IN+ART RESIDENCY

photo by Antonio Roberts @hellocatfood

SAMIIR SAUNDERS

Samiir Saunders (he/they) is a multimedia poet from Birmingham, UK. Their work encompasses spoken word, alternative hip-hop, and performance art.

Samiir’s work is sometimes witty, other times vulnerable, but always filled with honesty and hope. Samiir’s aim as an artist is to inspire curiosity, compassion, and radical imagination within audiences and local communities.

Samiir has performed at BBC Words First, Empower Poetry, NØ RETURN Festival, Ikon Gallery, Jerwood Arts, La Gaîté Lyrique, Tramlines Festival, No Bounds Festival, and Corridor of Light.

Samiir has released 4 EPs and published over 100 short form poetry-videos. Samiir’s poetry films have screened at OutFest Los Angeles, Arcadia Gallery, Mockingbird Cinema, and Channel 4 Random Acts. Their film ‘oneminuteglitches’ was featured in the online exhibition ‘”A World Without End”

‘ and was a finalist for Best Illustrated Poem at the Wales International Film Festival 2021.

samiirsaunders.com
Instagram: @smaiduskhan
YouTube: @samiirsaunders
BandCamp:samiirsaunders.bandcamp.com

ALISON RICH

Allison Rich (she / her) is an organizer and artist who translates interdisciplinary ideas for a more equitable future. She composes fragments of mixed media, centered in the ethos of DIY and ecofeminism, to explore modalities of knowledge sharing.

Allison directed the Earth Ethics Institute at Miami Dade College and was appointed by the governor of Maryland to Chair the Education, Communications, and Outreach Group of the state’s Climate Change Commission. She co-founded the Environmental Health Network, Baltimore Green Schools Network, and Filbert Street Garden. She is certified in climate change, health, and communications through Yale.

Her film, “Not Normal” made with an iPhone and Canva about endometriosis is featured by Women’s Voices Now Collection. She is a cofounder of Endo Violence Collective and coedits Endo Violence Magazyn.

@endometriosishealthnetwork
@endo.violence.collective
endoviolence.com

THOMAS DIAFAS

I’m a queer Greek-Dominican transdisciplinary artist, cultural manager, and educator, born in 1987 in Thessaloniki, Greece. My work spans various disciplines, including performative arts, where I developed the concept of “Performing the Real,” which explores the boundaries between reality and art. As a community artist, I am deeply committed to using art as a tool for social change, particularly in addressing issues related to care in education, mental health, and LGBTQ+ rights.

I founded the Thessaloniki Queer Arts Festival to provide a platform for queer artists to explore and express their identities, with the goal of challenging societal prejudices through art. My approach is both creative and educational, involving local and international communities in projects that foster dialogue and promote social change. Now based in Berlin, I continue to develop my artistic practice and research, focusing on care practices, healing transgenerational traumas, and community collaboration.inclusive and equitable educational landscape.

https://linktr.ee/tomasdiafas

TITIKSHA VASHIST

Titiksha Vashist is Co-founder and Lead Researcher at The Pranava Institute. Her work focuses on emerging technology regulation and the socio-political implications of technology in India. Titiksha is also a 2024 Maitri Fellow at the Tech Policy Design Center, College of Law, Australian National University where her work will focus on critical minerals cooperation between India and Australia.

At Pranava, she drives research projects focussing on technology, ethics, design, and policy at the Institute. She has worked with multiple global organizations on responsible technology, including projects across deceptive design, digital wellbeing, and youth and media to produce academic as well as multimedia outputs. She is passionate about creating a safer internet using policy and design, as well as exploring how wellbeing can be thought of in a digital world.

www.pranavainstitute.com

UDISHA MADAN

Udisha is an independent graphic designer and illustrator based in Bangalore, India. Her work is emotive, explorative and tends to be energised by her environment.

Over the past year, Udisha has been functioning as an independent studio practice, acquiring and leading projects in the silos of branding, packaging, website, print and more. She believes in creating well-rounded and visually pleasing solutions to the unique needs of each project through a multidisciplinary lens. As her career has progressed, she has explored all things visual for the likes of Kingfisher, Philips, Women’s Fund Asia, Third Wave Coffee, Sofar Sounds and of course, The Pranava Institute! Moving forward, Udisha is excited about the interplay between design and digital infrastructures, more specifically how it affects human psychology and behaviour.

Instagram @udishamadan
tinyurl.com/UMwork

photo by Kamil Górak

ALEKSANDRA PIEŃKOSZ

Aleksandra Pieńkosz (b. 1992) is a Polish intermedia artist, graphic and editorial designer, and an academic teacher of book design. She is also an experienced organiser of cultural events.

Aleksandra coined the term ‘Interface Poetry’ to describe her interdisciplinary works. Her artistic practice is focused on finding human touch (both figuratively and literally) within new media and digital technologies, utilising found digital objects, text, and experimentally employed social media as her primary mediums. She romanticises technology, examines the remediation of human relationships, and plays with the idea of anthropomorphising the algorithm. Her works have been exhibited and published across Poland, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Australia, and the United States.

Aleksandra is the founder of Glitch Art Is Dead, a series of events launched in 2015 that established a platform to bring the Glitch Artists Collective—a social media based group of creators—to a broader audience, offering both theoretical context and appreciation. As part of this initiative, she co-organized three international exhibitions in Poland and the United States and edited a conceptual, bilingual art book on glitch art.

aleksandrapienkosz.art

Instagram: @ale.png

ALBA HERNÁNDEZ SANCHEZ

Alba Hernández Sanchez is a gender equality expert, Gitana feminista from Spain. She is the co-founder of the Romnja Feminist Library as well as of the Feminist Collective of Romani Gender Experts. She holds two master’s degrees in gender studies,focusing on gender & law and public policy. Since 2016 Alba has been working  with Roma and non-Roma institutions and NGOs and her main research areas are on Roma feminist knowledge production, intersectionality and gender-based violence among others.

photo by Shane Hart

MARTA GRABOWSKA

is an art herstorian and curator based between London and Kraków, Poland. Her work focuses on intersectional feminism, migrant and working-class perspectives, and the role of grassroots arts organisations in fostering a more diverse and inclusive art world. 

She pioneered a Slow Art practice that emphasises audience engagement and accessibility. Slow Art is based on the principles of slow, in-depth looking and building a relationship with an artwork. It proclaims the gallery as an experience, rather than a place; not an overwhelming or intimidating but a safe and liberating space, where an encounter with art and exchange of emotions takes place. 

Marta co-founded two London-based art organisations, ONE Project and Red Zenith Collective, supporting women and non-binary creatives with ties to Central and Eastern Europe. In 2021, Marta co-founded the HERstory of Art Museum in Kraków, where she serves as Deputy Director and is the Head Curator of Contemporary Art. 

Her international curatorial work spans several countries, including the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, China, the USA, and online, reflecting her global influence. In 2023, she was nominated for the Kazimiera Bujwidowa Award, recognizing her significant contributions to the arts and her efforts to empower women and local communities. 

Instagram @_curatoress_