SPAZIO GRIOT
SPAZIO GRIOT

SPAZIO GRIOT Artist Residency On
The Second Congress Of Black Writers And Artists

SPAZIO GRIOT

The 2024–2028 SPAZIO GRIOT artist residency programme draws inspirtation from the Second Congress of Black Writers and Artists, the landmark event held in Rome from March 25 to April 1, 1959. Following the inaugural 1956 Paris Congress organized by Présence Africaine (the Pan-African magazine founded by Alioune Diop), the Rome convening was promoted by the Société Africaine de Culture, and coordinated by the Istituto Italiano per l'Africa. The Congress advanced critical conversations on crucial themes, focusing on the unity and responsibility of Black-African culture, as well as on its autonomy and emancipation from the Western ideas about it. It brought together 120 delegates, including writers, artists, thinkers, and political figures from Africa, the Caribbean, the United States, and Europe.

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SPAZIO GRIOT

The SPAZIO GRIOT residency is part of a broader programme, building up towards the 70th anniversary of the Congress in 2029. Reflecting on the legacy of the Second Congress and its contemporary relevance and echoes, and using multiple tools of community engagement and collaborative action, our programme will foster dialogue and exchange with local communities as well as institutions and organizations.

Each year, nominated artists, writers, and creatives are invited to spend time in Rome to explore new ideas around the themes of the Congress and expand their practice by either extending projects or embarking on new endeavors. Residents are also encouraged to present their work at a public event within a year of concluding the residency.

Following the inaugural edition in 2024, this year’s residency will once again align with SPAZIO GRIOT 2025’s summer exhibition and public program, titled The System Concedes Nothing Without Demand. The program features Damiano Tata’s first solo exhibition, Even after Everything is Over; Brianda Carreras’ installation and performance, CI.CA.TRIZ [Open Studio]; and the lecture and dinner event Senza Olio di Palma – African Diet Bias, presented by Immaculate Ruému. All three artists were residents in the first edition of the residency.

The residency programme will be led by three mentors, Chris Cyrille alongside SPAZIO GRIOT’s Johanne Affricot and Eric Otieno Sumba. It features mentoring and working sessions, studio and museum visits, and artistic exchanges with established artists, curators, theorists, activists from all over the world.

The residency aims to provide a unique and high-quality opportunity for artists, writers and creatives to receive mentorship and to connect residents to peers in Rome and with national and international networks and communities, transcending geographical boundaries and fostering a sense of global solidarity and unity. At the same time, the residency continues a critical conversation about the accessibility to the arts and cultural scenes.

The 2025 SPAZIO GRIOT artist residency is supported by Azienda Agricola SOLARIA, a biodynamic agricultural farm on the outskirts of Rome.

Residents

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Adaeze Ihebom is a visual artist whose work explores themes of identity, heritage, and the female experience through self portraiture, conceptual storytelling, and cultural reimagination. Born in Italy to Nigerian Igbo heritage, her practice is rooted in the intersection of diasporic identity and historical narratives, often challenging the Western gaze and the legacies of colonial representation. Her photography is both intimate and political, weaving together ancestral memory, literature, and personal mythology. Some of her artistic achievements include nominations for the PDN 30 (2021), the FOAM Paul Huf Award (2020), and Plat(t)form at Fotomuseum Winterthur (2019 & 2021). She currently serves as a Board Trustee for Source Magazine Photography. Adaeze trained in Photography Arts (MA) at the University of Westminster and in Digital Photography (BA) at Ravensbourne University.

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Naomi Oke is a textile designer and self-taught ceramist. She holds a degree in Fashion Design from NABA in Milan. She has developed a versatile career in the fashion industry, collaborating with various companies, including Antonio Marras. At Vitelli, she coordinated the recovery of surplus yarn to create needlepunched fabrics used in garment production. Alongside her work in textiles, she is dedicated to sustainable creative experimentation, transforming production waste into tapestries that she has exhibited at major events and festivals such as Terraforma Festival, Notturno Agorà, and Fuori Orario by Studio in Triennale (Milan), as well as the Houses of Tove Jansson exhibition at Berlin’s Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW).

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Rokhaya Sofia Thiam recently graduated with a master’s degree in Visual Arts at IUAV University in Venice. Her curatorial and artistic research is located at the intersection of visual culture and Black/ decolonial studies, with a specific concern on issues related to representation. Her current work focuses on the relationship between the two concepts of blackness and darkness, with a particular interest in poetics, music and image archives.

Mentors

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Chris Cyrille is a poet, writer, and exhibition-storyteller living between Guadeloupe and France. He graduated from the Faculty of Arts, Philosophy, and Aesthetics at Paris 8 University and has worked for several French and international magazines. His research is focused on anti-colonial and Caribbean literature. He is one of the founders of the project Mangrovité and is currently pursuing research on the Second Congress of Black Artists and Writers. In 2024, he was the lead mentor of the inaugural edition of the SPAZIO GRIOT artist residency, which is dedicated to the Second Congress of Black Writers and Artists. He curated two re-activations of the Congress in Florence (2023, Villa Romana, The Recovery Plan).