Zelaki Newsletter | July 2025, Edition I
Witness and Rebuild
This week, we spotlight creators and curators shaping new narratives from across the African continent and beyond.
From the powerful hybrid documentary Khartoum capturing life in wartime Sudan to the youth-centered energy of the Joburg Film Festival, African storytelling is expanding in bold and urgent directions. We explore small galleries making a big impact, highlight Omar Degan’s visionary plans for Nairobi’s Pan-African Architecture Biennale, and trace the rising influence of intimate, independent spaces in reshaping global art conversations.
Each feature offers a glimpse into how artists, architects, and filmmakers are telling stories that don’t just document the present but imagine new futures, grounded in memory, community, and the refusal to be unseen.
Join us as we spotlight these inspiring stories of creativity, activism, and cultural preservation.
News from Africa And Beyond
Documentary Spotlight: Khartoum 2025 , Unfiltered Lives Amid War
Sudanese-UK documentary Khartoum premiered this year at Sundance and continues to draw attention for its bold storytelling. Directed by a collective of Sudanese and UK filmmakers including Anas Saeed and Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, the film intimately follows five Khartoum residents as they survive the 2023 civil war via green-screen reenactments, animation, and personal testimony.
A review in POV Magazine praised the film as a “uniquely poignant hybrid documentary” that merges form and content to immerse viewers in its protagonists’ memories and trauma under siege
Filmed amid conflict, resumed after subjects fled to Kenya, Khartoum transforms survival into narrative, preserving individual and collective memory with creative resilience. It stands out as a powerful testament to documentary filmmaking in times of crisis.
A still from Khartoum by Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea Ahmed and Phil Cox,
Five Standout Small Galleries This July
Artsy has curated a list of five remarkable small galleries erupting with energy this July. These indie art spaces are sparking fresh ideas, amplifying underrepresented voices, and redefining how we engage with contemporary art.
Highlights include Sarah Crown in London, which is gaining attention for its vibrant exhibitions that challenge conventional notions of color and form. In Mexico City, Otras Galerías is breaking boundaries with a roster of ambitious young Latin American artists testing new media and immersive installations. Meanwhile, Gallery 1957 in Accra is deepening its international profile by showcasing contemporary African art through solo exhibitions and site-specific public works.
These galleries may operate on a smaller scale, but their impact is outsized—fostering dynamic dialogues, spotlighting emerging talent, and pushing both aesthetics and cultural conversations forward. Artsy’s overview underscores how these spaces offer more than curation; they cultivate community, experimentation, and serious art discourse.
Saidou Dicko, Moon & Sun T FR F rouge,, 2024
Omar Degan to Lead Pan-African Architecture Biennale in Nairobi 2026
Somali-Italian architect Omar Degan has been named curator for the upcoming Pan-African Architecture Biennale, scheduled to take place in Nairobi in 2026. The theme will be Indicible Espace, a concept focused on exploring architecture’s unseen and poetic dimensions—those aspects that resist easy definition yet are vital to human experience.
At the heart of Degan’s approach is a vision of architecture as a form of “collective imagination.” The Biennale will address how built environments transcend mere physical structures to shape culture, identity, and emotional spaces. The event will utilize unconventional venues within Nairobi’s urban fabric, including KICC (Kenya International Conference Centre) and Kenya Railway Corporation spaces, to showcase installations, performances, talks, and collaborative research.
Degan’s curatorship signals a broader move toward Pan-African dialogue in architecture. It marks the first time the Biennale will be hosted in East Africa, highlighting Nairobi as a hub for critical architectural thought. It also underscores Degan’s career-long focus on art, architecture, and cultural memory—integrating local histories with global discourses.
The Nairobi edition promises to be a dynamic gathering of architects, artists, thinkers, and communities. It aims to spark conversations about how architecture can imagine new futures for African cities, rooted in lived realities, cultural narratives, and shared aspirations.
(Article by Daniel Jonas Roche for The Architect’s Newspaper)
KICC entryway (Indicible Espace)
Joburg Film Festival Wraps with Focus on Youth and Innovation
The Joburg Film Festival wrapped up in early June after showcasing more than 60 films from across the African continent and the diaspora. The six-day event cemented its role as a leading cultural platform for African cinema, not just through screenings, but through its broader commitment to building sustainable creative ecosystems.
A major focus of this year’s festival was youth development and accessibility. Screenings took place in underserved areas, including public spaces in Soweto and Alexandra, to make cinema more widely available and foster community engagement. The festival also offered free workshops and masterclasses to emerging filmmakers, covering topics from storytelling and editing to marketing and international distribution.
Industry panels brought together directors, producers, and cultural leaders to discuss the future of African storytelling, with a particular emphasis on digital innovation and cross-continental collaboration. A special tribute segment honored pioneers of African film, bridging past and future generations in a celebration of cinematic heritage.
Festival director Tim Mangwedi emphasized that the event is more than a showcase—it is a platform to amplify African voices, support local talent, and strengthen Africa’s creative economies.
