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The Black Frame, A Shade Ethical Visual Masterclass

Partners · The Team

Who runs the programme

The Shade Initiative team who plan, produce and hold the programme together, from the first invitation to the closing of the exhibition.

  • Portrait of Olabanke Oyinkansola Goriola, Founder and Executive Director, The Shade Initiative for Cultural and Social Empowerment, Founder and Lead Curator, The Black Frame

    Founder and Executive Director, The Shade Initiative for Cultural and Social Empowerment

    Founder and Lead Curator, The Black Frame

    Olabanke Oyinkansola Goriola

    The Shade Initiative

    Olabanke Oyinkansola Goriola is an artist, performer, and multidisciplinary scholar and a doctoral candidate in Performance Studies at Northwestern University, and the founder of The Shade Initiative. She holds a First Class Honours degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Ibadan, three postgraduate degrees across Europe and the United States, and has been recognised through more than twenty competitive grants and fellowships, including the Lilla A. Heston Award, Northwestern University’s Department of Performance Studies' highest academic award, and induction into the Edward Alexander Bouchet Graduate Honor Society, which recognises outstanding scholarly achievement and promotes diversity and excellence in doctoral education.

    Her work sits at the intersection of performance, race, and visual culture, and her doctoral research examines how colourism and Eurocentric beauty hierarchies operate across theatrical spaces, digital platforms, and popular culture including how artificial intelligence reproduces skin-tone discrimination against dark-skinned Nigerian female performers.

    The Black Frame grew directly out of that research, and out of what she found at the end of it: that the most powerful counter to algorithmic erasure is not better technology but better human practice. As founder and lead curator she holds the programme's vision, from the first invitation to the closing of the exhibition. She lives and works in Lagos.

  • Portrait of Titilope Ifeoluwa Kosoko, Visual, Storytelling and Media Director

    Visual, Storytelling and Media Director

    Titilope Ifeoluwa Kosoko

    The Shade Initiative

    Titilope Ifeoluwa Kosoko is a professionally trained cinematographer, editor, and director whose work sits at the intersection of culture, care, and representation. With a strong background in both media and business, she brings a rare balance of creative vision and strategic thinking to every frame she makes, approaching visual storytelling not as a matter of aesthetics but as a responsibility. Every image she creates is guided by intention, empathy, and a commitment to telling stories that heal rather than harm.

    At The Black Frame, Titilope documented the entire six days of the programme at CCA Lagos, capturing not just what happened in the room but what it meant. She conducted the interviews with the nine Shade Storytellers and is directing the programme's documentary. In her hands, the story of nine women learning to see dark skin with dignity becomes a film about what it costs to disappear and what it takes to be seen.

  • Portrait of Mofaramola Amosu, Programs & Community Director

    Programs & Community Director

    Mofaramola Amosu

    The Shade Initiative

    Mofaramola Amosu is a creative producer, storyteller, and community builder with experience across film, content, talent management, theatre, and creative strategy. As Programs & Community Director at The Shade Initiative, she leads the delivery of programs and experiences that foster meaningful conversations around colourism, self-worth, identity, and representation.

    She is passionate about using storytelling and creative experiences to build communities, amplify diverse voices, and create lasting social impact.

  • Portrait of Ayodele Dada, Creative, Copy and Communications Director

    Creative, Copy and Communications Director

    Ayodele Dada

    The Shade Initiative

    Ayodele Dada is a creative strategist and storyteller who shapes the written voice and narrative coherence of The Shade Initiative's work. With years of experience as a Creative Director in the advertising industry leading integrated campaigns, brand storytelling, and creative leadership for major brands, he brings a rare combination of strategic rigour and cultural sensitivity to social impact storytelling.

    At The Shade Initiative, he translates complex conversations about colourism, identity, and beauty standards into language that moves people. At The Black Frame, he brought that same precision to the room, helping nine women photographers find the words for what they see and why it matters.

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