Meet the Black Girls Behind Black Girl Basel
The founders of Black Girl Basel were drawn together by their shared commitment to providing safe-spaces for Black Women Creatives to meet and discuss issues specific to their careers paths and to strengthen the bonds that exist within this dynamic and diverse community.
Kesha Bruce
Kesha Bruce is an artist, curator, and founding Director of Baang + Burne Contemporary Art in New York City. Her artwork explores the rich territory of folklore and magical-spiritual belief in the African diaspora. Her current projects are motivated by her desire to use art-making as a spiritual practice and a driving force for community building and social justice.
Kesha’s work is included in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, The Amistad Center for Art and Culture, The University of Iowa Women's Center, The En Foco Photography Collection, and The Museum of Modern Art/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection.
Mavis Gragg
Mavis Gragg is an attorney, art collector, and art enthusiast based in Durham, NC. She is also the Director of the Sustainable Forestry and African American Land Retention Project at the American Forest Foundation.
Mavis got her start as a mediator of art in 2012 as a volunteer docent at the prestigious Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. During that time she was also an active Committee Member for the 1869 Society’s Annual Artini fundraiser. Mavis also serves as a Member of the CAMnow advisory board at Contemporary Art Museum-Raleigh and is a member of Triangle Artworks + Law Committee.
Carol McDonald
Carol McDonald is the founder and CEO of Meridian Solutions, a social impact communications firm. She is also partner at 76 Words, a creative agency focused on issue advocacy and electoral campaigns.
Carol’s commitment to the growth and support of Black creatives inspired her to organize Freedom House Salons, a pop-up networking and community-building space that promotes Black women artists. She is the co-producer of Washington, DC’s first Black Women Cinema Week, a showcase of 27 films written, directed and produced by Black women.