Introducing the Curatorial Team of Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London, the MACu cohort of 21/22

Alayo Akinkugbe

Alayo is from Lagos, Nigeria and she is working on Events for ‘Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London’. She studied History of Art at the University of Cambridge, and she runs the Instagram platform, @ABlackHistoryOfArt, which highlights Black artists, sitters, curators and thinkers from art history and the present day. Her aim is to continually champion emerging and forgotten Black artists from across the globe and across all periods of art history.

Anastasia Kolomiets

Anastasia, or Nastia for short, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia and has been studying in the UK since she was 13. She is working on Interpretation and Marketing for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She studied History of Art at the University of Cambridge, with a focus on cross-cultural connections and themes of identity and resistance in contemporary art. She is particularly interested in ideas of relationality and rhizomatic networks.

Ava Kaartinen

Ava is from Toronto and she is working on Interpretation and Events for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She studied Art History, Visual Studies, and French Studies at the University of Toronto with a specialty in ancient Greek art. She is interested in the display of ceramics and overturning the prioritisation of the ‘fine arts’ in relation to the ‘decorative arts’. Moving to London from Canada, she is also a strong advocate for the proper display and treatment of Indigenous artworks in museums around the world.

Carla Dusevic

Carla is from Sydney and is working on the Marketing and Installation teams for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She studied Art History and Philosophy at the University of Sydney, embracing the converging chaos of aesthetics, existentialism, and contemporary materiality from painting to performance. Moving to London has furthered her drive to develop transnational dialogues and accessibility in the arts.

Cindy Ziyun Huang

Cindy was born and raised in Chengdu, China. She is working on Installation and Events for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She studied Art History at the University of St Andrews and specialised in post-WWII Japanese avant-garde art. She is interested in East Asian diasporic art communities and their trajectories in the UK. She often wonders what it would mean to conceptualise the art world as a set of embodied practices and social interactions.

Daisy Adams

Daisy is from London and is working on Events and Installation for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She studied English and later History of Art at the University of Cambridge with focus on Surrealism, Latin American art, and the history of Display. She is particularly interested in female Surrealist practice, the history of Surrealist exhibitions and their methods of display.

Freya Fletcher

Freya is from Staffordshire, working as Project Manager and part of the Installation team for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She studied History of Art at the University of York where she specialised in Histories and Methods of Display, and the interrelationship between mural paintings and architecture. Her experience within a range of art institutions has furthered her passion to make a positive change for the accessibility to arts and culture across the UK, and enhance the representation of diverse communities through collections and display.

Hannah Gorlizki

Hannah is from Manchester and is working on Marketing and Installation for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She completed an Art Foundation course before studying History of Art and Philosophy at University College London, alongside freelance photography and filmmaking. As someone who both studies and partakes in the creative process, Hannah is interested in blurring the boundaries between artist, designer and curator.

Madeleine Jordan

Madeleine is from Buckinghamshire and is working on the Installation, Interpretation and Budgeting teams for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She studied History of Art at the University of Edinburgh where she specialised in identity politics and themes of representation in contemporary art. She is currently exploring how gardens can be artistic mediums, curated spaces, and sites of queer ecologies.

Rachel McHale

Rachel is from Manchester and is working on Interpretation and Marketing for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She studied French and German at the University of Cambridge with a focus on postcolonial studies and the representation of women in contemporary art and literature. She also spent a year abroad working for a Berlin-based editorial and translation company specialising in art publications and exhibitions. She is interested in the display of photography as well as how the curatorial world responds to the climate crisis.

Sarah Chang 

Sarah is from Singapore, and was raised in China and Indonesia. She is working on Interpretation and Budgeting for Zaha Hadid: Reimagining London. She studied Art History at the Courtauld, specialising in contemporary art of the Asia-Pacific. Outside of Uni, she has interned for galleries like the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore, where she found her passion for youth arts. Her other (eclectic) interests include the collection and display of digital art, as well as eco-art.