This talk introduces the 2023/24 Develop programme and offers an opportunity to ask any questions you may have.

For this online session we are joined by creatives and educators D. Wiafe and Adrian Wood for a talk about collectives. What could an exhibition curated by a collective look like? What opportunities does working in a collective offer?

D. and Adrian delve into their careers and the way they work with arts and people and communities.

Participants taking part will learn:

• What the new Develop programme will consist of
• What is a collective
• What kinds of skills you’ll gain from working in a collective

This event is part of our Develop programme. The programme is a new initiative, following on from a six-year creative careers programme. It offers both career-related talks and skills, while supporting young people (aged 18-24) to work towards a commissioning opportunity with The Photographers’ Gallery. Find out more here.

*This is an online session and will run on Zoom. Details of the event will be sent a few days prior. 

About the speakers:

Rawanne Koumaira is Curator, Youth Programmes at The Photographers’ Gallery and a London based Photographer of Lebanese descent. Rawanne champions and empowers young creatives to have a voice and be heard, leading on all youth and teachers’ programmes at the gallery. Within her own practice, Rawanne focuses on identity, community and exploring her heritage through lens-based media.

Adrian Wood is a London based Photographer and educator  currently senior lecturer at the London College of Communication.

Community Engagement and collaborative projects are a core element of Adrian’s practice. His work focuses on projects that encourage young people to use photography as a new way of seeing their own environment and themselves in relation to their communities, society and the wider world. The camera is used as a device for investigating the lines between participants current realities and  future possibilities.  In this capacity, Adrian has and has devised and collaborated on projects for organizations including Tate Modern, Dulwich Gallery, V&A Museum of Childhood, Photographers Gallery, Autograph ABP and Photofusion where he served on the Board of Directors for eight years.

Adrian has run a number of notable collaborative projects with D.Wiafe. Content Lab focuses on employability and mentorship  for underrepresented young creatives in the arts and creative industries. This is achieved through devising and producing campaigns in collaboration with industry mentors and creatives. Clients include brands such as Converse, Jigsaw and Capture One.

D.Wiafe’s work champions the power and contributions of youth-led thinking to collaborative projects. He has an extensive background in developing  project partnerships with brands and arts organisation that enable creative talent to contribute innovate ideas to the development of branded content, community initiatives, social enterprises and more. 

Over the last year, D has written an innovative new BA course in Photography, which he now is the course leader of at the London College of Communication (UAL). There, he has pushed the possibilities of online learning by introducing 'New Waves'; a series of livestreamed talks and workshops with key figures in photography, produced by students. To date the series has featured Ronan McKensie, Lola & Pani, Theo Cottle

As an artist, his work has taken him from creating staged tableaux with grime’s early pioneers, to acting as lead photographic mentor on the award-winning youth platform ‘The Cut’.  Combined, his projects have allowed young people to collaborate on commissions with Nike, Puma, Adidas as well as exhibit with The Royal Photographic Society, Photofusion and The Southbank Centre.

D continues his work in mentoring as Photofusion's Youth Programme Manager.  He developed and runs the Creator Studioand the Young Curators programme which is behind the BLK BXY JOY Exhibition (2022) curated by Destinie Paige.

The Develop programme is supported by Kusuma Trust and individual contributors.