Aphra Shemza
Aphra Shemza is a London-based multimedia artist. She is the granddaughter of the well-known abstract painter Anwar Jalal Shemza. Inspired by her grandfather, her work explores Modernism, her Islamic cultural heritage, sustainable practice and creating art for all. As an artist and activist, she finds ambitious ways to fuse methodologies from the past with new innovations in technology to imagine what the role of art could be in the future. Shemza combines abstraction with traditional sculpting techniques and technology to create her work. As a sculptor her main medium is light, which she manipulates to create works that change over time. Shemza exhibits regularly with recent highlights including V&A Digital Design Weekend, Winter Lights Festival, The Other Art Fair and Xi’an Maker Faire with the British Council. She has also participated in public speaking events, notably at Tate Britain, the British Library and The Courtauld Institute. In 2016 she co-founded Art in Flux, a not-for-profit organisation providing a platform for artists working at the intersection of art, technology and science. Shemza co-curates the yearly programme of talks, exhibitions and events. In 2018 she launched www.art-ology.co.uk, a peer resource for artists who wish to be mindful of their environmental impact.