FSA Visionary Hassan Vawda was a visiting scholar-in-residence at our Charleston residency program in fall 2023. Hailing from London, Vawda serves as an Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Researcher at the Tate museums and at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research is centered around the intersection of religion and secularism within British art museums, encompassing areas such as audience engagement, art history, and curatorial approaches. Vawda also is an Officer on the Mayor of London’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm. 

During Vawda’s residency in Charleston, engaged with art and faith leaders around the intersections of art museum practice and policy in relation to religion, belief and spirituality alongside his work activating communities across art and heritage in the public realm. He dedicated his time in Charleston to speculating and mapping blueprints of spiritualities in relation to contemporary art and contemporary art institutions. One of the chief questions he explores is: What might a contemporary art museum with an ecosystem of religion and belief, spiritualities and secularisms look like?