‘‘BEYOND BORDERS in ZANZIBAR: Challenging Boundaries - Connecting community, culture identity and environment’’

- residency program in collaboration with STAWI, Zanzibar, 2024/2025 -

Driven by a commitment to meaningful travel and authentic community engagement, participation in the STAWI Residency Program in Zanzibar became an opportunity to explore the relationship between people, culture, and environment through an interdisciplinary artistic and spatial practice.

The ongoing project investigates the visible and invisible connections between community, tradition, ecology, and spatial experience, challenging conventional perceptions of space, time, and cultural boundaries. Rooted in local values and everyday practices, the work reflects on how collective ecological and social awareness is embedded within Zanzibari culture and shaped through interaction with the surrounding landscape.

Developed through a Sensory Participatory Ethnographic Approach, the project combines ethnographic research with mixed-media experimentation, including photography, sound, mapping, and visual storytelling. Through close collaboration and co-creation with local communities, the work documents sensory experiences, rituals, and environmental relationships, revealing how place influences both daily life and broader social and ecological narratives.

As an evolving process-based exploration, the project continues to unfold through ongoing observation, interaction, and exchange. Daily reflections, visual documentation, and process updates can be followed via Instagram, while extended weekly insights are shared through the journal section of this website.