RAW Material Company is a centre for art, knowledge and society. It is an initiative involved with curatorial practice, artistic education, residencies, knowledge production, and archiving of theory and criticism on art.

It works to foster appreciation and growth of artistic and intellectual creativity in Africa. The programme is trans-disciplinary and is equally informed by literature, film, architecture, politics, fashion, cuisine and diaspora.

RAW Material Company is made of:

RAW Base, a resource centre specialized in contemporary art,

RAW Académie, an experimental study programme for artistic thinking and production

Ker Issa, residencies and studios for artists, curators, authors and researchers.

RAW Material Company’s premises are located in Sicap Baobabs and Zone B. RAW Material Company Zone B is a former 1950s residential home of Modernist inspiration in a historic neighbourhood of Dakar. The renovation of this space is a departure point from which we wish to develop research and projects on the role of architecture and urban planning in shaping contemporary societal discourse in African cities.

A collaborative project between the Department of English Literary Studies and the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town, African Literary Cities: Hubs, Maps and Literary Urban Ecologies addresses the “absenting” of African literary cities –a complex engagement with cityness and literariness – in both globally authoritative cultural policy discourses and the emerging scholarly field of Literary Urban Studies. As a form of urbanity, the literary city can be considered a narrative that (re)produces itself in both material and imaginative forms and can thus not be read solely with one single disciplinary lens. This project therefore proposes the notion of “literary urban ecologies” to make sense of the complex entanglements and (re)productions of cityness and literature. We are not concerned with creating an authoritative definition of the African Literary City. Rather, we are interested in mapping how literary cityness is locally produced in the contexts of dynamic African cities that are constantly “ making connections of all kinds through their literary (re)presentation. To this end, we have engaged with different Literary Festivals on the continent, and engage in an ongoing project of mapping representations of African cityness in literary works through a crowd-sourced online map.

U.S. based ecological researcher and farmer Monai McCullough recently concluded a six-week residency at G.A.S. Foundation, based primarily at the G.A.S. Farm House in Ikiṣẹ. During her time in residence, she focused on expanding her ongoing research project Trees of Nigeria, an archive that documents trees, explores their cultural and spiritual significance, and seeks to instil pride within their stewards. A central aspect of her research involved visiting agricultural institutions, participating in hands-on planting activities, and meeting with traditional herbalists to deepen her understanding of local plant knowledge and ecological practices.

On 5th June 2026, G.A.S. Lagos hosted The Archive is Only the First Sentence, an open studio and presentation of residency research by Yoma Emore. The session introduced the narrative and archival frameworks shaping her practice, alongside her ongoing project The Prince Who Never Was, which examines lineage and the early sixteenth-century Lusophone–Warri encounters.