Haja Fanta
Haja Fanta is a cultural researcher and strategist. Her work rests on a single conviction: that culture, examined through its connections and frictions, gives us a way to make sense of the world and intervene in it. She is attentive to the actors, institutions and conditions through which cultural life takes shape.
She is based in London and works globally across research, curation, programming and writing. Grounded in cultural studies, she is interested in how people gather, how audiences form relationships with institutions and places, and how cultural meaning is produced, circulated and sustained. A longstanding focus of her research is West Africa and its diasporas, and their place within contemporary cultural life.
Her work has been commissioned by World of Interiors, Contemporary& and BYREDO. She has shaped cultural programmes with the Southbank Centre, The Africa Centre (London) and RALLY Festival. She has held curatorial and research roles at RAW Material Company and University of the Arts London.
She is the founder of Marrah, an independent studio for cultural research, strategy and programming. Through Marrah, she works with organisations to understand the cultural contexts, audiences and relationships around them, translating that understanding into considered, sustained forms of engagement.
Available for research and writing commissions, as well as curatorial partnerships and consulting, through 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
-
Gathering Otherwise: On Building Alternative Art Education Practices in Dakar and Beyond, GAS Foundation, 2026 (RAW Material Company)
-
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