24/10/2026
In early 2025, while traveling from Morogoro to Dar es Salaam, I received a call from my friend and curator Private Joy inviting me to co-curate a Makonde project that became Everything You Pray Also Dances ( Everything You Pray Also Dances )
In September 2025, I traveled to New York with Imani Nsamila, educator and photographer, to document 90 Makonde sculptures at the Amelia V. Wallace Gallery, SUNY. From there, the journey grew to include 10+ artists, four of them Tanzanian: master carver , Tura ( Tura) , Tadhi Alawi , and Imani Nsamila
We first exhibited at Rangi Gallery in Dar es Salaam in September 2026, and on 22 October we opened at the Amelia V. Wallace Gallery in New York.
I am deeply grateful to Joyous for the invitation, to every artist and collaborator who gave this work their hands and hearts, and to the institutions that opened their doors to us. Seeing art bring together artists and curators across the Atlantic and Africa is a dream come true.
If you are in New York, please visit the gallery and see the magic of these artists’ hands.
