We are the Tatsuniya Artist Collective, a group of young women artists and makers based in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria. Our name Tatsuniya, meaning “story” or “riddle” in Hausa, reflects how we work: through storytelling, weaving, and dialogue.

We began in 2017 as a group of students participating in artist Rahima Gambo’s film and photography project at Shehu Sanda Kyarimi Secondary School. What started as an art workshop became a space of kinship and creative exchange. From this grew a collective rooted in friendship, care, and the belief that art can rebuild the fragile threads of community. Our practice unfolds through textile, embroidery, photography, performance, video and installation, transforming everyday gestures into shared acts of meaning. We see making as a form of listening, and collaboration as a language of care. Each work carries the imprint of many hands, embodying the social and emotional fabric that connects us.

Our members include Maryam Abdullahi Mustapha, Aisha Garba Satomi, Maryam Samuel, Binta Maina Amna, Aisha Mohammed Abubakar, Maryam Yahaya, Kaltum Ibrahim, Fatima Ali Bukar, Amina Bashir, Zainab Musa Usman, Hauwa Adam Sani, Aisha Ali, Ruth Andrew Hassan, Halima Mohammed Mallam, Aisha Aisami, Hadiza Alhaji Bukar, Hadiza Mustapha, Fatima Bulama, Aisha Abacha, Aisha Bukar, Faiza Ali Abubakar, and Fatima Abatcha. Living in a region marked by displacement and reconstruction, we seek not to reproduce narratives of loss but to create new vocabularies of resilience and interdependence. Through our gatherings, we nurture creative and entrepreneurial agency among women, linking local craft traditions to global conversations.

Our collective continues to evolve as an ongoing story of relation, tenderness, and co-creation. Through Tatsuniya, we imagine worlds sustained by the quiet strength of making together.