Sinenkosi Msomi, Moses Ojo, and Dani Beyene have been honoured as winners of the 2024-25 CMS International Art Competition. This initiative, co-organized by the CMS Mobilities, Narratives and Circulation: Africa and Its Diasporas research groups, celebrates creative work that explores the diverse histories, cultures, and experiences shaped by the movement of African peoples across the globe.
First Prize: Sinenkosi Msomi, Running Home, 2022
Sinenkosi Msomi, Running Home
Running Home speaks to the emotional and psychological weight migrants carry, the severing of roots, and the longing for a new home. It emphasizes the strength of the human spirit, the enduring hope that drives migration, and the belief that despite adversity, a better future lies ahead.
Sinenkosi Msomi
Sinenkosi Msomi was born in Mbabane the capital city of Eswatini. He holds an Associate Degree in Business Management and a Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing. Sinenkosi Msomi is a self-taught photographer. Art has always fascinated him as he believes it allows his imagination to run free. He began to pursue art full-time in 2018, where he participated in a group exhibition at Yebo Art Gallery in 2018 and ever since then, he has never looked back. He derives inspiration from his inner feelings, childhood memories, self-expressions, and the beautiful bond between humans and nature. Most importantly, he seeks to use photography as a tool for activism as he believes that it is easier to address some issues that are often too difficult to tackle in formal settings. His work consists of staged and conceptual photographs that show and encourage the audience to be expressive toward one another in the African diaspora. Artists like Justice Mukheli, Michael Aboya, TheDarkroomartist, and Ariostories inspire him. Sinenkosi sees his artworks as his voice, as it enables him to talk about things that he sees and feels, yet, at times, it becomes pretty difficult to talk about. Photography is a medium of self-expression that sets our minds and hearts.
Find out more about Sinenkosi’s work at @sinenkosi_msomii.
Second Prize: Moses Ojo, Burdened, 2025
Moses Ojo, Burdened
Moses Ojo’s work explores the complexities and challenges of migration, particularly for African diasporic communities. Burdened shows families, including children, carrying heavy loads and belongings as they flee from their homes due to migration. Through this image, Moses aims to convey the human cost of displacement and the emotional toll that migration can take on families and individuals. He explores the themes of forced migration, displacement, and emotional toll and highlights the resilience and determination of migrant families as they navigate the challenges of migration. His artwork raises essential questions about the impact of migration on families, communities, and individuals, and highlights the need for support, protection, and understanding for those who are displaced. By exploring the complexities and nuances of African diasporic experiences, Moses hope to contribute to a deeper understanding of the experiences of migrant communities, and to shed light on the human stories that are often overlooked in the narrative of migration.
Moses Ojo
Moses Ojo is a multidisciplinary artist exploring mental health, culture, and resilience. Through vibrant and emotive works, he fosters empathy and sparks meaningful conversations. Based in Benin City, Nigeria, Moses Ojo started his artistic journey at the early age of 17 and has also committed to using art as a tool for social change and inspiring hope.
Find out more about Moses’s work at @_mojoart.
Jury Prize: Dani Beyene, Meskel, 2024
Dani Beyene, Meskel
Dani Beyene, Meskel
This self-portrait diptych explores Dani’s complicated relationship with being of the Ethiopian diaspora, their culture, and their queerness as a Black non-binary person. Ethiopian culture largely revolves around Christianity due to the ancient kingdom of Axum during the 4th century AD; as a result of this, this diptych painting depicts a self-portrait inspired by Byzantine empire paintings of Ethiopian Cherubs and a surreal sunset landscape containing motifs of various stylizations of Ethiopian Orthodox crosses as a means of diasporic return to their culture. Furthermore, it is through this diptych’s utilization of Ethiopian Orthodox crosses as a motif within their self-portrait that they contribute to an understanding of Christianity that is inherently queer. It references their analysis of theology, which has translated into their politics and gender identity as a means of combating the erasure of Ethiopian queer people by Christian institutions and political leaders that weaponize Christianity within Africa as a means of upholding the regime of normalcy as a construct and as a justification for being violent towards queer people of various manifestations in Africa and of the diaspora.
Dani Beyene
Dani Beyene is a Youth Activist, Organizer, and visionary of the “#BlackVoidUBC” campaign for the investment and expansion of UBC African Studies demanding a formal apology for the institution’s historical and present anti-Blackness. In addition, they are lead organiser of the Mutual Aid Social/Self Therapy chapter based on what is colonially known as “Vancouver” as a means of Anarcho-nihilist, Abolitionist, and Disability Justice praxis. Their curatorial practice works to make their programming inclusive for all through honoring disability justice and uplifting QTBIPOC creatives in Vancouver’s DIY scene. With the better-known moniker DANI YOUR DARLING, they utilize mediums including writing, photography, painting, producing, poetry, illustration, digital art, singing, songwriting, and creative directing. Their intuitive artistic practice is informed by their background in community organizing, exploring narratives surrounding Afro-pessimism, Afro-futurism, abolition, queerness as a means of negating the regime of normalcy as defined by The Mary Nardini Gang in Towards The Queerest Insurrection, the mundane, disability justice, diasporic return, Land Back situated in the African continent, and their relationship with “Vancouver’s” Downtown Eastside. DANI YOUR DARLING has performed and had their art exhibited at grassroot organizations such as the Vancouver Black Library, Unity Arts Collective, The Black Arts Centre, Art Ecosystems, Britannia Art Gallery, Hatch Art Gallery and many others.
Find out more about Dani’s work at @daniyourdarling.
