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My artistic and scientific practices explore and develop processes, approaches and results that think beyond the status quo and stir up the confines of conventional art and knowledge practices. I particularly work on the conception, development and curation/programming of (new) cultural projects as well as conceiving revised, power- & discrimination-critical structures. In my projects I also dedicate myself to promotion of participation, empowerment and resilience of people who have to experience structural discrimination, and who are socially and culturally excluded from equal opportunities. So far in particular BIPoC (Black, Indigenous & People of Colour), (post-)migrant, migrantified and racialised persons, as well as queer, neurodiverse and intersectional-feminist perspectives.
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First seen the light of day in 1987 in East-Berlin, I then spent the second half of my childhood and youth in Brussels (Belgium). From 2006 to 2009 I completed a Bachelor's degree in Theatre Studies (minor in Film Studies) at the Free University of Berlin (Germany), whilst I was also active in the P14 youth ensemble of the Volksbühne Berlin as well as in small television/film roles and student theatre productions. From 2009 to 2011 I completed a Master of Fine Arts in Acting International at East 15 Acting School in London (part of the University of Essex, UK), during which I also spent a month each at the Russian Theatre Academy - GITIS, Moscow, and the Balinese Art Institute - ISI, Denpasar.
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Student production, East 15 Acting School, 2011
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Goblin Baby Co. production "RETOLD", 2013
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After completing my master's degree, I stayed in London and made my professional theatrical debut as an actress in 2012. In 2013, I started working as a director and producer, the latter in particular through my specially founded transcultural activist collective-company Goblin Baby Co., which creates bold and vibrant original works focused on authentic representation and radical exploration. Many productions have been created with Goblin Baby Co. over the years, such as the UNHEARD Festivals in 2013/2015, annual Vagina Monologues / One Billion Rising Events from 2013 to 2020, the socio-critical production The Princess Monologues in 2015/2016, the afrofuturistic exploration Schwarze Zukunft in 2022/2023 and many more
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In 2014, I became Co-Founder, Artistic Director and Executive Director of the Bread & Roses Theatre, a project that I had been contributing to since 2012 and which ultimately became one of my most formative ventures. The Bread & Roses Theatre is a - now multi-award-winning - small theatre above a London pub, known for its innovative, ethical and forward-thinking ways of working, and is also home to the annual Clapham Fringe Festival as well as its own independent publishing house. In 2019/2020 we were also responsible for a second location in central London, the Chapel Playhouse.
In addition to my cultural management work for the project, I was also involved as an actress and director in numerous in-house productions, such as Low Level Panic (2016) and dirty butterfly (2017). I eventually stepped down as Artistic Director in the course of 2018, and finally also as an Executive Director beginning 2022 |
Bread & Roses Theatre, 2015
Bread & Roses Theatre, 2018
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Production "CinderElla", 2015
Book premiere "Realitäten", 2022
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Also in 2014 my first original short plays were professionally performed on the London Fringe Theatre Scene (scene of the independent performing arts), where further (short) plays of mine have been regularly performed since. From 2015 to 2017 I also completed advanced training courses for selected playwrights at Tamasha Theatre Company and the Criterion Theatre. In 2015, I wrote two one-act plays for children (CinderElla & (S)Elfish Christmas), which premiered at the Bread & Roses Theatre, and in 2018 three monologues of mine were published in the English-language anthology Hear Me Now - Audition Monologues for Actors of Colour (Oberon Books / Bloomsbury).
In addition, I have been writing for several online magazines, such as the English-language Female Arts from 2015 to 2017, and RosaMag from 2019 to 2021, the first German-language online magazine by and for Black FLINTA (female, lesbian, inter, non-binary, trans* & agender persons). Since 2020, I have also been performing my own spoken word pieces. From 2021, I then focused more on German-language book publications and published contributions in the anthologies Realitäten. 30 queere Stimmen (etece, 2022), Schwarz wird großgeschrieben (&Töchter, 2021), Sisters & Souls 2 (orlanda, 2021), Was uns empowert (unrast, 2023) and Racialised Faces in white Creative Spaces (edition assemblage, 2023). |
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During my time in London, and also subsequently in Berlin, I worked artistically and creatively with many further productions and collectives, and was involved in more than a hundred projects. In addition to a wide range of theatre work, I also participated regularly in film projects, made my film directing debut with The Big Day (Godiva Films) in 2017, and, in the same year, took on a lead role in a feature film as well as a position as supporting executive producer, for the first time, in the political-activist tragic comedy TRUMPED. The film - centred on two Black, queer women - takes a critical look at social discrimination, exclusion and political developments in recent years towards more right-wing extremism. After its release and UK premiere in 2019, it received several awards on the international indie film scene; In 2020, it also celebrated its German premiere in Berlin.
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TRUMPED, 2017
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"Beyond the Canon" Documentary, 2016/2017
Moderation at Filmfest München, 2022
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In 2015, I started to be increasingly active in the field of education and outreach, with workshops, lectures, seminars and trainings, especially in the areas of performing arts and (self-)awareness, empowerment and participation, intersectionality and cultural change. My assignments range from community initiatives to colleges and universities, for the first time, for example, in the subjects of Drama / Creative Writing at Greenwich University and Middlesex University in 2016. Within the framework of Beyond the Canon I also came to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) as a director, where we worked with BIPoC (Black, Indigenous & People of Colour) students on plays by BIPoC authors, not taught as part of the traditional canon of theatre and film schools (an important first step, because really, all students should learn this as part of the compulsory curriculum). Then in 2021 and 2022, for instance, I was a guest at the Free University of Berlin and the Anton Bruckner Private University (Linz) on the topics of intersectional performance and cultural work.
In addition, I am regularly active in the areas of moderation and facilitation for festivals, state & (inter)national associations, universities, cultural institutions and many more. |
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Despite all the wonderful adventures and opportunities in London, I moved back to Berlin in 2018 due to a variety of social and personal reasons. In addition to my previous projects Goblin Baby Co., the Bread & Roses Theatre and work as a freelance artist, all of which I have continued working on, I took on the challenge of having to re-establish myself in a (work-wise) new country and build a new network. Among other things, I was initially active in theatre and film event organisation, as well as at the Performing Arts Festival Berlin - the largest festival of independent performing arts in Berlin -, in 2019 as Associate Director and in 2020 as organisational Co-Director, for an unexpectedly fully digital edition of the festival. I realised that while my work in a London cultural context was seen as relevant to society as a whole, in the Berlin cultural structure I initially experienced my work being sorted (out) into the sidelines and a supposed niche area. Hence my focus evolved even more towards the artistic and structural exploration and implementation of sustainable intersectional cultural change.
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Performing Arts Festival Berlin, 2019
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AfroPolitan Berlin, Online Event, 2021
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In September 2020 I then became Director of AfroPolitan Berlin - a Black Community Project founded in 2016, which through multifaceted platforms and pathways creates freedom spaces for development, explorations and evolvement of Black and Afrodiasporic people - from the personal to the communal, as well as the cross-societal and the professional. Here, I pushed forward the expansion of the digital programming and outreach as well as the intersectional orientation and overarching network of the project. In 2021, for example, I launched Black Spectrum, Germany's first offer specifically for Black neurodivergent people, and in 2022 I was jointly responsible for the publication of the You Got This! Starter Kits (project development workbooks). In the same year, I initiated the AfroPolitan Berlin – Performance-Panorama, a unique workshop programme in the German-speaking world specifically by and for Black (aspiring) professional performing artists.
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In many of my positions and projects, I have been responsible for programming and curation, hence content programming, as well as jury and selection procedures, developed into a dedicated area of my work. Since 2020, for example, I have been part of the selection committee, curation and moderation team of the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis, starting with the 2021 festival edition. Since September 2021, I have also been a member of the nomination jury of the IKARUS Award for Children's and Youth Theatre in Berlin, starting with the 2022 edition. I have also been involved in selection processes for the Berlin Senate Department for Culture & Europe (2022), the Bundesverband Freie Darstellende Künste (2021), the Kultur- & Kreativpilot*innen (2021) and others. However, I also always encourage to question and rethink established jury and selection methods and try out new approaches.
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Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis, 2022
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