MANIFESTO ︎︎︎ Community is vital for an artist to grow and nurture the very thing that heals us, breaks us and unites us. There are rarely initiatives that encourage or foster community building for BIPOC individuals in the industry. DNI Collective was established to serve as an initiative that’s a building block moving forward. Providing a space for BIPOC students/artists to connect across Leeds to collaborate, make art and showcase exhibitions for the collective and the local art scene to immerse themselves in, is our objective as a collective.

Launched in Fall 2022
(Currently in Haitus)


Hamza Ashraf
Rayyana Feisal
Zainab Nadeem


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28.05.2023

︎Headrow House, Leeds

‘IN OUR DEFENCE: Re-framing Post Colonial Grounds & Dilettantes’

Poster Design by Hamza Ashraf

Over the past few decades, we have all experienced hardships and struggles. Especially as individuals from marginalised backgrounds, we live in a world centred around Western views and values. Institutions and algorithms are built to break us or make it impossible for us to succeed while also leaving us to feel extremely disconnected from our cultures. From the murder of George Floyd, police brutality, war mongering, climate disaster, religious discrimination, abortion rights of women across the globe, financial deficit crisis to Piers Morgan speaking on our behalf of our lived experiences.

Rather than taking the backseat, we've taken charge of shining light on our lived experiences on our own accord. As Nawal El Saadawi said, "To be creative, one must be a dissident".

23.11.2022

︎Headrow House, Leeds

‘The Personal, The Meta-Fictional & The Self-Referential’

Poster Design by Hamza Ashraf

As artists, we often use our tools to make sense of the fragmented reality we all live in unison. Self-reflexive art accounts for the hope and unity we as humans crave in times of despondency and distress. By documenting shared lived experiences, artists have forged a way to form a connection through a subjective embodied voice across the globe.

The theme of the exhibition calls on artists to direct their mediums towards themselves to forge a way of self-introspection & catharsis within themselves through their art.

There is a certain beauty in the dialogue that emerges between artists and spectators from turning your tools onto yourself as they ignite self-reflection over the past, questioning identity, gender, sexuality, cultural norms and introspection on life. It's also a way of offering a safe space for the audience to engage and find solace in the yearning, the mundane and the ephemeral.