Who We Are
Damali and Vanessa first met in 2018 whilst working at iniva. Four years later, they collaborated to deliver London Unseen — a season of walks, talks and events which amplified the work of grassroots heritage practitioners across the city.
During that project, they realised the potential within their partnership to develop more projects which would challenge inequity in arts, cultural and learning spaces. They'd worked with Chetna on London Unseen, and it felt like a natural and purposeful fit for her to join them as the third director a year later.
Damali Ibreck
Co-Founder, Director
Awaiting bio
Vanessa Ansa
Co-Founder, Director
Vanessa is an educator and creative interventionist. Her career has focussed on working with minoritised groups across education and culture.
After eleven years in teaching, she completed an MA in Art History at Birkbeck and went on to play a key role in growing Hundred Heroines into a charity — curating national exhibitions, supporting international events, and creating educational resources to facilitate the organisation's aims to endorse the work of women-identifying photographers.
In recent years she's been working in partnership with community organisations to embed place-based, community-engaged learning within higher education.
In her own time, Vanessa is learning about food sovereignty, and she co-organises the Lambeth branch of Soul Purpose 360, a Black women's empowerment network.
Chetna Kapacee
Director
Chetna is a creative producer with over 30 years’ experience producing cultural events nationally and internationally.
More recently, Chetna managed the mayoral Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm. As part of this Chetna was a powerful champion of the London Unseen programme, giving a voice to significant, but previously untold community histories.
Chetna is currently at Wandsworth Council as the strategic lead for culture on special projects in the built environment.
She was invited to join The South North in 2024 to support the work of the two founding directors.
Image Credit: Patrick Lewis