Prince Claus Fund announces Building Beyond Mentorship recipients

The 12 successful artists will ‘reimagine’ the future of their cities through design and creative problem-solving methods as part of the Building Beyond mentorship programme in 2023.

The artists were selected from nine countries and work in a wide range of design fields including performance, architecture, urbanism, digital design, visual arts, photography and research. They will be guided by four mentors who are experts in architecture, art and design. The experts are Ola Hassanain (Sudan), Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk (South Africa), Hicham Bouzid (Morocco) and Nzinga B Mboup (Senegal).

The artists will work on projects that re-imagine the future of public space, community and functionality in their own contexts. The programme aims to foster thought leadership, promote criticality, reframe design-based practices, and contribute to an ongoing conversation on how creative practices rooted in locality and community can lead to new perspectives and promote transformative urban agendas.

The 2023 Building Beyond Mentorship programme recipients are:

• Ana Raquel Machava (architect and urbanist) – Mozambique.
• Arafa C. Hamadi (multidisciplinary artist) – Tanzania.
• Blqees Zuhair (architect) – Libya.
• Helen Zeru (fine artist) – Ethiopia.
• Jepkorir Rose (curator) – Kenya
• Mika’il the Muezzin (storyteller, translator and social sculptor) – South Africa
• Neec Nonso (visual artist) – Nigeria.
• Olufemi Hinson Yovo (architect and artist) – Benin.
• Rania Atef (visual artist and researcher) – Egypt.
• Sara Fakhry Ismail (visual artist, performance maker and somatics practitioner) – Egypt.
• Chidumaga Uzoma Orji (creative technologist and visual artist) – Nigeria.
• Wezile Harmans (visual art practitioner) – South Africa.