Mirembe is our first 2023 Curatorial Residency Fellowship Recipient

ARAK Collection is happy to announce Mirembe as our first recipient of the Arak Collection Curatorial Residency Fellowship for 2023.

MIREMBE works with art as a curator, editor, writer and researcher. Mirembe was a 2022 Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa & University of the Western Cape (UWC) Museum fellow. They were a 2021/2022 Center for Arts, Design + Social Re-search fellow. They have been a curator in residence at Bag Factory Artists' Studios in Johannesburg and were also a curatorial fellow for the KLA ART '21 Festival, a contemporary visual arts festival in Kampala produced by 32° Degrees East | Ugandan Arts Trust.

Mirembe was previously the Managing Editor of Writivism, a pan-African literary initiative of the Centre for African Cultural Excellence (CACE). They curated and produced the Writivism festival in Kampala from 2017 to 2019. They edited UnBreakable Bonds (Black Letter Media, 2020) and curated a photography exhibition by the same title. Other titles edited include And Morning Will Come (Black Letter Media, 2021) and Dr Stella Nyanzi's poetry manuscript from prison, No Roses From My Mouth (Ubuntu Reading Group, 2020). They have been a guest editor for Bubblegum Club Magazine.

Mirembe is also a published writer whose work has been featured in African Arguments, Lit-erary Hub, Africa is a Country, Johannesburg Review of Books, African Feminism, Africa In Words, and others.

We are looking forward to working with Mirembe and through her gaze and curatorial prac-tice discover/rediscover the collection, hoping to bring to our audience in 2023 her curated exhibition and publish the respective catalogue.

About ARAK Collection Curatorial Residency Program:

The ARAK Collection Annual Residency Fellowship Program aims to promote a better knowledge and understanding of Contemporary Sub-Saharan Art in the Middle East and Beyond through research of the extensive works part of their collection.

The resident guest curator is expected to research the collection with the intention of curating an exhibition and writing the exhibition catalogue at the end of the residency period, after in-depth research and the submission of a curatorial concept to be approved by the ARAK Collection Curatorial Advisory Committee.

The Residency Fellowship Program was created to support ARAK Collection’s Mission of developing and supporting young and mid-career artists and curators through promoting curatorial research, publications and exhibitions of their collection’s works. The exhibitions developed and produced by ARAK Collection aspire to be impactful and are all associated with relevant public programming.

About ARAK Collection:

ARAK Collection is an independent, Qatari-based initiative, that aims to promote through exhibitions, publications, research and educational programs, Contemporary  African Art and Artists.

The collection is a resource for Artists, Curators and Researchers, it hosts in-house and traveling exhibitions, it also lends artwork to regional and international organizations, institutions and museums, producing print and online publications, and impactful public programs associated with the exhibitions it produces and hosts. ARAK Collection is a public platform to foster critical dialogue around contemporary art practices with a focus on  African Artists and educational programs that have an educational and developmental impact in the local community.

The collection consists of paintings, paper and prints of more than 170 young and mid-career artists of African countries.

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