Spike Island is pleased to announce Fiona Irene Graf as the recipient of the second edition of the Spike Island Engagement Fellowship for South West-based Curators. Graf will work alongside Spike Island’s Programme team to develop and deliver Exercises in Exchange, a year-long public programme for local audiences concerned with notions of reciprocity and economies of care.

Spike Island Engagement Fellowship for South West-based Curators is funded by the West of England Visual Arts Alliance (WEVAA) and supported by Arts Council England.

FIONA IRENE GRAF

Fiona Irene Graf is a cultural worker living in Stroud. Her practice focuses on participatory and collaborative modes of working, alternative economic systems, notions of reciprocity, and entanglements between human and more-than-human ecologies. Graf holds an MFA in Curating from Goldsmiths, University of London, and has co-curated a variety of projects including LVAN: Relay!, a series of walking tours in collaboration with Lewisham Visual Art Network, part of Lewisham Borough of Culture (2022), and Regroundings, a film programme and online artist conversation, Goldsmiths CCA (2021). As a member of the curatorial collective and research group Mapping Local Ecologies, she co-organised a programme of public events whilst in residency at Goldsmith CCA (2021-22).

WEST OF ENGLAND VISUAL ARTS ALLIANCE (WEVAA)

WEVAA is a consortium partnership of nine organisations co-led by Spike Island and Visual Arts South West including the Brunswick Club, Bath Spa School of Art, Bristol City Council, Creative Youth Network, Culture Weston, North Somerset Council and UWE Bristol. This alliance is delivering a 3-year programme of activity with the aim of supporting visual arts progression in the region, with the collective vision for the visual arts community in Bristol and the West of England to become more progressive, sustainable and inclusive by 2024.