A sense of our work
shemza.digital roots - Phase 2 - Current funding application
In this project we will strengthen our partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery and ArtForum facilitator Rosalind Manasseh. Together we will support young people from the ArtForum Youth Group in progressing from participants to creative leaders, equipping them to co-design artworks and facilitate workshops for families and wider audiences, whilst embedding wellbeing practices throughout. The second phase represents a clear progression by introducing new technologies requested by the young people such as; interactive projection and body tracking to create a new interactive artwork that will be launched at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Through our family programme, co-facilitated with students from ArtForum Youth Group, we will host 8 weekend workshops for local families with children aged 3+. Families will encounter Anwar Shemza’s work, take part in a wellbeing activity and use our bespoke roots software to create digital artworks inspired by South Asian art, calligraphy and nature. Each family will take home a printed artwork while a second print will be added to a growing community display within the ArtForum exhibition. Across the programme we aim to create 80 new family artworks, allowing the exhibition itself to change as more local people contribute.
Images: Visualisation of shemza.digital roots, interactive body mapping projection artwork, that will be co-created with Art Forum Youth Group during this new project.
Images: Screen recording of our grow your own digital roots composition software based on Anwar Jalal Shemza’s roots series and Arabic calligraphy and examples of artworks created by students in Phase 1. Families will use this software to create their own compositions in this new project.
About us
The shemza.digital project combines the abstract art of Anwar Jalal Shemza (1928-1985) and the contemporary digital practice of Aphra Shemza, the artist’s granddaughter.
Launched in 2020 with support from the Arts Council of England, the shemza.digital project is made for and with the British public and creates art that is accessible to all through our educational programme of digital art workshops, hybrid exhibitions and participatory and interactive artworks.
Images: Anwar Jalal Shemza, 1960 and Aphra Shemza, 2023.
Our previous work
Since launching shemza.digital in 2020, Aphra Shemza has engaged over 500,000 people, delivering 35+ workshops and 18 digital artworks, supported by four ACE grants. These built a digital painting tool used by 5,000+ people during the pandemic, co-creation methods involving 400+ participants, and light sculptures culminating in our landmark exhibition Shemza Digital: Across Generations at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, covered by The Guardian. Partners have included MIMA, National Gallery, V&A, Towner Eastbourne, Poole Museum, Watermans, Norden Farm, Woodcraft Folk, Saint Clements and DINA.
Video: shemza.digital documentary, 2020-2022.
Shemza Digital: Across Generations Exhibition - 14th January - 16th April 2023 - Wolverhampton Art Gallery
“The abstract art of Anwar Jalal Shemza gets a digital reboot by his granddaughter Aphra Shemza.”
— Jonathan Jones
“This exhibition is something of the future; visitors can delve into a digital world as well as being part of it. This is just the start of an exciting programme that Wolverhampton art Gallery has to offer for 2023.”
— Councillor Stephen Simkins
Since its launch the project has created public programmes for and been commissioned to create artworks and exhibitions for our partners:
shemza.digital roots - Phase 1, 2025-2026
In December 2025, Arts Council England awarded our fourth project grant for the first phase of shemza.digital roots, exploring how digital art can reconnect people with South Asian cultural heritage while supporting wellbeing. Inspired by Anwar Jalal Shemza's Roots paintings, the project brought together artists, musicians, programmers, calligraphers, meditation practitioners and young people to co-create new digital experiences. Reaching over 10 million people through partnerships with the British Library, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Computer Art Society, EVA Conference, Central Saint Martins and Middlesex University and more. Evaluation demonstrated the project's positive impact on participants' wellbeing (90% improvement), confidence and connection with cultural heritage, while feedback from Wolverhampton Art Gallery's ArtForum Youth Group highlighted a strong desire to continue working together and explore interactive digital technologies (100% positive experience). The project resulted in a guided interactive meditation artwork, a live data visualisation, educational workshops, a documentary film and a public exhibition, demonstrating how technology can foster reflection, creativity and cultural connection.
Video: shemza.digital roots documentary, 2025-2026.
This documentary will be exhibited as part of the ArtForum exhibition at Wolverhampton Art Gallery in Phase 2. We will also create a new documentary about Phase 2 in the current funding application.
Artworks created in the first project - click images to view more information and watch videos »
shemza.digital roots #4-#6, 2026
shemza.digital roots #3, 2026
shemza.digital roots #2, 2026
shemza.digital roots #1, 2026
shemza.digital roots partners
Meet the Team
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Anwar Jalal Shemza
ARTIST (1928-1985)
The project is based on Anwar’s work
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Aphra Shemza
ARTIST & MANAGER OF THE ESATE
Founder and creative direction of the project
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Stuart Faromarz Batchelor
ARTIST
Launched in collaboration with Stuart in 2020
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NYX
MUSICIANS
Commissioned to make soundscape
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Petit Oiseau
MUSICIANS
Commissioned to make soundscape
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Peter Todd
ARTIST / PROGRAMMER
Digital artworks #3, #4, #7, #8 & virtual exhibition
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Deen Atger
PRODUCER
1st Stage of the project
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Jamie Howard
PROGRAMMER
Interactive light sculptures #5 & #6
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Anna Sycheva
3D DESIGNER
Virtual artworks and virtual exhibition
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Chris MacInnes
3D DESIGNER
Virtual sculpture #1
Biography
2026:
Published: From Manuscript to Meditation: Exploring roots through the British Library, British Library blog
Published: shemza.digital roots: Co-Creation, Digital Meditation and Intergenerational Cultural Memory, EVA Conference
Published: shemza.digital roots: tracing connection through art, memory and breath, Substack (link)
Workshop: shemza.digital roots - Co-creation workshop, ArtForum Youth Group, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 29th April 2026
Talk: Roots with Aphra Shemza, Central Saint Martins University, 29th April 2026
Launch Event: shemza.digital roots - Physical Launch, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 24th April 2026
Launch Event: shemza.digital roots - Online Launch, 22nd April 2026
Talk: Reclaiming the Digital: Art, Wellbeing and Reconnection, Middlesex University, 1st April 2026
Workshop: shemza.digital roots - Co-creation workshop, ArtForum Youth Group, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 25th February 2026
Workshop: shemza.digital roots - Co-creation workshop, ArtForum Youth Group, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 4th February 2026
2025:
Award: Arts Council England Project Grant, December 2025
2023:
Workshop: shemza.digital, 2nd February 2023, MIMA, UK
Commission: shemza.digital, MIMA, UK
Press: Exhibitions of the week, Guardian, UK (Link)
Press: Step into a Digital World, Gorgeous Radio, UK (Link)
Exhibition: Shemza Digital: Across Generations, 14th January - 16th April 2023, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, UK (Link)
2022:
Award: Arts Council England Project grant September 2022
Exhibition & Talk: Art in Flux: Transformations, 22nd September 2022, National Gallery X, UK
Exhibition & Talk: Art in Flux: Access all Areas, 7th July - 1st September 2022, BCS, UK
Workshop: shemza.digital at Postwar Modern with Aphra Shemza, 26th May 2022, Barbican, London, UK.
Workshop: shemza.digital with Aphra Shemza, 2nd March 2022, Clement Saint James, Women’s Big Day In.
2021:
Exhibition: shemza.digital online exhibition 30th September - 30th October 2021.
Exhibition: shemza.digital at Deep AI Art Fair with Art in Flux, 13th-17th October 2021, London, UK.
Talk: shemza.digital online exhibition launch with Aphra Shemza, 30th September 2021.
Workshop: shemza.digital co-creation with Aphra Shemza, 27th September 2021, Woodcraft Folk, Eastbourne, UK.
Workshop: shemza.digital co-creation at Tech Club, 18th September 2021, The Margate School, Margate, UK.
Exhibition: Art in Flux: Reclaimed, 8th-12th September 2021, as part of Ars Electronica Festival.
Workshop: shemza.digital painting and co-creation workshop with Aphra Shemza, 2nd September 2021, DINA.
Workshop: shemza.digital painting and co-creation workshop with Aphra Shemza, 26th August 2021, Aphra Shemza.
Workshop: shemza.digital painting and co-creation workshop with Aphra Shemza, 25th August 2021, Art in Flux.
Workshop: shemza.digital painting and co-creation workshop with Aphra Shemza, 19th August 2021, The Curve, London, UK.
Workshop: Shemza Islamic Digital Painting - 10-16yrs, 2nd August 2021, V&A Museum.
Workshop: Family shemza.digital Painting, 25th July 2021, Festival of Curiosity. (link)
Workshop: shemza.digital at Tech Club, 24th July 2021, The Margate School, Margate, UK.
Workshop: Adult shemza.digital Painting, 23rd July 2021, Festival of Curiosity. (link)
Talk: Anwar Jalal Shemza - A talk with Aphra Shemza, 22nd July 2021, Towner Art Gallery with the Blue Monkey Network. (link)
Exhibition: shemza.digital, 6th - 11th July 2021, The Other Art Fair.
Published: shemza.digital: participatory art as a catalyst for social change, July 2021, EVA London Conference. (link)
Award: Arts Council England Project Grant, July 2021.
Exhibition: Art in Flux: Reclaimed, 24th June - 4th July 2021, as part of Kensington and Chelsea Art Week.
Workshop: Shemza Islamic Digital Painting - Adults, 24th June 2021, V&A Museum.
Workshop: shemza.digital - Digital Painting, 29th May 2021, Once Upon a Time in Animation exhibition programme for Poole Museum, Bournemouth University and the National Centre for Computer Animation.
Workshop: Digital Painting Workshop, 2nd April 2021, Norden Farm Arts Centre.
Talk: shemza.digital with Aphra Shemza, 1st April 2021, Coventry Library.
Exhibition: Art in Flux: Reclaimed, 30th March - 30th April 2021, Art in Flux.
Talk: Art in Flux: Reclaimed, 30th March 2021, National Gallery X.
Workshop: Digital Painting Workshop, 23rd March 2021, The Woodcraft Folk.
Podcast: Aphra Shemza seeks online collaborators, 4th January 2021, Inside the Gallery Podcast. (link)
2020:
Press: Artists Aphra Shemza and Stuart Batchelor invite the public to take part in new collective interactive artwork, 15th December 2020, Fiona Doyle, Artiscape. (link)
Exhibition: Watermans Digital Weekend, 21st - 22nd November 2020, Watermans Art Centre.
Press: The Top 7 Online exhibitions to see this winter, 22nd November 2020, Tabish Khan, FAD Magazine. (link)
Press: Shemza Digital project squares the circle of interactive online art, 18th November 2020, Berenice Healey, Verdict. (link)
Launch Event: Shifting Ground, 18th November 2020, National Gallery X.
Award: Arts Council England Project Grant, September 2020.
Press: Art Collective Aphra Shemza & Stuart Batchelor shemza.digital, 30th November 2020, Adam Peter Hicks, Client Magazine. (link)
Press: Aphra Shemza Q&A, November 2020, The Flux Review. (link)