Bio
Sarafadeen Bello is an Architectural Designer, researcher, and cultural facilitator based in Lagos. His multidisciplinary practice spans writing, research, food systems, installations, interior and spatial designs. And his works engage themes such as social inclusion, public participation, climate change, cultural access, archival knowledge, Pan-Africanist festivals, decolonization and the repatriation of cultural artefacts.
Sarafadeen's works have been shown across various platforms and art spaces in Lagos, Dar es Salaam, Grand Popo and Zurich. He was a participant of the Asiko Art School Program (2025) by the Center for Contemporary Art Lagos and was recently a resident at Villa Karo, the Finnish-African cultural centre (2025). Other achievements include participation in the Prohelvetia Swiss Art Council Artist-in-Residence Program (2024), his role as the Project Co-lead for the Cross-Cultural Digital Exchange and Research (CCDER) residency (2022 - 2023), a grantee of the House of African Feminisms a project by the Goethe Institut (2022 - 2023), and recipient of the Guest Artists Space Foundation Fellowship Award (2022).
His writings have been published in the African Union ECHO Digital Magazine (2017), the Lagos Development Envision Lab (2017), and featured on The Great Museum website, among others. Currently, he is developing the second phase of the CCDER project - In Tandem a platform for critical dialogue and ideas exchange among artists, creatives, and researchers, with a particular emphasis on Africa.
CV
EDUCATION
2007 - 2013: Diploma in Architecture, Ivanovo State Polytechnic University, Russia.
2006 - 2007: Russian language, Ivanovo State Textile Academy, Russia.
TRAININGS
2025: Asiko Art School Programme by CCA Lagos, NG and ARD Cairo, EG.
2020: Online Training on Curating Festivals by The Festival Academy (European Festivals Association).
2019: Project Management training organized by the Goethe-Institut, 16 by 16 and Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos.
2018: The Editing Room: Critical Writing Workshop organized by the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos and Institut Français Nigeria.
2017: Young Critics programme in Nigeria organized by the International Association of Theatre critics, British Council Nigeria and the Guardian Nigeria.
LANGUAGES
Yoruba, English, Russian.
EXHIBITIONS, OPEN STUDIOS & INSTALLATIONS
2025: Collective Exhibition at ARD Art Institution, “Holding Memory”, Cairo, EG.
2024: Open Studio and Installation “Colourful Nostalgia” at Nafasi Art Space, Dar es Salaam, TZ.
2024: Open Studio and Installation design “Plastic Foodtures” at Rote Fabrik, Zurich, CH.
2022: Solo Exhibition “Artefacts (Re)connecting…Can you sense them?” G.A.S. Foundation, Lagos.
2019: Collective Exhibition curated by MOE+ Art Architecture at the Lagos Biennale.
2019: Green street urban intervention project, site-specific installation: Urban Garden Stop. On-site installation.
RESIDENCIES, FELLOWSHIPS & GRANTS
2025: Asiko Art School in Cairo, Egypt by the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos, NG.
2025: Artist in Residence at Finnish-West African cultural center Villa Karo, Grand Popo, BJ.
2024: Nafasi Art Space Artist in Residence, Dar es Salaam, TZ.
2024: Pro Helvetia Swiss Art Council and Rote Fabrik Artist in Residence, Zurich, CH.
2023: House of African Feminisms Grant. Project title: Archives of (Im)mobility: Gender, Access and Wage labour through the prism of the Colonial Nigerian Railway system in South-Western Nigeria.
2022 - 2023: Cross-Cultural Digital Exchange and Research Residency Project between Nigerian & Dutch Artists. (Role:Project Coordinator, Funder: Consulate General of the Netherlands in Lagos, Nigeria).
2022: Guest Artists Space Fellowship Award. Residency at G.A.S. Foundation Lagos, Nigeria to research “Technoheritage and Cultural Archives” in relation to Restitution and Repatriation of Cultural Objects.
2021: Digital residency on “Memory and Memoricide of the Land”- Reimagining Alternative Model of Museum. Collective r and d in collaboration with Co.iki (Tokyo, Japan).
2017: Researcher at Lagos Development Envision Lab (LAGDEL 2017) by Heinrich Boll Stiftung, Nigeria & Arctic Infrastructure. Research Question: In 15 - 20 years, what should be the view of inclusive and integrative housing in Lagos? Case Study: Low-Income Neighborhoods in Amukoko.
