Performance as Life: A Fundraiser for Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi 

Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi

Va-Bene Elikem Fiatsi (crazinisT artisT) (she/her) is a transwoman who works internationally but lives in Kumasi, Ghana. Fiatsi is a multidisciplinary ‘artivist’, curator, mentor, the founder and artistic director of crazinisT artisT studio and perfocraZe International Artists Residency (pIAR), which promotes exchange between international and local artists, activists, researchers, curators, and thinkers.

As a performer and installation artist, crazinisT investigates gender stereotypes, prejudices, queerness, identity politics and conflicts, sexual stigma and their consequences for marginalised groups or individuals. With rituals and a gender-fluid persona, Fiatsi employs her own body as a thought-provoking tool in performances, photography, video, and installations, ‘life-and-live-art’ confronting issues such as disenfranchisement, social justice, violence, objectification, internalised oppression, anti-Blackness, systemic indoctrination and many more. crazinisT has performed and exhibited across the globe including Nigeria, Togo, Ghana, Switzerland, South Africa, Germany, Netherlands, Cape Verde, USA, Spain, Brazil, France and the UK.

Dr. Ama Josephine Budge Johnstone

Dr. Ama Josephine Budge Johnstone (she/her) is a British-Ghanaian speculative writer, artist, scholar and pleasure activist whose praxis navigates that which she has termed “Intimate Ecologies” to explore Blackness, erotics and the more-than-human in queer and speculative ways toward interspecies futures. Her sculptural, video, performance and installation work has been commissioned and installed internationally including in London, Berlin, Utrecht, Madrid and New York. Ama is a Course Tutor & Lecturer at University of the Arts London, an MFA tutor at the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam, and a Research Associate at VIAD (University of Johannesburg). Her PhD project: Intimate Ecologies: Queer Speculations on Pleasure Blackness and Decolonial Aesthetics was awarded in 2025 without corrections.

Nabilah Nebulae

I am Nabilah Nebulae (she/they). I am a nourisher, nurturing all those who come upon my path, whether with words, music, food, hugs, or maybe even cloth. I have been known to create spaces, sanctuaries where we can truly lovingly be ourselves. I do this mostly in co-creation with the moon and the turning of the seasons. I am an African Arab Black Beautiful Woman. Within my being, I carry the Nile, and I am honoured to be a living embodiment of paradise, a reflection of us all. I am a free-loving queer woman who could make rainbows blush with her fondness for colour, beauty, and love. I am capable of most things like we humans so beautifully are, and I specialise in the creation aspect of bringing people together, whether that is through cooking, dancing, storytelling, communing, circling, gathering, partying, raving, or cuddling. My most recently fulfilling endeavour was the honour of bringing into being the glorious folk sliver of heaven, Fire in the Mountains Festival in Wales.

Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir

Aisha Shaibu-Lenoir (she/her) is a social entrepreneur and LGBTQ+ activist, recognised as one of the ‘Top 100 LGBTQ+ Trailblazers’ changing the world. She is the founder of Moonlight Experiences, an award-winning company dedicated to the celebration of diverse queer culture and travel by harnessing the economic power of tourism and nightlife. The organisation is decolonising travel and addressing the lack of visibility and services for queer women, non-binary, and Black/POC members. Aisha also runs The Common Press—an intersectional queer bookshop cafe and events space in East London. Aisha’s activism and community contributions also extend to her role as Head of Community Engagement for UK Black Pride and as a Trustee for GiveOut.