In this episode, I speak with a Johannesburg-based artist Muofhe Manavhela who is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates vivid artwork that conveys the perspective of a young black woman who is navigating through the modern landscape of South Africa. 

Her creative inspiration draws from artists such as Lady Skollie and Andy Warhol, as well as her own personal experiences of being a black woman in her 20s.

We talk about:

• Creating work and space for herself and black women around her 
• The idea of memory and not being forgotten
• Rest as leisure and being able to sit with yourself and be comfortable 
• Her hopes that more people can find art as a career that is reliable
• Steps to grow her art practice as a business

You can connect with Muofhe at https://www.instagram.com/muofhemanavhela/

In this episode, I speak with Dr.Fahamu Pecou who’s a visual artist, scholar, curator, and founder of the African Diaspora Museum of Atlanta  "ADAMA".

Dr.Fahamu is known for producing works that combine aspects of fine art and hip-hop. Most of his works engage representation of black masculinity and identity.

We also talk about;

• His transition from artist to scholar 
• His experience growing up as an artist in the mid 80s and 90s
• His interest in black male masculinity and the message he hopes to share through his pieces.
• His work with "ADAMA"
• His belief that authenticity, originality, and one's innermost convictions can help people on the artistic journey.
• His curriculum narrative-based arts curriculum focused on Black male youth  “Advantage point”

You can connect with Dr. Fahamu at https://www.instagram.com/fahamupecou/ and on his website at https://www.fahamupecouart.com/

In this episode, I speak with Rewa Udoji a finance professional and visual artist from Nigeria. Rewa over the last five years has become a globally celebrated visual artist whose heritage-inspired art has been featured in fairs, museum, and gallery exhibitions across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

We talk about her career in management consulting working as a finance expert and how that has influenced her art practice where she approaches it as a business.  She talks about the duality of approaching her work with diligence as her time remains limited. 

Rewa also shares:

• her goal is to make her work included in the art history dialogue about Africa and specifically Nigeria
• her son learning about history through her work 
• documenting and record keeping to serve the purpose of canonizing her work
• creative problem solving 
• her stained glass effect of painting skin tones for work
• choosing titles for her pieces 
• the story of her pink party series 

You can connect with Rewa at https://www.instagram.com/artbyrewa/ and on her website at http://www.artbyrewa.com/

In the episode, I speak with Sena Dagadu about her musical journey which began in 2001 in Budapest, Hungary. She shares her early exposure to music with very diverse genres from soul, funk, classics, reggae, opera, hip hop, rnb, and Hungarian contemporary music.

 She describes her turning point moment by randomly attending an underground party that had an open mic session, where she had her first performance leading to her joining a recording group that was a big part of the underground Budapest music scene. 

We also talk about;

• Her first album release in the early 2000s
• Joining the Gimmeshot Crew that ran a weekly dancehall, hip-hop night in a local Budapest club
• Helping start bless the mic in Accra which a becoming a platform for the developing Ghanaian music scene
• Her work with Irie Maffia which is one the biggest live performing bands in Hungry
• Her experience growing up mixed-race with two different cultures and growing up on two different continents

You can connect with Sena at https://www.instagram.com/senadagadu/


NB: This episode was recorded in March, 2022