Ort Gallery Team

Aaisha Akhtar
Artistic Lead

Aaisha has just recently completed an MA in Comparative Literature and Critical Theories at the University of Birmingham. She is part of the Literature Must Fall collective which is a platform dedicated to de-mystifying and de-sacralising literature; co-organising the LMF Festival back in 2019. Interests include but are not limited to pop culture, the gaze and emotion.

[email protected]

Eliza Gharbaran
Community Ambassador & Creative Community Lead

Eliza, also known as Khawlah, is an international author and founder of the community organisation SISTERS' PROJECT, supporting and empowering female led households. At Ort Gallery she supports the Creative Community project.

Gabriella Eeles
Board of Directors

Gabriella is an ACA qualified accountant who helps businesses and management teams to grow and make strategic decisions. She is passionate about the arts and prior to becoming an accountant was a professional musician. At Ort Gallery, Gabriella advises on finance and strategy.

Hannah Adereti
Board of Directors

Hannah Adereti is a Non-Binary academic and artist of Jamaican and Nigerian heritage. Their research centres Black identities, queerness, alternative ethnography, radio, photography, documentary film making and archiving. In 2019 they created a documentary, “Safe Spaces: Brown, Queer and Muslim” where they explored their interest in intersectional queer identity and the safety of compartmentalisation.

Josephine Reichert
Finance & Fundraising Lead

Josephine is our Finance & Fundraising Lead. She also supports the team with admin, HR and bookkeeping duties.

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Orphée Kashala
Curator - 'Emergence(y)' Project Ort Gallery x ICF

Orphée Kashala is a Birmingham based curator. His curatorial practice promotes care, inclusion, empathy, equality and understanding by telling stories that explore and challenge our collective perception of the human experience. He curated his first exhibition titled "Survivor's Guilt" for the Coventry Migrant Centre; which examined and showcased the bittersweet memories and lived realities of African migrants living in the UK via photography, videography, installation and poetry. He is currently the Creative Producer at Maokwo.

Ridhi Kalaria

Ridhi Kalaria
Board of Directors

Ridhi is a local networker with a passion to change communities from within. Ridhi is a co-founder of Ort Cafe. At Ort Gallery Ridhi advises on finance and inclusion.

[email protected]

Samantha Krankpod
Workshop Facilitator and Artist

Samantha is a local ceramic artist with 20 years creative teaching experience, working with children, families and adults. Her most recent projects have been in collaboration with mental health charities, designing and delivering bespoke art projects. At Ort she facilitates Family Art Workshops.

Sampira Al-Fihri
Board of Directors

Sampira is a horror producer and curator based in Birmingham. Her work centers around unheard voices and communities in horror and takes the form of immersive exhibitions that intersect visual art, grime, hip hop and film. She also works as a consultant and project officer with Inc Arts, who pioneer racial and disability equality in the arts.

Sarah Lopez
Board of Directors

Sarah is a musician and EDI consultant.