Muna Lobé, committed to the art of storytelling

Thanks to the initiatives she has set up over the years, Muna Lobé, a contemporary African art passionate, with two degrees in anthropology, but also a communications strategist and creative director, has devoted herself to supporting creatives and businesses in promoting and showcasing their work and perhaps most importantly, their stories.

It is no surprise that all of Muna Lobé’s works, as well as her career, are permeated by arts, culture… This daughter of a Cameroonian-Ghanaian father and a Caribbean mother, who spent her childhood between Switzerland, France and the United States, and worked in Jamaica for a while, has been immersed all her life in various cultures. This diverse background naturally led her to study anthropology and history at university. “Anthropology was something that made sense to me because I am a product of so many cultures. I wanted to better understand what my roots were, particularly in pre-colonial and post-colonial times. I really wanted to venture into a field that would allow me to research my personal history and that of my family,” she confides to Africa Women Experts. Today, in her professional life, she applies her expertise in communication and storytelling, viewing them as an extension of anthropology. “Anthropology is very much tied to communication. For me, everything is connected: the way we behave, the way we speak, the languages we use, all that determines who we are”, she explains.

Currently based in Dakar, Senegal, she works as communications manager for a publishing house, as well as communication director for an audiovisual production studio.

 Passionate about contemporary African art since childhood

Muna’s passion for contemporary African art dates back to her childhood, when her father, a visual artist and a TV and theater producer, and her mother, a university professor, would take her to galleries and exhibitions. This early exposure to arts naturally made her sensitive to artistic creations, artists’ conditions… Following her studies in France and a first job as Director of studies at an English Language Center in France, she moved to Jamaica and spent two years managing an educational project launched by the Inter-American Development Bank and the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning. During this time, she became well-versed in Jamaican culture and artistry, getting acquainted with several artists, scriptwriters, film directors. She noticed along the way that artists were not receiving support in promoting their work. She then set up Aya Consulting, a boutique consultancy firm enabling artists and creative people to share their work, by assisting them in designing their portfolios and equipping them with tools to highlight their talents.

Over time, the agency evolved to become more communication-focused, providing a 360°communication solution to both artists and businesses in need of storytelling and a more humane strategic marketing approach. It collaborates with a global network of creative people in different countries and designs human-centered marketing strategies for artists, companies, produces audiovisual materials, handles social media platforms… Despite moving from Jamaica to Europe and then Africa, she pursued her activities, traveling to meet clients in different countries, whether brands, museums or artists, to support them in their communication thrusts.

Soon after this experience, she cofounded a creative studio and strategic marketing agency in Dakar with a Senegalese partner and for a year and a half, she accompanied several initiatives and artistic projects in Africa.

Exhibition curator

Not only does she help artists showcase their work more effectively, but she also curates exhibitions, aided in this, she says, by her diverse background. “I firmly believe that my origins, in particular the fact that I haven’t lived where my parents come from, are an added value. At some point, I felt the need to use that as a superpower and not as something I would shy away from or downplay,” she says. In 2022, she worked on an exhibition at the Museum of Black Civilisations in Dakar. She also co-curated an exhibition at the French Institute’s Gallery, Le Manège, in Dakar. “Curating also involves a lot of communication. You accompany artists on their journey. You communicate their artistic intentions, their vision. You make sure that people leave the exhibition not only with their own opinion and perceptions, but also with a certain perspective of the artist and that they know what he/she meant,” she explains.

Committed to promoting women artists

As part of her work, Muna pays particular attention to promoting women artists. She is part of the advisory board of European Alternatives, an international ecofeminist initiative bringing together women artists from around the world and supporting, mentoring and training them in ecofeminist artistic practices. “The initiative is brilliant and I saw it as a great way not only to bring what I know, but also to learn and mentor artists. The idea is to help them present their work, promote it, but also know what to produce as a feminist artist”, she explains. Above all, she views her work as women-centered and women-driven. “I think a lot of my feminism came over time. I noticed that I was often the only woman in the room. I also realised that even if I wasn’t directly affected, I knew a lot of women who were victims of injustice,” she explains. She was influenced in this regard by the Nigerian feminist author Chimamanda Ngozi-Adichie with whom she identifies and whose writings she reads, she confides.

As an entrepreneur and a mother, she has faced herself work-life balance challenges, not to mention toxic workplaces that have led her sometimes to resign. But thanks to her ability to let go and a strong network of friends and family, she has been able to progress in her career, she says, and continues to explore opportunities in the creative industries.

Danielle France Engolo