Akane Nakamori is an artist, independent curator and the Art Director of Gallery Suisei-Art in Kanazawa city, Japan. Akane set up Suisei-Art in 1998 as an independent organisation to introduce the works of contemporary artists through exhibitions, lectures and collaborative projects.

She has also curated and directed site-specific exhibitions in abandoned or unused old houses in Kanazawa including machiya (traditional Japanese townhouse). Recent examples of sustainable local culture planning through creative projects:

《Kunjyo》, Ishiguro building, Kanazawa (2021)
《1-13-30, Ishibiki, Kanazawa, Ishikawa》,Yamagishi building, Kanazawa (2021)
《Please come yesterday》, Kanazawa (2020)

Akane’s other recent work includes:

《Asanogawano-ie Sokerissa!》Direction in Kanazawa-Fringe,Kanazawa 21th century museum of contemporary art ,Kanazawa (2017).

The contemporary tea ceremony project 《Absence of the tea master》has been organised and exhibited internationally at various venues.

Amanda Ho is a Melbourne based weaver. Born in Melbourne and spending part of her childhood in Hong Kong, her practice draws on the duality of her heritage.

Amanda started weaving while studying textile design at RMIT University and continued to develop her craft while working as an architect. After further studies in Japan, she began to refocus her practice from architecture to weaving, starting the weavers’ workroom and transitioning to weaving in 2015. 

With over 20 years of experience in architecture, her interest in design, materials, patterns and structures continues to be reflected in her work.

She employs a contemporary approach to traditional techniques and materials in both function and non-functional works. She has exhibited at Wangaratta Art Gallery in both ‘Petite’ and ‘Contemporary Textile Award’, with pieces in their permanent collection.

Areli is a Mexican strategic designer, facilitator, design researcher, and mentor.

She is passionate about challenging notions and contradictions of the practice of design by rethinking the way a situation is framed. At the moment, Areli is very intrigued with the intersections of design, capitalism, and decolonisation. Her practice overlaps between social and environmental areas using design strategy, systems thinking, respectful design, and community-centred design approaches with a strong multidisciplinary collaborative focus.

Through competitive research grants, fellowships, and teaching partnerships she has led research projects within a wide range of topics including social justice, environmental sustainability, circular economy, global crisis and humanitarian scenarios, decolonialisation of design practices, maternal health, children’s rights. Collaborations with industry partners include Australia Post, Alzheimer Victoria, Australian Red Cross, Utopia, Deloitte, Salvation Army, eBay, and Sustainability Victoria, Rotary Club, Amnesty International among others.

Armani Shahrin is the Founder of NAKSENI (nakseni.com), an ecommerce site for art merchandise from artwork by PWD (Persons With Disabilities) artists, and also project consultant for WE&I Art, collective of PWD artists, organising and managing annual art festivals prior to the COVID19 pandemic. She has previously worked with a Malaysian-based online marketplace for homegrown brands, and has over 10 years of experience in the business events and entertainment industry. Armani created NAKSENI to build career opportunities and elevate the value of art by PWD artists starting with her own autistic artist sister, Izzati Shahrin. Apart from selling art merchandise online, NAKSENI also hosts art events for the PWD artists, such as exhibitions, art jams sessions, and more.

Art Unit EbRu is a collective originally formulated in 2013 by Rei Sato, Eri Sakiyama and Jumi Tanabe during their student days in the Crafts Department of Kanazawa College of Art. Their experimental works explored a marbling technique that mixed colours and materials. After graduation, each went their own way, taking career paths in fashion, ceramic industry, and special effects makeup respectively. 

Their friendship brought them back to work on a concept to create headpieces for mobile devices, which went on to earn them the Swatch Art Prize at International Talent Support in 2020. Subsequently, EBRU Inc. was officially founded, and their success attracted the attention of Ishikawa Prefecture which awarded the company their Women’s Entrepreneur Prize in 2021. Currently, through their earphone brand ‘EARMIND’, EBRU Inc. is trying economic and social success all for artists and creators.  

Born in Hong Kong and with a multicultural background living in Toronto, London and Tokyo, Joyce aims to explore the multiple definitions of ‘family’ through film and interdisciplinary practices. 

After working at an architecture NPO and as an art book & magazine editor, Joyce returned to school in 2020 to pursue a Master degree at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts. 

Joyce holds a BA in Japanese and Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and a MA in Media and Governance from Keio University.

Jun Yi is the manager of KongsiKL, an art space based in a warehouse, where she produces and organizes events and projects with her small team. She is also the assistant producer of the multidisciplinary collaborative platform, Seni Tiga.

As the co-founder of Kita Semula, Jun Yi has initiated several urban intervention programs with her team. She has also set up museums with the curatorial team of Lostgens’ as an architectural designer and as a co-curator with her team from UCSI University. 

She enjoys creating platforms and finds meaning in working with other people.

Lhotse Collins lives and works on the land of the Wurundjeri people in Naarm/Melbourne. She undertook a Bachelor of Fine arts at Monash Art, Design and Architecture, and completed her Honours of Fine Arts at The Victorian College of the Arts in 2021.

Lhotse Collins’ practice is based in an attentive relationship to matter, which dissolves the seeping boundaries between bodies. Through this material attention, Collins’ practice considers its potential as a method for decolonising ways of thinking. Tracing back to ancestral bodies through craft processes and enactments of pagan ritual, these past and present actions interrogate processes of colonisation. 

A concern with place shifts the work towards considering the impacts of agriculture and land transformation. These fragile, itching and unresolved tensions are the womb of her work.

Lina Patel is a first generation migrant, born in Kenya and raised on the lands of the Dharawal and Eora Nations. She is a facilitator and poet living on Wurundjeri Woiwurrung Country and working globally.

Her mission is to alleviate needless workplace suffering and bring more kindness into the world, one team at a time. As a professional facilitator working with groups, she is inclusive, outcomes oriented, and comfortable asking difficult questions compassionately, so that people get to the heart of the matter.

Lina works with people and organisations around the world who value positive social outcomes and want to get better at how they work together.

Tsuda focuses on creative work based on the characteristics of video. The realization of her works involves spatial choreography and collaborations with performers. Her works represent a unique special expansion and poetic richness, and take variety of forms such as installation, video and performance. In recent years, she also does performance as a unit “baby tooth” with Megumi Kamimura. Her installation work “You would come back there to see me again the following day.” has received the New Face Award at the 20th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2017. Exhibitions include the solo show “Observing Forest” (zarya contemporary art center, Vladivostok, 2017), “The Day After Yesterday” (TARO NASU, Tokyo, 2015), and the group exhibition “Aichi Triennale 2019”, “Roppongi Crossing 2019: Connexions” (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2019). She completed a Doctoral Program in Film and New Media Studies at the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts, in 2013 and received a grant from the Asian Cultural Council(ACC) for a 6-month residency in New York in 2019.

My name is Narawat Welployngam [Nammon]. I was born and raised in  Nang Loeng Community, Old Town, Bangkok. I am a Thai artist, project director, community developer and networker, cook and collector. 

I am the owner of Baan NangLearng, Community Center and artist in residence. I  founded the E-Learng Group, a non-profit organization and Artist Collective in 2007, and of Community Lab, community database, local studio and Incubator Hub in 2019. 

I am interested in how art and culture can be used as tactical tools for community mobilization and development through collaborations with active members in the community.

Nikki is an arts and culture specialist with a passion for helping artists and creatives bring their ideas to life. She has a Master’s of Arts and Cultural Management, and extensive skills and experience gained through working in the arts and culture sector both in Australia and in the UK.

Nitcharee Peneakchanasak acquired her disability at the age of 14, but she maintains her positiveness and active lifestyle.  She  graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass-communication from Thammasat University. 

She is passionate about motivating people to live a positive life and has engaged herself in delivering several speeches and motivational talks at the national level. Currently she is pursuing her master’s degree in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Chulalongkorn University. 

She currently works as communicator and campaigner for people with disabilities in Thailand and continues her goal to motivate and inspire people to live a positive life, and to advocate for inclusive workplace for all. 

Ruslina is from the deep South of Thailand with a can-do attitude to drive a better social harmony. She advocates for affirmative actions for persons with disabilities and collective youth empowerment for a better future. 

Her projects also calls for women’s empowerment through social engagement and public collaboration. She strongly believes in the potential growth and uniquely individuals’ abilities to drive a better change.

​​Sae is a MA student at the Aesthetics and Art History-SCAPe, Kanazawa College of Art. Her study in France during 2017-18 made her keenly aware of her own hybrid identity as a Japanese woman with ancestorial roots in Korea. This has developed her research in scrutinising the normative frame of Modern Japanese Art History through the perspective of feminism, post-colonialism, and transnationalism.  

Continuing the research underpinning her undergraduate thesis on the issues of Japanese Comfort Women, she is currently exploring the methodology of “intersectionality” for redressing and rewriting art history, as she establishes herself as a curator.  

Her first public exhibition, “Stories The Mermaids Tell” (2021) made the multiple voices of women and transgender artists heard, and presented questions about the paternalistic and heterosexual-centred ideologies that dominate in Japan and in particular, in Kanazawa.

Sayaka has worked at IBM as Business Consultant in 2007-2011 and left IBM after the Great East Earthquake in 2011. Since 2011, Sayaka has been involved with several projects in Japan and ASEAN countries to empower the people’s possibilities through business.

In Japan, she has started an enterprise which produces natural cosmetics made by natural resources of that area to generate jobs at the Tsunami disaster area since 2011.In ASEAN and East Asia, Sayaka organizes the Asian Women Social Entrepreneurs Network (AWSEN) which was established in 2014. She also does the consultation work for Japanese private companies and creates PPP projects with JICA in Asia, Middle East and Africa.

Finalist of Nikkei Social Initiative Award of 2012 and 2013. Finalist of The Entrepreneur Awards Japan 2015.

Advisory board of Nikkei Social Business Contest since 2017.

Yvonne Tan is an instructional designer and researcher who is passionate about socio-political issues within Southeast Asia. She has worked in public policy research institutes like the United Nations University – International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) and Research Triangle Institute. She has bylines in Malaysiakini, Malaysia Now, and Malaysian Insight.

Tharinee is a community-based artist and activist who found limitations as a starting point for seemingly endless creativity and possibility. She has been involved in community-based art and events since 2008. She specializes in creating socially engaged art activities. She uses upcycling techniques to reduce community waste management problems while also generating better incomes and living quality for others. In 2019, Tharinee established  “Studio UpCircle” as an organization drawing collaboration from artists, designers, and social workers in order to generate income for community residents, particularly those living in slum areas.