Naajia is a curator with a background in designing, developing, and delivering innovative, high-quality and inclusive exhibitions and research projects. She centres my practice on an empathic and inclusive approach to create spaces that highlight under-represented narratives with dignity in order to conserve and protect stories that are at risk of being lost.

She has an academic background in History and World Cultures.Which she has followed through in research, reports, writing and exhibitions at the V&A, National Maritime Museum, House of Lords , UCL and The Museum of Watford. Through all of her projects she has sought to be a champion of marginalised voices and the threats that jeopardise their stories being told.

Maren Ellermann is a dance artist turned producer, developing and delivering participatory arts projects in partnership with artists, cultural organisations, mental health professionals and activists across the globe.

Maren believes that art has the power to shift social consciousness and is dedicated to empowering communities through creativity, ensuring that people are not just recipients, but active participants and contributors in the process. She aims to strengthen the mental health and wellbeing of the communities she works with, increasing self-esteem, confidencen and a re-imagining of one’s identity. 

Maren is also Creative Director of grassroots dance & social change organisation Rain Crew, who build inclusive communities through dance, that help people proactively celebrate and share their authentic selves.

Together Maren and Naajia have established the collective ‘The New Cartographers’. With the ambition of creating a database that digitally maps intangible cultural heritage with a range of lasting resources that is truly accessible to a wide range of audiences and democratises this information. This will be through three main areas; through academic research that is translated in a manner that is fun and engaging to the general public, beautifully crafted documentaries in order to conserve, and finally with exhibitions that are multi-sensory and create physical spaces of learning.