Shade Cumini

Shade Cumini is a visual artist from Luxembourg whose work explores the intersection of surrealism, abstraction, and emotional intimacy.

Her creative journey began early, capturing photographs of friends during her youth, a hobby that naturally evolved into filmmaking. These early video experiments caught the attention of local musicians which led to early collaborations on DIY music videos and sparked a lasting interest in visual storytelling. Later, she joined the Luxembourg-based video production companyTwo Steps Twice, where she expanded her craft, working across directing, photography, and production design. This period was key in developing a more intentional and nuanced approach to visual storytelling. While this experience helped sharpen their craft, they have since moved on to focus more deeply on personal projects. Their current practice centers around themes of identity, belonging, and heritage often drawing from her multicultural background.

As part of the Papaya Seeds Collective, an Afro-feminist collective, Shade is in the process of redefining both her artistic voice and the kinds of stories she wants to tell. Her work is often dreamlike and symbolic, marked by a sensitivity to mood and atmosphere. Whether through moving image or still photography, she seeks to create emotional resonance, offering glimpses into the intimate, the mystical, and the in-between.

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Gbòngbò — meaning “roots” in Yoruba — is an experimental autobiographical documentary that interweaves abstract collage with the remnants of the artist’s family album, largely lost in a flood. In search of her identity, Shade seeks reconciliation with her father, hoping to reconnect with her Nigerian ancestry. After years of absence, this encounter becomes both an attempt to heal fragmentation and abridge between past and present—a reclamation of heritage and an exploration of the self she is becoming.