Haja Fanta
Haja Fanta is a researcher and writer whose practice is built on a single conviction: that culture, examined through its connections and frictions, is both a reflection of who we are and a means of making sense of the world and intervening in it.
Based in London and working globally, her work spans visual art and cultural studies. She has written for World of Interiors, Contemporary& and BYREDO, and has shaped cultural programmes with the Southbank Centre, The Africa Centre (London) and RALLY Festival. She works with a particular focus on West Africa and its diaspora as a critical cultural force shaping the contemporary world. Her research experience includes roles at RAW Material Company and University of the Arts London.
She is the founder of Marrah, a research-led curatorial studio using research and strategy to guide organisations away from the instrumentalisation of culture and into practices that nurture its continuity.
Available for research and writing commissions, as well as curatorial partnerships and consulting, through Studio Marrah.
Work
Curation
Writing
Projects
Talks
Are.na
Email
Instagram
LinkedIn
Curation
- Ideal Seeds for Fertile Grounds, Venice Biennale, 2026 (RAW Material Company)
- Porous Grounds, Sacred Codes, Marres
House for Contemporary Culture, 2025 (Co-Curator - Filly Gueye)
- RALLY Art Programme, RALLY Festival, 2025
- The Art of Gathering, RALLY Festival, 2024
- Malangatana Heritage Programme, The Africa Centre, 2023
- Flares in the Darkroom, The WHO Gallery, 2023 (Group Show)
- Modern Artefacts, Connor Kawaii + Ryan Hawaii, HOME by Ronan Mckenzie, 2022
- Our Story, The Africa Centre, 2022 (Group Show)
- SXWKS x Southbank Centre Programming, 2022
Writing
- In With the New, World of Interiors, 2026
- A Cloak and Dakar Approach, World of Interiors, 2026
- Dispatches from Tint Library’s London Pop-Up, Contemporary&, 2025
- Aloo Foundation, Present Space Magazine, 2025
- Tender Photo Editorial Fellowship, 2025
- 2024 Dak’Art Biennale Review - Contemporary&, 2024
- Pause For Breath, Present Space Magazine, 2024
- Black British Exodus, NOTION, 2024
- An Ivorian Lens: The Resurrection of Paul Kodjo, BYREDO, 2023
- Pharrell’s Fashion Fusion: A Multidimensional Debut, Texte zur Kunst, 2023
- Black Embodiments Studio, Arts Writing Incubator, 2023/24
- ALooseThread Substack, 2021 - ongoing
Projects
-
L’Almamy Samori Touré – An Unmade Film by Ousmane Sembène, decomposed, disarranged and reproduced by Chimurenga, RAW Material Company, 2025 (Researcher)
- Studio Talks, Oroko Radio, 2025 (Residency)
- Marrah, research-driven curatorial studio, 2025 - ongoing (Founder)
- De Kol Pot - Sierra Leonean (hi)stories, 2024 - ongoing (Co Founder)
- Black Embodiments Studio, Arts Writing Incubator, 2023/24 (Residency)
- HOME Impressions Podcast, 2023 (Co-Host)
- Arts Council, Developing Your Creative Practice Grant, 2023
- Writing HOME Newsletter, 2023 (Contributor)
- Black Curatorial Programme, 2023 (Creative Production)
- Digital Artist in Residence, National Portrait Gallery, 2022
- Rubric Initiative Panel Series, 2020 (Creative Production)
Talks
-
Groundings on a Black Planet, HOUSE OF DREAD x Barbican (London), 2026
- Relationalities: Conditions of Interdependence, Thinking and Overcoming, Städelschule, Portikus (Frankfurt), 2026 (RAW Material Company)
- Tirailleurs: Trials and Tribulations, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), 2026 (RAW Material Company)
- Artist Talk co-hosted w Filly Gueye, Marres House of Contemporary Culture, 2025 (RAW Material Company)
- On Possible Futures and the question of Sustainability, 1-54 (London), 2025 (RAW Material Company)
- Sisterhood, June Givanni Pan African Cinema Archive, Ravens Row (London), 2023
- Artist Talk, The Africa Centre (London), 2023