interpretations of the ever-evolving contemporary Ghanaian aesthetic.

He has recently been appointed to the board of directors at dot.atelier, one of the art world’s most sought after residences founded by Amoako Boafo.

Nana Danso Awuah-Asante previously known as Artsoul Kojo, is a Ghanaian contemporary artist whose art has gained recognition through his endless cast of characters and personalities; these address a broad spectrum of universal and existential philosophies with childlike appeal. His childlike strokes and elementary shapes recall the simple yet complex imaginations of the human psyche, laying bare the limitless possibilities of how one can perceive the world.

Nana Danso is a self-taught artist who began painting and creating art extensively as an outlet for coping with anything. As art depicts life , Nana Danso's symbolism portrays the reaction between the world and him. His work fuses aspects of storytelling, poetry combined with an impressionist and pop-art visual look.

Chantel Akworkor Thompson is an independent curator  and educator based in Ghana. She has curated shows in Accra, New York and Paris, working predominantly with African artists, including Amoako Boafo, Adjei Tawiah & Aplerh-Doku Borlabi. Founder of Beyond the Black Canvas, she amplifies the voices of Black artists and supports  early-career artists in Ghana, bridging the knowledge gap between home studio and the international art market.  Through her art collection, she aims to create a visual archive of her lived experience as a British born Ghanaian, documenting the moments that have shaped her identity. She also worked on The World Reimagined project (The UK’s largest National art project for racial justice) and was an associate at  The What If Experiment, who support organisations within the creative industry to build cultures of accountability with an anti-racist lens.

Calvin Kwaku Ayivie is a Ghanaian product developer and artist liaison with Artsoulkojo Studio. With a rich background in African art and African philosophical thought, Calvin is dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting rich, diverse stories through art.

As a co-founder of Kalabash.app, he creates platforms that amplify the work of Ghanaian artists, making their creations accessible through virtual reality and augmented reality.

Currently, Calvin serves as the Technology Director of the TMC Foundation, where he develops workshops and educational materials that integrate technology and art. These initiatives are implemented in rural schools to enhance storytelling and creative problem-solving skills.

Jude Lartey is a self taught Ghanaian image-maker known for his  cinematic scenes which  are illustrations of the new identities of his generation’s; dreams, fashions and evolutions. Both his  fashion -rooted and documentary style  photography capture the authenticity of the  people he meets and the environments in which he encounters them.  By placing importance on accurately presenting unique cultures he is able intertwine everyday storytelling into his cinematic snapshots. Key themes explored within his work include new age masculinity in Africa. And Lartey is keen on using his lens to  shape the perspective of masculinity.  Lartey’s has worked with magazines, brands and publications in the likes of GQ, Vogue, Dazed, Adidas, Burberry, Levi’s, Converse, The Guardian, NPR, etc. He is young mirror to an era and culture.

Xavier Laurent Leopold

Xavier Laurent Leopold, born in 1992 in Sierra Leone, is a multi-disciplinary artist, author and lecturer hailing from South London, UK. His artistic exploration revolves around abstract portraiture and cubism, delving into concepts such as time, introspection, faith, relationships, and legacy. His work aims to convey direct emotions to the audience by depicting bold characters that engage the viewer.

For Xavier, art became a source of personal therapy and a form of escapism for his audiences. His artistic endeavours led to features on BBC at the beginning of his career, where he discussed his practice, community, and intentions. Not only is Xavier is an advocate for mental health,  he also contributes to education by serving as a visiting lecturer at universities such as Sotheby’s Institute and the University of East London, lending his voice and knowledge to both undergraduate and post-graduate students.

He has showcased his work in various London exhibitions, including two solo shows, with one supported by Beats by Dre. Recently, his work has been hung alongside old masters such as Jean-Michel Basquiat in Brooklyn NYC, and has also exhibited in shows with Mall Galleries and Sotheby’s Institute.  Additionally, his book, ‘Art For The Heart,’ is stocked globally, sitting on the shelves of notable institutions such as MoMA and Tate. This fill-in activity journal book focuses on promoting the well-being and mental health of children through creative expression. Last but not least, Xavier has recently delivered a commissioned youth project with Wellcome Collection.

Richard Mensah

Richard Mensah is a London based artist who works with  and paints in different media. He describes himself as a born artist as he has had no formal art/painting education or training.

His love for drawing, sketching and painting was noticed at a very young age and in the very early years of his education in Ghana where he was born. He moved to the United Kingdom in the early 2000s and after a break from art for more than 15 years, Richard started painting again circa 2016 and has since been involved in exhibitions and commissions.  

His style is mainly intuitive - he conceives an idea to paint but often starts the painting project before the idea is fully formed. He relies on his intuitions to bring his ideas and concept into reality.

He is driven by the need to tell the African and Black peoples story from their own perspective which is often missing in the art world. His paintings attempt to draw in audiences into the event or the story being told thereby bringing it to life for the audience. He is deeply fascinated by shapes, movement and shades and light and tries to capture these in his paintings. His paintings and creations are vivid, bright bold colours, captures various emotions and combines abstract and realism.

Richard been involved in numerous exhibitions and was selected in 2020 as one of 25 emerging artist in the UK to watch out for by a Mayfair gallery. He has also been shortlisted and longlisted for numerous awards including the 2021 Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, the Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award and the Jacksons Painting Prize.

Nii Ayikwei Parkes is a Ghanaian-British writer and editor, who has won acclaim as a children's author, poet, broadcaster and novelist. He is the author of three poetry chapbooks including the much lauded Ballast (2009), an imagination of the slave trade by balloon described in the Guardian as “an astonishing, powerful remix of history and language and the possibilities of both.”

His poem, ‘Tin Roof’, was selected for the Poems on the Underground initiative in 2007, followed by the poem ‘Barter,’ chosen from his first full collection The Makings of You (2010). His novel, Tail of the Blue Bird (2009), hailed by the Financial Times as ‘a beautifully written fable… simple in form, but grappling with urgent issues,’ was an international success, becoming a bestseller in Germany and notably winning France's two major prizes for translated fiction – Prix Baudelaire and Prix Laure Bataillon – in 2014. He is also the author of two books for children – The Parade and Tales from Africa – under the name K.P. Kojo.

Nii Ayikwei serves on the boards of World Literature Today and the AKO Caine Prize and has served as a judge for several literature prizes including the Commonwealth Prize, the NSK Neustadt Prize and the Harvill Secker Young Translators’ Prize. In 2014 he was named one of Africa's 39 most promising authors of the new generation by the World Book Capital Africa 39 Project.

His most recent books are The Geez, collection of poems which was longlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, shortlisted for the Walcott Prize and was a Poetry Book Society 2020 Recommendation; a Ga language book, The Ga Picture Alphabet, which was shortlisted for the 2021 Jhalak Children’s & YA Prize; and Azúcar, a novel described as “a new kind of Caribbean novel with a reach beyond the region”.