Sunanda Mesquita (they/them) is a Goan-Swiss transdisciplinary visual artist, curator and Ayurvedic Wellness practitioner based in Vienna & Salcete. Mesquita studied Education of the Arts and in the class of Dorit Margreiter Choy at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and co-lead and curated 2017-2020 the art and community space WE DEY. In 2024 Mesquita founded AMBi- the intersectional practice for well-being and art in the 7th district that offers safer spaces for BIPoCs and queer, trans, inter people with a focus on massages, bodywork and workshops. (ambi-space.com)
At the center of their transdisciplinary artistic practice stands the envisioning of a radical, utopian, queer, feminist collectivity of BIPoCs and topics of community, solidarity and belonging. They support individual and collective journeys to wellbeing by offering Ayurvedic bodywork and holistic knowledge centering decolonial joy within the diaspora. (@decolonial_joy)
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In 2013, Sunanda Mesquita and Amoako Boafo saw the necessity to search for a community for and by Black, Indigenous and People of Color artists, a space to connect, to network, to discuss strategies, and empower each other. WE DEY– platform for contemporary arts — was found and awarded with the kültüř gemma! scholarship of the city Vienna in 2014.
From 2017-2022 Sunanda and Jaqueline Ejiji found a home for WE DEY x SPACE at Kandlgasse 24 in the 7th district as a self – organised art space in Vienna dedicated to amplify the art and culture production of Queer/Trans*/Inter/Black People/People of Color. WE DEY x space hosted over 70 activations such as solo and group exhibitions, residencies, workshops, kitchen table talks and film screenings around the topics of decolonial art production, community, self-care and empowerment.
Their transdisciplinary practice includes painting, drawing and video works as well as embodying the role as dramaturgay in film, theatre and dance productions et al. Stefanie Sourial, Nina Sandino, Hannah Ma, Faris Cuchi Gezahegn, Mzamo Nondlwana, Hyo Lee, Patu, Janine Jembere, Claire Lefèvre, Daniela Hernandez Flores and Andrea Vezga Acevedo.
CV
EDUCATION
2020 – 2023 Āyurvedic Wellness Practioner, Gloriet Ayurveda Vienna
2014 – 2021 Diploma studies in Video & Videoinstallation, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
2012 – 2018 Education of the Arts, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
2006 – 2008 Make up Artist | Hairstylist Diploma, Vienna | London
2004 – 2006 Diploma in Fashion Design, Herbstrasse, Vienna
PROJECT COORDINATION
Since 2024: founder and curator of AMBi: intersectional space for wellbeing and art, Seidengasse 32, 1070 Wien
2017 – 2020: Artistic direction, board of the association: WE DEY x SPACE – Art and Community space centering QTIBIPOC art and knowledge production, Kandlgasse 24, 1070 Vienna
2016 –2017: Curator of Anticolonial Fantasies together with Sophie Utikal and Imayna Caceres
2013 – 2017: Artistic and organizational direction: WE DEY Platform for contemporary arts Vienna, together with Amoako Boafo
CURATORIAL PRACTICE
2025: EMBODIED DREAMSCAPES BIPoC Retreat at AMBi | Curator, funded by D/ARTS
2013 – 2020: WE DEY x SPACE | Co-founder, curator art & healing space for QTIBPoC contemporary arts
2018: Rememory: Ritual Blackness and Beyond | curator solo show, Khaleb Brooks: WE DEY x SPACE
2017: Fragmented Selves | curator solo show, Sophie Utikal: WE DEY x SPACE
2017: Detoxing Masculinity | curator solo show, Amoako Boafo: WE DEY x SPACE
2016: Anticolonial Fantasies | co-curator group show: Friday Exit, Vienna
2016: WE DEY show | curator group show, WUK Projektraum: Vienna
2013:It’s now, it’s there, it’s everywhere | curator solo show, Amoako Boafo, Vienna
2013: 1:54- Contemporary African Art Fair | Curatorial Assistant, London
DRAMATURG(A)Y
2025: SHAYTAN | Shahrzad Nazarpour : Kosmos Theater
2024: TURNING POINT | Mzamo Nondlwana: Brut Wien
2024: LOIE (is a fire that cannot be extinguished) | Claire Lefèvre: Brut Wien
2023: ELSEWHERE | Nina Sandino, Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir, Daniela Hernandez Flores and Andrea Vezga Acevedo. HUGGY BEARS days 2023: WUK performing arts, Vienna
2023: INVASION(EN) 2.23 | Hannah Ma Dance: Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience, Durban ZA
2023: UNITED NETWORKS “UN Lab” | hannahma dance: Wawern
2023: NEW ENDINGS | Stefanie Sourial, Faris Cuchi Gezahegn, Hyo Lee, Patu, Janine Jembere: Brut Wien
2022: INVASION(EN) 2.22 | Hannah Ma, Nora Amin, Sebastian M.Purfürst: Trier
2022: Dance for the Future | Mzamo Nondlwana, Bassano Bonelli, İklim Doğan: Brut Wien
2022: City of Diaspora |Stefanie Sourial, Faris Cuchi Gezahegn, Hyo Lee: Brut Wien
2021: Fleshbacks | Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński
VIDEO
since 2013: documenting and archiving QTI/BIPoC theirstory in Vienna, London and Berlin
2024: work in progress: “Tracing Belonging – Tambdi mati” (AT/GOA/CH)
2021: Director | Camera | Edit | CC, Tracing Belonging (AT/2021/5.55min)
2018: Director | Camera | Edit, OOPS OH MY (AT / 2018 /4 min)
EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2025: Embodied Archives | Im Flieger Wien
2024: Nurturing Resilience | Vivências: Volkskundemuseum Wien
2022-23: Einstweilen wird es Mittag | Homestories: WHW, Kunsthalle Wien
2019: Dark Energy feminist organising, working collectively | group show: XHIBIT, Vienna
2018: CLINCH Festival | solo show: Kulturzentrum Pavillon, Hannover
2017: Decolonial Borderlands | group show: Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
2016: Anti*colonial Fantasies | group shop: Friday Exit, Vienna
2016: WE DEY show | group show: WUK Projektraum, Vienna
2015: Familaritiy – unexpected queerings | group show: VBKÖ, Vienna
2013: Chalewote | Streetartfestival Accra, Ghana
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2025: Im Flieger Wien
COMMISSIONS (selection)
2024: Murli | 2nd camera for music video, Vereter
2023: Respire | Colorgrading, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński: Liverpool Biennale
2021: Fleshbacks | Director of Photography | Dramaturgy | Edit | CC, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński
2020 – 22: City of Diaspora | Development | Video and Stage design, Stefanie Sourial, Faris Cuchi Gezagehn, Hyo Lee: BRUT Wien
2018: My garden flourishes with flowers | Video, Mzamo Nondlwana: Tanzquartier Wien
2018: The Letter | Director of Photography | Edit | CC, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński
2017: Unearthing. In Conversation | Director of Photography | Edit | CC, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński
2017: STA! | Director of Photography, Pêdra Costa
since 2016: Illustrations for: Homestories, GLADT, CLINCH Festival, Center of Intersectional Justice Berlin, DEMASK, Radio Orange, Augustin – die erste österreichische Boulevardzeitung, Labor 89. Intersektionale Bewegungsgeschichte*n aus West und Ost
ARTIST TALKS.PANELS.LECTURES. (selection)
2024: Queer Of Color Critique Symposium | Panel: Xartsplitta Berlin
2023: Living in the Storm / Embodying the Storm | Panel, Faris Cuchi Gezahegn (Afro Rainbow Austria), Araba Evelyn Johnston-Arthur (Pamoja), KitchenSProsper (Tanyaradzwa Moyo & Paloma Lukumbi), Soñ Gweha (Atayé): Kunstraum Niederösterreich
2023: Queere Künstler_innen of Color. Verhandlungen von Disidentifikation, Überleben und Un-Archiving im deutschen Kontext | Buchvorstellung und Gesprächsrunde, Rena Onat und Natis: Xartsplitta, Berlin
2023: Toolbox #2 – Fragilität als Verfassungszustand | Gesprächsreihe, Golschan Ahmad Haschemi & Verena Meyer: Theaterformen Festival, Hannover
2022: Desintegrationskurs: Gegen anti-asiatischen Rassismus | Online-Vernetzungs-Workshop, Vina Yun und Claudia Unterweger: Depot Wien
2021: QTBIPOC art, activism and strategies for safety during COVID-19. | Guest Lecture, Mengzhu Fu and Prof. Jin Haritaworn for the New Social Movements, Activism and Social Change (Master of Environmental Studies): Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Tkaronto, Canada 2021: Handle with care – City of Diaspora | Artist Talk, Stefanie Sourial, Faris Gezagehn, Hyo Lee, Sushila Mesquita and Janine Jembere: BRUT Wien
2018: Decolonize Arts | Panel: CLINCH Festival, Hannover
2016- 2018: Anti*colonial Fantasies | Lectures, Sophie Utikal, Imayna Caceres, Verena Melgerejo Weinandt: Friday Exit, Kunstuniversität Linz, University of Vienna, Universitätsbibliothek Akademie der Bildenden Künste
2017: Fm4 auf Laut | Radio Interview about BPoC Students and Lectures collective with Jaqueline Ejiji
2017: Homestories | Artist Talk: Literaturhaus, Vienna
2017: I/mages of Tomorrow | Artist Talk: Goldsmith University, London
2017: Decolonial Borderlands | Lecture, Sophie Utikal and Imayna Caceres: Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
2016: Library of Requests Part II | Artist Talk, Belinda Kazeem Kaminski, Imayna Caceres, Sophie Utikal: Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
2016: Decolonising Arts and Visual Culture Series | Panel, Rena Onat, RajuRage, Rajkamal Kahlon, Nathalie Mba Bikoro: Xartsplitta, Berlin
WORKSHOPS (selection)
2025: SLOW STEW Festival Mai Ling/SHIFT: Decolonising Self-Care mit Nicole Flierman, AMBi space
2025: Decolonizing towards – Kulturelle, künstlerische und somatische Praktiken zu Dekolonialität, Intersektionalität & Healing: Tapping into Decolonial Joy, W3, Hamburg
2025: Tapping into Decolonial Joy: Abundance | Workshopleitung für BIPoCs, MHAW, Wien
2024: Tapping into Decolonial Joy | Workshopleitung für QTIBIPoCs, SoG, Hamburg
2024: Queer Of Color Critique Symposium | Panel und Workshopleitung: Xartsplitta Berlin
2023: Care Intermissions / Care Protocols | workshop for BIPoC artists and cultural workers, KitchenSProsper, A quiet storm blowin´: Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Wien
2023: A Touch of Tenderness | Workshop, FupaMagic: Feministisches Referat Öh Uni Wien
2022: Decolonial Joy | workshop: Rhubaba Gallery and Studios, Edinburgh, UK
2022: Tapping into Decolonial Joy | Workshop: BIPoC summit, The BIPoC circle + Wir Sind Auch Wien, Frauenreferat Wien
2019-20:Artistic Strategies of Resistance | facilitation and co-facilitation, Workshop Series, Rafaela Siegenthaler, Faris Gezahegn, Shenja Vasanti Kumari Danz: Universität Wien, Akademie der Bildenden Künste Wien, Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, Kunsthalle Wien
2020:Kunst als Werkzeug gegen Rassismus | Workshop: Dokustelle Österreich
2019: Rewriting – The Calling Card Project Workshop | Rafaela Siegenthaler: HochschülerInnenschaft an der Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien (hufak)
2019: BPoC Coalition Building | Workshop, Sushila Mesquita: Frauen_Referat der ÖH Uni Wien, WE DEY x SPACE
2018: WE DEY x SPACE – self-organisation of art and community spaces | Workshop with Jaqueline Ejiji: Diversity Arts Culture – Summer School for BPoC artists, Berlin
2018: Unarchiving/Archiving in the Context of Collective Forms of Resistance | Workshop, Raju Rage: New Perspectives on memory(ies), xartsplitta,
2017:I/mages of Tomorrow | Workshop, Decolonising Illustration: Goldsmith University, London
2014: Re-writing the Calling Card Project | Workshop series, Rafaela Siegenthaler: University of Vienna, University of Applied Arts, Vienna
2014: Decolonial Pedagogy | Seminar, Rafaela Siegenthaler: Bundesfachtagung 2014 Globales Lernen, Vienna
PUBLICATIONS
2023: Queere Künstler_innen of Color, Verhandlungen von Disidentifikation, Überleben und Un-Archiving im deutschen Kontext, Rena Onat
2021: Untie to Tie. Colonial Fragments in School Contexts, Aïcha Diallo, Annika Niemann, Miriam Shabafrouz
2019: Labor 89. Intersektionale Bewegungsgeschichte*n aus West und Ost, Peggy Piesche, Nicola Lauré al-Samarai
2018: Stille Macht. Silence und Dekolonisierung, Emily Ngubia Kessé
2017: Kuratieren als antirassistische Praxis/Curating as anti-racist practice, Natalie Bayer, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiński, Nora Sternfeld
2017: Anti*colonial Fantasies, Imayna Caceres, Sophie Utikal, Sunanda Mesquita
2017: Black Fly Zine, Sexual Health for People of Color
2016: On Families, a coloring book tracing concepts of families
Sunanda Mesquita 