Stories In Ink - Live Edition

Get ready for the immersive artistic experience that is Stories In Ink Live edition. This intimate tattoo performance is something this city has never seen before, join the multi-disciplinary madness of Lucille Giwa as they take us on a journey through time, craft and culture. Grounded in the reclamation of the black body, Lucille will be tattooing three artists from various disciplines while exploring their individual journeys of reclamation through the arts. 

ABOUT THE GUESTS

Yanaminah Thullah, Aurel Pressat, and Nyana Ntwari are the three dynamic creatives whose practices intertwine art, identity and diasporic experience.

Yanaminah Thullah is a Toronto-born multidisciplinary storyteller, curator, writer, and public speaker of Sierra-Leonean and Liberian descent. Rooted in her lived experiences and a background in International Relations, Thullah’s work explores world-building as a form of liberation. Her creative practice is dedicated to deconstructing systemic barriers, demystifying migrant-diaspora relations, and amplifying narratives of community resilience and transformation.

Aurel Pressat Irigukunze, an award-winning Kenyan-born actor of Burundian descent, has been performing on stage and screen since childhood. Raised in Ottawa, Pressat is a proudly queer local  icon whose charisma and advocacy resonate from coast to coast and beyond. Equally at home on camera or in heels, Aurel continues to expand the boundaries of storytelling, blending performance, visibility, and unapologetic self-expression.

Nyana Ntwari, based in Ottawa, is a Burundian queer femme artist, performer, and devoted ‘life enjoyer’. Deeply inspired by the interplay between her Blackness and Queerness, Ntwari is an active force in Ottawa’s Kiki Ballroom scene and Afro-queer party spaces. As a co-founder of The Touch Grass Kiki collective, she merges artistic expression with community-building, creating safer and more joyful spaces for queer Black and Afro-diasporic identities to thrive.

Together, Thullah, Pressat, and Ntwari represent a growing wave of diasporic storytellers challenging conventions and reimagining what it means to create, connect, and celebrate identity across mediums and borders. Don’t miss this rare opportunity in our city to commune in knowledge sharing, art and empowerment.