Gherdai Hassell

Why we Need Audacity

Gherdai Hassell is a Bermudian-born, China-trained multidisciplinary contemporary artist, writer and storyteller based in Manchester, UK. She holds an MFA from the China Academy of Art. Her work investigates memory and nostalgia through collage to thread and weave histories and tales of transformation passed down through family lineages. She centres female bodies existing across temporal dimensions, blending diasporic pasts with Black futures as an act toward Afrofuturism. Her multimedia practice explores identity through materials and social engagement, suggesting that identity should be self-determined, understood, and contextualised through connection with others. Her work appears in public and private collections globally, with a permanent display in the Government Administration Building, Hamilton, Bermuda. She has exhibited in solo and group shows across Bermuda, the USA, UK, Mali, Nigeria, Cuba and China, and won the Tim May Memorial Prize at the 2025 Women in Art Prize.