Curatorial Work

Lates: PITCH BLACK Digital Arts Festival

Umulkhayr was the lead curator and project manager of Lates: PITCH BLACK which was a major arts festival that was conceived and delivered collaboratively between the Engagement and Events departments at Amgueddf Cymru and Artes  Mundi. 

Central to the festival were the four new works by artists that Umulkhayr commissioned; June Campbell-Davies, Omikemi, Yvonne Connikie, and Gabin Kongolo (commission stills above).

The series included multi-artform commissions that interrogate the impact that the British Empire and culture has had on Black people and their history, whilst exploring new ways to dream collectively. In addition to presentations of the commissioned works there were interactive workshops, Q&As, DJ sets and so much more: this festival opens up the conversation around what it means to be Black.

June Campbell Davies created 'Sometimes we’re invisible', a performance-based inquiry into the presence of Black people in Art from National Museum Cardiff’s historic art collection. Gabin Kongolo's cine poem, titled 'NDAKO (Home)', revealed the poetic nature and experience of coming to Wales from Congo as refugees. Omikemi’s audio-visual artwork was titled 'Dreaming Bodies' and was developed out of a Black centred somatic inquiry for LGBTQIA+ disabled folx. Yvonne Connike's film, titled 'A time for New Dreams', was an experimental and intergenerational manifestation of the dreams of the Windrush generation in Wales.

The Future Has a Past Exhibition

The Future Has a Past reminds us that the future is not untainted. It does not lie outside of our reach, nor outside of our responsibility. ‘How did we get here, and how do we move forward?’ are questions this exhibitio asks us to reflect on. Showcasing 59 iconic objects from the national collection, including a protest banner from Greenham Common, Dr William Price’s iconic fox fur hat, a giant piece of coal, and even a lion’s pelt.

The Future Has a Past had four chapters, a soundscape, a podcast and a library. In addition to curating this exhibition Umulkhayr also led the sub-group working on the Exhibition book, which was a 120 page study on a possible future.

The exhibition was co-created with young creatives across Wales, and was the first time this way of working had been implemented in an exhibition at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales), and as such one of the tasks for the core curatorial group was to develop this co-created model, which shaped the approach to each phase of the exhibition development and production process.

The exhibition developed through a series of workshops, on different sites connected to different histories, often being presented as a dinner or lunch. The curatorial group brought objects from the museum to sites across Wales throughout the research phase and led community workshops to explore the histories and futures these objects held.

Glasgow International: ‘Meandering Networks, Mapping Nations’  Gathering

This was a two-day gathering as part of the 2021 GI Events Programme that was led by Black Curators Collective. The Collective considered the idea of ‘meandering networks’ as a starting point to think through how we connect and come together as cultural workers across the four nations. The programme was based on the principles of collectivity, resource building, and regionalism. The Collective is inviting Black practitioners working with contemporary art, based across Scotland, and the UK, to share a moment of peace, rest, and reinforcement between each other on an international platform. Meandering Networks, Mapping Nations embodies slowness as a state of mind through doing less better, taking comfort in the unknown, and focusing on a process-driven approach to public programming.

As a part of this programme Umulkhayr facilitated a Collective Mapping Workshop which asked attendees to critically and candidly consider what tangible and intangible contemporary structures exist across the four nations which may exclude Black communities. They began with the process of mapping how these practices relate to place, and ended with reflections on how to build and entangle culture in these places by examining what conditions within the visual arts sector would allow Black culture to thrive.

Black Curators Collective (BCC) – founded in June 2020 – is a collective of Black women and non-binary curators in the UK. Umulkhayr has been a member of Black Curators Collective since its inception.

Learn more about BCC here.

Venice Biennale 2022 x British Council Curatorial Delegation

Umulkhayr was selected as the Wales representative of this delegation which was the British Council Visual Arts Biennials Connect programme. The programme promotes cross-cultural and cross-border exchange and collaboration by providing opportunities for curators to connect, collaborate and build meaningful partnerships with colleagues across the globe and to nurture future engagement with British Council arts programmes and partners.

BAN x Emerging Curators Group

The Emerging Curators Group (ECG) is a supportive forum for the next generation of curators in the UK, enabling peers to come together and share experiences and thought around curating British art.  As a part of th 2021 cohort of this group Umulkhayr was funded to research how curators should learn from the legacy of ‘political blackness’ and how it manifested in the Black British Art Movement, in curating Black British Art since this movement.

As a part of this forum Umulkhayr co-produced the following film, entitled Slow Reflections on Precarity, available to watch below:




Contributors-Producers: Lauren Craig, Umulkhayr Mohamed
Guest Contributor: Candice Nembhard
Editors: Lauren Craig, Harvey Dimond, Chiedza Mhondoro, Umulkhayr Mohamed, Jess Starns

Video Editing: Sophia Luk
BSL Interpretation: Dionne Thomas, Diverse Signs
Easy Read Transcription: A2i Transcription Services Ltd