Meet the ColabNowNow Creatives
While the Maputo Fast Forward International Conference is in full swing, preparations are also underway to receive this year’s ColabNowNow creatives on 20 October. We can’t wait to get together with this talented and dynamic group.Â
Valerie Amani is a Dar es Salaam born and based fashion designer, makeup artist and graphic designer. She is the founder and creative director of Kahvarah, a boutique fashion label that focuses on the African narrative; the co-founder of  R.R Creative Agency, a creative consultancy which has placed her behind the visual language of various brands in Tanzania; as well as the visual art program manager at Nafasi Art Space where she curates exhibitions and workshops. Valerie combines her digital art with her love of writing to tackle issues on neo-colonialism, environmental awareness and feminism.
Andrew Munuwa is a Tanzanian born photographer, freelance graphic designer and graffiti writer. His work is inspired by everyday moments in contemporary urban African life. Munuwa’s work has been featured at various exhibitions in and outside Tanzania, such as the University of Dar es Salaam Talent Fever Exhibition and One word for Africa A photography exhibition by PICHASTOCK. His recent project, Mtaani, Maskani  celebrates and commemorates the stillness of public ceremonies amidst a hectic bustling Dar-es-Salaam city through photography and poetry performance.
Hakeem Adam is a Ghanaian artist-in-learning and instinctive creative exploring the power of narrative as a tool for deconstructing society through various mediums. He is the founder and creative director of DANDANO, a Pan-African cultural platform for African film and music criticism. His work is fixated on the fabrics of contemporary Ghanaian society, and is exploring ways to unravel the threads that bind through storytelling. He is also a freelance writer documenting and archiving African culture.
Afopefoluwa Ojo is a Lagos-based writer and software engineer who experiments with generative art. She is co-founder of Arts and Africa, and co-runs a book club called the Barely Literate. She recently exhibited her digital poetry which she creates with programming languages at the 'Mind at work exhibition' which held at the African Artists' foundation and is currently working on her debut novel and short story collection. Her work has been published in the journals Overland, Experimental Literature Africa vs Latin America Vol. 1, Intense Art Magazine, and others.
Maxwell Mutanda is a pluridisciplinary artist and architect from Harare, Zimbabwe. Within his architectural practice, Mutanda takes a social focus on design. He is a cofounder of the design firm Studio [D] Tale which explores how design and architecture can resolve social and environmental problems. As an artist, Mutanda's deploy meticulously detailed fine lines collages. Mutanda received his BS in Architecture in 2005 and his MA in Architecture in 2008 from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. Studio [D] Tale has exhibited at institutions worldwide and was included in the Venice Architecture Biennale, the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and the London Design Festival, 2015.
Nikiwe Dlova is an artist and storyteller from Soweto, South Africa, who loves expressing herself through hair, fashion, music and art. She studied Clothing Management at the University of Johannesburg. Whilst working at Edcon as an Assistant Buyer, she started a blog called ownURcrown which is about creative hair expression. The blog is a platform for people who are bold and creative with their hairstyle choices to share stories about this form of expression. She is currently managing the brand for ownURcrown, which has expanded to hair art exhibitions and pop up salons. Nikiwe also creates headpieces for productions ie, magazines, music videos, films. She is all about telling stories through hair.
Will Hurt is a UK-based artist who uses computers to create brightly coloured, playful, digital interactives which cater to people of all ages and abilities and respond to the geometry of the physical sites they are installed in, abstracting and re-presenting local architecture and landscape. These site-specific interactives bring people together, forging connections and affording them a moment to play, leaving them with lasting memories of novel playful experiences and a new appreciation of their locality. Will’s work has been exhibited around the world due to its stand-out aesthetic, technical resilience and engaging immediacy.
Tanyaradzwa Chitunhu is a Zimbabwean born performance poet based in the UK. She recently released a debut collection of spoken word poetry – a book titled “On Praise & Protest” which celebrates unheard African stories and confronts their marginalisation. Her work is influenced by African storytelling, Christian preaching, hip hop & spoken word. She aims to celebrate African identities through her poetry with passionate words and a powerful delivery. She has been on various stages including, as a selected guest poet, at the Bloom Arts Festival London. She has also been featured on British radio stations Newstyle radio & Brum radio. Tanyaradzwa headlined and led the poetry show and workshop for a summer festival called Catalyst.
