Ali Güreli is an entrepreneur, cultural leader and founder and chairman of Contemporary Istanbul, one of the region’s leading contemporary art fairs. For over two decades, he has championed Istanbul as a global hub for artistic exchange, bringing together artists, institutions, collectors and international audiences. Working at the intersection of art, culture and urban development, Güreli brings valuable insight into the role of creativity in fostering dialogue, shaping cultural identity and building connections across borders.
Anders Petterson is the founder and CEO of ArtTactic Ltd, a London-based art market research and analysis company established in 2001. A pioneer in using crowd-sourcing techniques to gather art market intelligence, ArtTactic publishes global reports in collaboration with partners including Deloitte, Hiscox, Mishcon de Reya, Sophie Macpherson SML, and Sotheby’s. Anders regularly lectures on art market topics at Sotheby’s Institute, Christie’s Education, and ESA Beirut, and served as a founding board member of PAIAM from 2011 to 2021.
Chimere Cissé is an art collector and founder with over a decade of experience in the cultural sector. She launched ArtKōrero in 2021 to connect commercial engagement with the arts and recently founded STELLA Alliance to increase the visibility of women art collectors. Previously, she represented the United Nations International Trade Centre and held senior roles at Burberry, Hearst UK, Harper’s Bazaar, and ELLE. Dedicated to philanthropy, she actively supports global charities including the British Council and Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, where she is a long-standing committee chair.
Divya Sharma is a London-based British Indian textile artist and an alumna of the Royal College of Art, London. Her practice brings together myth, memory, and the cultural world of her mother tongue, Tamil. She was recently awarded the Visual Artists Association International Scholarship Award for 2025. She has conceived and curated five shows as founder of The Neulinge Collective and the Post-Colonials Collective. She is also the founder and host of the ARTiculate podcast and broadcasts on Apple Podcasts.
Dr. Shwetal Patel is a writer and researcher working at the intersection of contemporary visual art, exhibition-making, and development studies. A founding member of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale, he played a key role in launching the initiative and building its international partnerships. He holds a practice-based PhD from the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton, and lectures internationally at institutions such as the Zürich University of the Arts, the Royal College of Art, and the University of Exeter. He also serves as trustee for the Milton Keynes Museum, Coventry Biennial, and the Kakar Centre of Psychoanalysis & Culture.
Jeffrey Boloten is Director of Art Business and Enterprise Programmes at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London. He co-founded and serves as Managing Director of ArtInsight Ltd., the educational partner of art market research firm ArtTactic. With a background in law, publishing (including Penguin Books), and institutional roles at the Tate and a London art college, Jeffrey is a frequent speaker on the global art, photography, and art investment markets. He also co-directs Sotheby’s Enterprise Studio and is a founding member of PAIAM (Professional Advisors to the International Art Market).
Leo Crane is a producer, artist and educator with over 25 years of experience across physical and digital creative industries. He has founded three creative studios and in 2024, established the AI Film Academy, focusing on innovation in contemporary moving image practice. He leads courses in art and art business at Sotheby’s Institute of Art and serves on the board of Animate Projects. His artistic practice spans animated film, figurative painting and experimental digital works, and his work has been widely exhibited, screened and awarded internationally. He is currently producing his debut feature film The Masterpiece of Tamagata, and is the author of Contemporary Figures in Watercolour (2021).
Mark Davy is the founder of Futurecity, a multidisciplinary agency dedicated to culture-driven placemaking. He has led private sector investment in major art projects including the Crossrail Culture Line, the Illuminated River Project, and the cultural strategy for Wembley Park. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and contributes to several boards and panels, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Advisory Panel, Hypha Studios, the Land Economic Society, the NLA Expert Panel for Culture, and the National Trust Regional Advisory Group.
Marta Orsola Sironi is a curator and critic based between Milan and London. She is co-founder and curator of MEGA Art Fair, which reimagines the art fair as an immersive, curated experience activating regenerated urban spaces with exhibitions, performances, talks, and music. Together with Mauro Mattei, she co-directs BeAdvisors Art Department, producing curated shows, cultural events, and collectors’ programmes across international art calendars. Her research focuses on decolonial feminism, identity, language, and memory, with a strong interest in urban space as a site of resistance.
Nicole Schoeni is an art dealer, collector, patron, and founder of Schoeni Projects. Previously, Nicole was the director of Schoeni Art Gallery, one of Asia's most influential art venues. Nicole has since curated the Hong Kong section of the China 8 exhibition and has consulted on arts projects such as for the Grand Lisboa Palace in Macau. She is an active patron of numerous foundations, is on the advisory team for Arts for Good Foundation, and sits on the Board of Directors of Asian Art in London.
Portuguese visual artist Paulo Arraiano explores the intersections of art, culture, nature, and technology through a multidisciplinary practice. He is co-founder of Re_Act Contemporary, an international art laboratory and residency programme based in the Azores that fosters dialogue between artists, researchers, and communities around pressing ecological, social, and cultural issues. Arraiano offers a distinctive perspective on the role of art in shaping how we understand and engage with a rapidly changing world. Portfolio
Rena Neville is Director of Corinth Consulting Ltd and Head of FCS Compliance Art Division. With over 30 years at Sotheby’s, she was the company’s first Global Compliance Director and previously served as European General Counsel and Global Head of Litigation. Today, she advises the art market on anti-money laundering compliance and is a frequent speaker on the subject, including recent talks at Harvard Law School and the Art Business Conference in Maastricht during TEFAF.
Roxane Zand is a Harvard and Oxford educated specialist in Middle Eastern art and culture. After three years at UNESCO and roles at the Iran Heritage Foundation and Asia House, she joined Sotheby’s in 2006 as Director for the Middle East and Gulf, rising to Deputy Chairman and Senior Director, before stepping down in 2020 to lead her own art advisory consultancy. She continues to serve as Arts Editor for the Encyclopaedia Islamica, advises through the Pictet Art Prize Advisory Council, and has authored several publications, including Geometry and Art: In the Modern Middle East.
Sigrid Kirk is a curator, adviser, and strategist who co-founded the Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA) in 2016. AWITA brings together women working across the arts sector through mentoring, collaboration, and a shared community. In addition, each year Kirk and her husband collaborate with Te Tuhi Gallery in Auckland to help fund an artist residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park for Māori and Pacific Island artists. The couple are also patrons of Dundee Contemporary Arts,  Fruitmarket Gallery, Gasworks, Studio Voltaire, Iniva, and Goldsmiths CCA.
Sylwia Krason is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary Lynx Magazine, an international arts publication and organisation based in London. Since 2013, she has connected bold artistic voices with global audiences, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe and emerging markets. She is also President of the Contemporary Lynx Foundation in Warsaw and regularly serves as a juror and panel moderator at major international art events, including Art Basel. Trained in art history and arts management in Kraków, Berlin, and London, she is currently based in Paris.
Ulrich Schrauth is a curator, artist, and creative director of UBS Digital Art Museum in Hamburg. Schrauth is also the founder of VRHAM! Biennale, shaping new ways of presenting and experiencing digital Art. Working between Hamburg and London, he also heads the Immersive Programme at the British Film Institute (BFI) and serves on the British Council’s Advisory Board for Arts and Creative Economy. In addition, he curates the digital section of Art Dubai, the premier international art fair for digital media. Ulrich is a jury member for prestigious awards such as the Lumen Prize and the Fedora Digital Art Prize, and is a regular speaker at major events including the Venice Biennale, SXSW, and the Cannes Film Festival. Portfolio

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Tufting tales with divya sharma

  • Event

A series of textile workshops led by Divya Sharma, exploring identity, culture and belonging through colour, texture, pattern and personal storytelling.

About the Workshop

Tufting Tales was a series of artist-led textile workshops exploring how personal stories, memories and cultural experiences can be translated into textile art.

Led by British Indian artist Divya Sharma, the workshops introduced participants to techniques including needle felting, appliqué, beadwork, slow stitching and cyanotype printing, creating an accessible environment for experimentation and creative expression.

As part of the programme, Divya delivered four workshop sessions with PAN Intercultural Arts and four sessions in collaboration with Creative Health Camden, working with different community groups to explore textile-making as a form of storytelling, connection and creative expression.

  • 17 June – 30 July 2026
  • In collaboration with PAN Intercultural Arts and Creative Health Camden
  • Part of Tapestry of Voices, supported by Arts Council England

The Workshop Journey

Across eight sessions from June to July 2026, Divya worked with different community groups through Creative Health Camden and PAN Intercultural Arts, using textile-making as a starting point for exploring identity, memory, culture and belonging.

CREATIVE HEALTH CAMDEN

17 June | Picking Up Threads – Session 1
Participants were introduced to textile storytelling, exploring materials and techniques as ways of expressing personal memories and experiences.

24 June | Remembering Through Making – Session 2
The group continued developing their ideas through colour, texture and pattern, building confidence with textile processes and shared making.

8 July | Weaving Connections – Session 3
Participants built on their previous work, developing individual textile pieces through experimentation and shared creative practice.

15 July | Stitching Narratives – Session 4
The final session brought together the group’s ideas and techniques, creating space to complete work, share experiences and reflect on the process.

PAN INTERCULTURAL ARTS

2 July | Threads of Identity – Session 1
Participants explored memory and personal experience through accessible textile techniques and visual storytelling.

9 July | Embroidering Patterns – Session 2
The workshop explored identity, culture and belonging, considering how textiles can communicate individual and collective experiences.

16 July | Sewing Your Story – Session 3
Participants explored pattern, embellishment and stitching as tools for translating stories into textile form.

30 July | The Final Stitch – Session 4
The final PAN session brought together techniques and ideas developed throughout the series, culminating in personal textile works reflecting participants’ stories and experiences.

What Participants Explored

Through hands-on textile making, participants were encouraged to translate personal stories, memories and experiences into colour, texture and pattern.

The workshops offered opportunities to explore:

  • Textile techniques including needle felting, appliqué, beadwork, slow stitching and cyanotype printing
  • Identity and belonging through personal and cultural storytelling
  • Creative confidence through accessible, hands-on experimentation
  • Skills development in a supportive environment suitable for different levels of experience
  • Connection and exchange through making and sharing stories with others
  • Sustainable making through thoughtful approaches to materials and textile practice

What the workshops will teach 

The attending participants  will be given a guided walk-through of a new tapestry and an existing earlier work, there will be discussions on recycled materials, natural dyes, and slow ritual processes. Maseko will lead reflection sessions on water, memory, women’s histories, and cultural continuity with an open invitation for dialogue with the audience

Examples of Zethu Maseko artworks 

About Divya Sharma

More about the artist

Divya Sharma is a London-based British Indian textile artist and an alumna of the Royal College of Art, London. Her practice brings together myth, memory, and the cultural world of her mother tongue, Tamil. These strands are woven through labour, colour, composition, and scale, transforming tapestry into a form of text through the act of tufting itself.

Rooted in a lifelong love for textiles and texture, her practice was shaped by growing up in India in a home where fabric was not merely material, but language and legacy. Textiles became her earliest mode of storytelling – tactile, rhythmic, and emotionally fulfilling – deeply influenced by her mother, who created fabric sculptures.

As part of the diaspora, Divya uses textiles to reconnect with land, language, and lineage. Her mother tongue and its rich heritage are invisibly embedded through pattern, repetition, and rhythm, allowing cloth to speak where words dissolve.

From the Workshop

Workshops In collaboration with

Creative Health Camden is a pioneering charity supporting arts and community initiatives within Kentish Town Health Centre in North London. They work at the intersection of community, health and the arts to engage individuals with creative and social activities that explore their individual wellbeing.

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PAN Intercultural Arts works across ethnic, cultural and faith boundaries to encourage understanding, integration and empowerment throughout our diverse society. They are driven by a desire to improve the lives of young people within our communities and to bring the healing power of the arts to those who have suffered trauma or social injustice. 

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THIS Project has been awarded funding from Arts Council England 

Join us & Support Creatives

Your donation to Tapestry of Voices directly supports the creation of new sculpture and emerging artists while empowering underrepresented women, young people, and diaspora communities to share their stories. 

By contributing, you help preserve cultural heritage, amplify unheard voices, and ensure these narratives are seen, valued, and carried forward for future generations. 

Learn more about how to get involved here

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