SPEAKER ART BASEL 2018

After a friend was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000, designer and artist Shaney jo Darden founded the global non-profit organization The Keep A Breast Foundation (KAB) to raise awareness of breast cancer and to encourage prevention and early detection among young people.

Now, as KAB celebrates its 18th anniversary, Shaney jo is a leading voice in the cultural conversation about breast cancer and her visionary youth-targeted campaigns and programs featuring irreverent messaging, inventive art, cutting-edge pop culture and technology are fueling a paradigm shift among non-profit organizations. Since inception, KAB has expanded globally to Europe, Canada, South America, and Japan and has three core programs — Non Toxic Revolution, Check Yourself and Treasured Chest. The iconic “i love boobies!” message, one of KAB’s signature breast cancer outreach and awareness campaigns, has become a generational staple for the young people she’s reached.

Mashonda Tifrere is a portrait of courage and a change agent. Singer, songwriter, artist and mother, Mashonda has fulfilled her calling to combat gender bias by empowering female artists and curators from around the world.
For the past four years she’s represented and mentored artists, curated five international exhibitions, managed booths at art fairs and interned for various galleries. In 2016 she studied and graduated from the prestigious Christie’s Education in New York City with a degree in Art Business.

Kai Lutterodt is a journalist and avid travel blogger, curator and founder of Diversity Matters; an awareness-raising platform with a focus on race equality and Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) representation in the Arts and Media. A graduate of University of the Arts London (UAL), Kai was inspired to advocate on behalf of marginalised students using her platforms as elected Students’ Union Officer to rally ‘decision makers’ around the discourse of race and representation. 

Carrie Reichardt is a self-titled ‘craftivist’. Her work blurs the boundaries between craft and activism, using the techniques of muralism, mosaic and collage to create intricate, highly-politicised works of art. More recently she has been involved in a series of public art projects that focuses on the ‘People’s History’- documenting history where it happens and exploring how artists can disrupt traditional narratives and offer different positive perspectives.

Ann Lewis, born 1981 in the USA, is best known for her politically charged and often uncommissioned takeovers of public space. As a multidisciplinary activist artist using painting, installation, and participatory performance she explores themes related to American identity, power structures, and justice.

Mia Florentine Weiss, is a German performance and conceptual artist., Born in Würzburg in 1980, Mia works in the field of tension bordering between object art and multimedia. The works she has produced shows the sheer impact she makes upon society from the LOVE HATE sculpture and more recently, the NOW WON sculpture, a temporary installation in front of the Berlin Reichstag and is now in the permanent exhibition of the URBAN NATION Museum. Mia is also a part of the class of 2018 in the URBAN NATION Artist in Residence Programme.