Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) officials have announced that Thandi Loewenson, a senior tutor at London’s Royal College of Art and a native of Harare, Zimbabwe, is the winner of the 2024 Wheelwright Prize. This prestigious $100,000 award, given annually to an early-career architect engaging in innovative research, will support Loewenson’s project, Black Papers: Beyond the Politics of Land, Towards African Policies of Earth & Air.
Loewenson’s winning proposal stood out among a competitive field that included notable finalists such as Meriem Chabani, Nathan Friedman, and Ryan Roark. The Wheelwright Prize aims to foster intensive, innovative architectural research that is informed by cross-cultural engagement and can make a significant impact on architectural discourse. Loewenson’s project will explore the intersection of land, earth, and air in seven African countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Her project, Black Papers, is designed to reshape policy discourse and public perception through a variety of media, including drawings, moving images, performances, and critical creative writing. By employing these diverse forms, Loewenson aims to reach a broad audience, utilizing popular media channels such as video, radio, and social platforms like WhatsApp. This approach ensures that her research is accessible and engaging to a wide demographic.
“Instead of solely engaging land as a site of struggle, this work situates land within a network of interconnected spaces, from layers deep within the Earth to its outermost atmospheric reaches,” Loewenson stated. She emphasized that her research will highlight the exploitation of mining labor and the mining of “technology metal,” minerals vital for digital devices, thus exposing the global system of digital dispossession. This multi-layered approach seeks to illuminate the often-overlooked connections between terrestrial and celestial spaces and their socio-political implications.
Loewenson’s research is deeply informed by the history of African liberation movements and postcolonial struggles. Her work aims to develop new frameworks and policy proposals that challenge the current political relationships involving sovereignty and land. By emphasizing the entanglement of Earth and Air, Loewenson seeks to complicate traditional narratives and offer a more holistic view of the socio-spatial dynamics at play in contemporary Africa.
The $100,000 in funding provided by the Wheelwright Prize will enable Loewenson to continue her research over the next two years, allowing her to travel extensively across the seven African countries included in her study. This support is crucial for the development of her Black Papers, which aim to provide actionable insights and reimagined policy proposals that address the intricate relationship between land, air, and African identity.
At the 18th Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2023, Loewenson received a Special Mention for her participation in the International Exhibition in the Central Pavilion, curated by Ghanaian Scottish architect Lesley Lokko. This exhibition highlighted Africa and the African Diaspora, with more than half of the participants being of African descent. Loewenson’s installation, The Uhuru Catalogues, touched on themes similar to those she will explore with the Wheelwright Prize, demonstrating her consistent commitment to these critical issues.
Loewenson describes her practice as mobilizing “design, fiction, and performance to stoke embers of emancipatory political thought and fires of collective action, and to feel for the contours of other, possible worlds.” By using fiction as a design tool and tactic, she engages in projects that provoke questioning of the status quo while working with communities, policymakers, unions, artists, and architects to act on those provocations. Her interdisciplinary approach aims to bridge the gap between artistic expression and practical policy-making.
GSD Dean Sarah Whiting praised Loewenson’s expansive vision, noting that “Expanding what constitutes architectural research, Thandi defines a sectional slice of inquiry that spans from the subterranean to the celestial. Her project is nothing short of a full reconceptualization of land and sky as material realities, sources of value, and sites of political struggle.” This visionary approach exemplifies the kind of ambition the Wheelwright Prize is meant to support.
The support from the Wheelwright Prize will not only advance Loewenson’s research but also amplify the voices and stories from the African continent. By bringing together various aspects of our planet and examining them through a critical, creative lens, Loewenson’s research strives to create a more just and flourishing world. Her work promises to contribute significantly to the field of architecture and beyond, offering new perspectives on the intertwined relationship between humanity and the environments we inhabit.
