Days in a Life of a New Afro Intern
- Gabrielle Julia
- Jul 2
- 5 min read
Intern Diary :
Hello everyone, let me introduce myself! My name is Gabrielle, I’m 22 years old and an art student, living and studying in Paris.
To complete my degree, I had to do an internship, and I thought, "What could be better than interning as an art curator?" I was driven by a strong desire to understand the behind-the-scenes of art curation and how exhibitions are organized and brought to life.
New Afro was the perfect startup for me to join. Being half French and half Congolese myself, I felt deeply connected to New Afro’s mission to spotlight Afro-descendant art and creativity.
Chapter 1 : Meeting the team
As an art student who's mostly only been working in creative fields, what a thrill it was to join the New Afro team filled with other creatives as curious and devoted to bring light to afro-descendant artists as them. It’s a dream.
I had the pleasure of being surrounded by ambitious women who would literally do anything to put in real life what they had in mind : Cheria is a driven and ambitious woman, as an art curator, she’s the co-foundator of New Afro along with Gustav.
Maria is an artist and takes care of the socials and graphics, always coming up with cool ideas and designs.
Ken on the other hand is taking care of the marketing and organization aspect of New Afro .
After meeting the team my first days were solely based on how I needed to take my place and to be one with Google Workspace so that everything works.
Chapter 2 : Urban Oase
Then as the days came by Cheria explained what was the next exhibition they were taking care of, if it was the Urban Oase, Allianz Haus gave us a place in a window display to sell prints and to promote our work at New Afro. We started working on it immediately. The first step was to figure out what the word Urban made us think of, especially to afro descendant people . After researching we found a Forbes article talking about it: Here’s How ‘Urban,’ A Term Plagued By Racial Stereotypes, Came To Be Used To Describe Black Musicians.
Chapter 3 : Organizing
Cheria gave us the directives and the name of Exhibition : BUNTE URBANAS and the text : “The word urbanas comes from the Latin urbanus, meaning “of the city.” Over time, especially in the U.S., the term “urban” has become linked to certain stereotypes often associated with Black communities. This exhibition looks at what “urban” has come to represent, what it could mean instead, and how we can reframe it through art. BUNTE URBANAS invites us to imagine a city shaped by cultural exchange, artistic connections, and fewer stereotypes a vision aligned with the New Afro movement. A world where different art scenes influence one another, where identity is expressed freely, and where diversity is seen as strength. We’ve chosen Benjamin Abana (b. 1982), a Danish-Nigerian artist based in Copenhagen as the main exhibiting artist. A self-taught talent, Benjamin began with graffiti and later brought that energy into classical portrait painting. His work beautifully merges these two worlds classic and urban. In his series Basic Human Emotions, beyond the emotions shown on each subject’s face, you also sense their different cultural backgrounds. This diversity reflects how we see our own city, Mainz: layered, expressive, and full of stories. This is how we imagine the art scene here: open, connected, and colorful.
This is BUNTE URBANAS.”
Cheria gave Maria and me a chance to be the ones preparing the exhibition. We had to think about how we wanted the window display to look, how the prints would be glued to the window, and other questions we usually don’t consider when we're not acting as art curators.
Maria and I agreed to write on the window using cray painting pens and to use museum glue to stick the prints to the layout. We presented our ideas to the rest of the team, who were just as excited as we were. The prints were ordered, and we had to wait for my arrival in Mainz.
In the meantime, Maria worked around the clock on the project—ordering materials, going to stores, and preparing everything we needed. Once I arrived in Mainz, our main mission was to collect the prints and the stickers with the text for the window display.
Chapter 4 : Urban Oase
Time flew by, and before we knew it, the day of the exhibition had arrived. On June 22, Maria and I arrived early at the festival, where other creatives were also setting up their areas. The morning was dedicated to writing on the window, gluing the prints, and organizing the postcards and price list on a table.
Once everything was ready, many people stopped by—to talk and, most importantly, to buy the prints. Meeting all these people who appreciated our display and were genuinely interested in what New Afro is all about was incredibly refreshing and encouraging.
It was the best day ever. I was genuinely proud of the work Maria and I put into this exhibition. Of course, there were a few challenges, but I really feel we handled them well and did everything we could to make this a beautiful and meaningful experience.
Chapter 5: Direct a creative project
Continuing my internship, Cheria gave me another mission: to lead a creative project. I had to come up with an idea for what the motion page of the website would look like—it needed to be a video or animation.
As I mentioned before, I’m an art student who works primarily with sculpture, using materials like hair extensions and braids. I wanted to bring some of my artistic identity and spirit into this project so that a part of me would be present in the New Afro website.
I thought that creating a stop motion video could be a great idea. (Stop motion is a cinematographic technique where the camera is repeatedly stopped and started to give animated objects the illusion of movement.) I planned to use braids as an aesthetic background—to give the impression that they were moving on their own.
This concept really resonated with New Afro’s work because braids symbolize connection; they can also represent roots and are a significant part of African hair culture.
Maria and I went to Frankfurt to find braid extension colors that would match the brown background we had received—we were aiming for natural skin tones like brown and cream.
Once we had bought the extensions and fully brainstormed the idea, we started braiding them, creating different patterns and mixing various colors.
When we were done, it was finally time to shoot the stop motion video! Cheria, Maria, and I worked together to create the best visuals possible—and hopefully, you’ll be able to see the final motion page very soon! I was really happy to do something creative and being free about it, the NA team was nothing but encouraging me to do what I wanted. They trusted me and really made me feel supported.
Final Chapter : Goodbye New Afro!
As the days went by, I eventually returned home to Paris. Hopefully, I knew that I wanted to work with New Afro again someday.
My internship really shaped my understanding of what art curation is. As an aspiring artist, I had no idea what actually goes on behind the scenes—how exhibitions are put together, how funding is secured, and how much organization and planning it takes to bring a creative vision to life.
It was truly educational, and above all, New Afro’s spirit and message to the world really resonate with me. One day, I hope to be an Afro-descendant artist that people are eager to highlight—someone whose voice is heard and valued too.
Thank you New Afro,
With love,
Gabrielle Julia
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