Inspirers

Meet the Visionaries who inspire change. Unlocking inspiration, one story at a time.

Seb Touissant

Share The Word Project

Is an on-going global art project by Seb Toussaint.

Seb Toussaint approaches families living in slums and refugee camps and asks them to express a word that is meaningful to them and which they would like to share with the outside world. He then paints the word on the family’s house, freestyling the mural. He typically spends one month in each place.

The aim is not only to bring his art to areas where streetart is very rare or non-existant. Above all, the aim is to bring attention to vulnerable communities through people’s voices. “Share The Word Project” makes people from the outside world listen to what marginalised communities want to express.

On social media, during exhibitions or talks, the artist explains the stories behind the words and why people chose them.

To this day, “Share The Word Project” has taken place in Indonesia, the Philippines, Nepal, India, France, Iraq, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, Colombia, Brazil, Palestine, Venezuela, Kyrgyzstan and Mauritania.

Seb Toussaint has painted more than 220 different murals with words in many different scripts and languages.

“I don’t change slums halfway through the project. I want to be with the same people because I want to be part of the neighbourhood and it takes a few days of stuff. At first, they just sometimes call me whatever word means the white man, but very quickly, I become Seb. So very quickly, I become part of the neighbourhood, and I always love that feeling. It’s a great feeling when people make you part of something”.

Lyra Aoko

Photographer, Videographer, Blogger, and creative artist from Nairobi

Nairobi is my home town, my first love and the place that 100% influenced the person I am today. The city is young in terms of creativity but one thing that stands out is the wealth of talent that exists within it. The most beautiful thing about Nairobi is how unassuming it is but everyone that visits and experiences its magic never wants to leave. A typical Nairobian is a hustler, they want the best things that life has to offer and will work hard for it. They have side jobs and will enjoy the fruits of her labor with friends and family at the end of the day. This definitely reflects in my work because I see the potential of the people, the fast paced growth of its industries and the way life in the city has become so hip and urban in such a short time frame.

Skinder Hundal MBE

British Council Director of Arts

"It can appear utopian and at times dystopian but we have to fight and we must be politicians, we need to be more aware these are our goals at NAE, but we must intensify them in a right way in order to create not conflicts but cultural harmony and collaboration, we must discover sharing among foreigners and we will know their experiences but be courageous and you will find truth and honesty with positive results and positive actions".

Jad El Khoury - Artist from Beirut

"Lately with my latest installation "Tower of the Wind" I decided for the first time not to use my illustrations and use a material that Lebanese people feel more related too, it was the colorful curtains that we usually see on Beirut`s poor neighborhoods balconies that came to transform an abandoned tower of bitterness "Burj El Murr" into a Tower dancing with the Wind”.

Alissa Shelton from Detroit

She is the Senior Program Manager with the Community and Economic Development department at Detroit Future City (DFC). In this role, Alissa supports program development and implementation, including managing the Detroit Neighborhood Housing Compact, a cross-sector initiative to expand the availability of quality, affordable housing in Detroit neighborhoods.

Alissa has extensive experience in community development. Before joining DFC, Alissa was the Executive Director of Brick + Beam Detroit, where she worked to grow capacity and community around home repair and building rehabilitation. She also served as the Director of Training for Incremental Development Alliance and is the owner and program curator of Bank Suey, a community space in Hamtramck focused on how communities use main street spaces, exploring layered uses and curated programming.

Alissa has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Wayne State University. She is a licensed builder in the state of Michigan, a 2021 German Marshall Fund Marshall Memorial Fellow, and a 2017 Salzburg Global Fellow (Young Cultural Innovator seminar).

"Bank Suey is a name that derives from the building's first and last use. It was constructed in 1920 as a bank on the street corner, like many banks in the city of Detroit. Before we acquired it, it was Golden Chapt Suey, a Chinese restaurant for 33 years, I believe. It's a property at the main intersection of Hamtramck in our community. In 2014, we began working on renovating the property, a kind of experiment in what a public space on the main street can become. So, we didn't use it traditionally but for various programs such as training, a public museum, temporary food, a public market, art installations, and many different uses of space, all with the aim of creating security in the neighborhood. This means introducing new things while allowing local people to realize their ideas. Many projects at Bank Suey have been curated by people living a few blocks away. Now, we have a cooperative that operates a bookstore, Book Suey, and the space is managed democratically. We continue to display art on the walls, and we have a bar area for having coffee, snacks, or a cocktail while reading a good book.".

Manuela Catania and the Five Senses of the Future

"I envisioned the Hong Kong Pavilion at the Farm as a cave. Density transformed into volume, color, and sound. Amidst the spaces within this density, visitors could immerse themselves in the life of Hong Kong (photography, urban spaces, life within homes, rural areas, protests), where everything is changing or has already changed. It's a cave that stimulates the Five Senses of the Future: technology, sounds, scents, tactile experiences, and visions. Through openings in the fabric of the cave, there are images, words, sounds, scents, and textures to touch and discover."