Afro-Nordic curators in conversation about making room for other voices | Daría Sól Andrews (IS), Mai Takawira (DK), Neicia Marsh (UK/FI), Ro Averin (NO), Ulrika Flink (SE).

Moderator: Marcia Harvey Isaksson (SE)

Daría Sól Andrews is an African-American-Icelandic freelance curator and art critic currently based between Reykjavík, New York, and California. Her curatorial practice focus on rethinking how, where and in what form the exhibition concept can be manifested. She works as an Associate Director at Listval Gallery in Reykjavík and as a curator for Studio Sol, her home gallery where she strives to create a place where life and art merge, to build a space to experience intimacy and stillness, with art, yourself and others.

Mai Takawira is a Danish-Zimbabwean cultural worker based in Copenhagen. She holds a master's degree in modern culture from the University of Copenhagen and is part of Marronage, a collective of intersectional feminists who bring narratives of resistance to life through editorials, articles and events. In addition, she has been involved in various projects initiated by museums and art institutions in Denmark, such as the exhibition 'THIS IS NOT AFRICA' at ARoS and recently the talk series 'Becomings' at Art Hub Copenhagen.

Neicia Marsh is a Curator and Program Director at the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland, currently based in London, UK. Marsh has worked in the cultural fields of the UK and Finland for over ten years. She holds an MA in Arts Management from the Sibelius Academy and has lectured as guest lecturers for institutions and organisations such as the Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts. Marsh is one of the founders of Feminist Culture House, an intersectional curatorial feminist organization based in Helsinki, Finland.

Ro Averin is an author, consultant, researcher, and educator who centers conscious and intersectional approaches to social, racial, and environmental justice in many areas through the UNLRN PRJCT and in the arts through Rafiki Art Initiatives. Born on Turtle Island/Canada, Ro now calls Sápmi/Northern Norway home, her legacy extends through the diaspora to Jamaica and to the African continent. Outside of work, they can be found in nature, writing and editing in a variety of mediums, on a yoga mat teaching or exercising, and organizing art and wellness retreats such as Hearing Home.

Ulrika Flink is a curator based in Stockholm. She received her MA in Curating Contemporary Art from the Royal College of Art, London. She is currently the Artistic Director of Konsthall C, Stockholm. She was the curator of Borås Art Biennial in 2021 and was one of the curators of Momentum 9 in 2017. She has previously been the director of Konstfrämjandet Stockholm, assistant curator and producer at Tensta konsthall and co-founder of the Stockholm-based curatorial collective Parallellogram.

Marcia Harvey Isaksson is a Stockholm-based curator, artist and exhibition designer who grew up in Harare. As a spatial storyteller, she is passionate about creating space for the diversity of stories that are often not told. She has collaborated with several Swedish museums and institutions to create experiential and knowledge-bearing spaces. In her own artistic practice, she is interested in our common cultural heritage and uses textile techniques as a tool in her investigations. Marcia has also run the award-winning Fiberspace, an arena focused on textile art, crafts and design.