London-based architect, filmmaker, and educator Sarah Akigbogun is bringing to light the stories of female architects of color, a demographic that has lacked adequate representation and acknowledgment. 

Akigbogun is the founding director at transdisciplinary practice Studio Aki, Vice Chair of Women In Architecture, and a newly elected London member of RIBA Council. In 2017, she directed the film She Draws: She Builds, a film that amplifies the voices and experiences of 15 female architects. 

Her current project, the XXAOC Project, is an online, crowd-sourced initiative that serves as a platform to document female architects of color both currently and throughout history. The project started in early 2019 with a tweet by Akigbogun calling out to the internet in search of these women and their stories.

So, new project for 2019 ...I’m starting a project to collect the stories of female #ArchitectsofColour, past and present. Who should I be talking to? About? Please send suggestions! Many thanks!
— sarah akigbogun (@SarahAkigbogun) January 13, 2019

The response was huge, with suggestions coming and referencing women from all over the world. XXAOC was born to collect these names and profile them in one place. Current profiles include Norma Merrick Sklarek and Sharon Egretta Sutton. XXAOC also partnered with the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) and Equity by Design. In addition to the online platform, Akigbogun is making a documentary about these women, celebrating them and their work. 

As stated on XXAOC’s site, “Architectural history is manifestly missing female architects of colour. Whilst the US has lots of data on this, in the UK we have only been recording data on race for 10 years. As such we do not know who many of our pioneers were. Who for example was the first Black female Architect? The XXAOC project wants to learn from the US and fill in some of these blanks.”

With the film, Akigbogun hopes to challenge people to act to improve diversity in architecture and to inspire a new generation of city makers. Money is currently being raised to cover production, post production, and distribution costs. While production of the film is already underway, additional funding will allow the team to put more time and resources into post production and to complete the project more quickly.