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   I am an educator, curator, artist, and researcher of Afrofuturism and Black Islam in the U.S. based in Baltimore, MD.

See The Judgement of America at The Galleries at CCBC Catonsville, on view through July 3, 2026. Read more here.

Read Baltimore Beat awards Teen Takeover at The Walters with “The Kids Are Alright” for Best of 2025: Arts & Culture (Dec 2025)

Read Islam & Print receives Grit Fund for $7,500 (July 2025)

Watch “Safiyah Cheatam and Dan Flounders talk about mentorship, side hustles, and archiving for artists” for Creative Mornings, Baltimore (July 2025)

  1. Assistant Manager of Teen and Career Development Programs at the Walters Art Museum
  2. Co-founder of Islam & Print
  3. Trustee at the Awesome Foundation


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CURATION | Programs & Exhibitions



TEEN TAKEOVER: MYTHOLOGY MAYHEM


The Walters Art Museum Teen Advisory Council (WAMTAC) presents Mythology Mayhem, a Greek mythology-themed takeover for teens, by teens. From solving riddles to designing togas, join us for games and activities that channel your creativity and test your knowledge of Greek mythology while exploring and learning about our collection of Ancient Greek art. Activities included an escape room, fashion designing, an open mic, a game show, a photo booth, themed food, and more.

This event hosted over 120 attendees and stretched across three buildings on the museum's campus with 7 programming sites.
OCTOBER 2025

THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM

︎ Program


THROUGH OUR EYES: TEEN PHOTOGRAPHY 


The Through Our Eyes photography exhibition celebrates the creative work of eight teen photographers in the Baltimore area. In this 10-week course, teens learned photography and professional development skills from esteemed Baltimore  photographer Schaun Champion at the Walters Art Museum which culminated in this exhibition showcasing the skills they learned.
MAY 2025

THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM

︎ Program, Exhibition


SCOUT ART FAIR


Dan Flounders and I represented Islam & Print with a booth at Baltimore’s inaugural SCOUT Art Fair curated by Derrick Adams and Teri Henderson. Two I&P artist-fellows were also able to attend and speak directly to their practice to the over 60,000 visitors in attendance to the fair. Several I&P prints were sold as a result of the exposure. 

Our booth included only prints made during the fellowship by all 2022 & 2025 cohort members. Read more here.
MAY 2025

ARTSCAPE / WAR MEMORIAL BUILDING

︎ Exhibition


THE GOOD LIFE COURSE WORKSHEET


MSU Professor Harold Morales invited me to created a worksheet and lead his Center for Religion and Cities course “The Good Life” on a tour of the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) artworks a signal, a sprout (2024) by Malcolm Peacock and My Cave Call (2021) by Wangechi Mutu. This worksheet highlights two artworks aligned with the themes of rest, wellness, and spirituality.
APRIL 2025

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY / BMA

︎ Program


DECONSTRUCTED
AND
REESTABLISHED


Islam & Print presents Deconstructed
and
Reestablished featuring the work of 2022 & 2024 artist fellows Suldano Abdiruhman, Tayyab Masqood, Madyha Leghari, Anysa Saleh, Mina Sarfaraz, Hoor Imad Sherpao, and Leili Arai Tavallaei. The exhibition is curated by Islam & Print co-founders Dan Flounders and Safiyah Cheatam, and was on view at Blackrock Center for the Arts in Germantown, MD from March 7 – April 27, 2025.

Read press release here.
FEBRUARY 2025

BLACKROCK CENTER FOR THE ARTS

︎ Exhibition



HEIRLOOM


Islam & Print presents HEIRLOOM featuring the work of 2024 artist fellows Hoor Imad Sherpao, Madyha Leghari, and Mina Sarfaraz. The exhibition is curated by Islam & Print co-founders Dan Flounders and Safiyah Cheatam, and was on view at Gallery CA from October 4 through November 8, 2024.

Read press release here. All photos by Vivian Marie Photo.
NOVEMBER 2024

GALLERY CA

︎ Exhibition


RECLAIMING MY TIME WORKSHEET


MSU Professor Harold Morales invited me to created a worksheet and lead his Center for Religion and Cities course “The Good Life” on a tour of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) exhibition Reclaiming My Time. The worksheet guides you to focus on particular artworks throughout the exhibition aligned with the themes of rest, wellness, and spirituality.

See PDF of worksheet here.
OCTOBER 2024 

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

︎ Program


TEEN TAKEOVER: RENAISSANCE


The Walters Art Museum Teen Advisory Council (WAMTAC) presents Teen Takeover: RENAISSANCE, a takeover for teens, by teens. Inspired by our collection of Renaissance art and Beyoncé’s album RENAISSANCE, we intend to bridge the gap between the two through art, fashion, and participatory experiences. Activities include a fashion show, live music, an escape room, poetry writing, artmaking, a photo booth, a sensory break area, prizes, food, and more.

This event hosted over 120 attendees and stretched across three buildings on the museum's campus with 7 programming sites.
SEPTEMBER 2024

THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM

︎ Program


THROUGH OUR EYES: TEEN PHOTOGRAPHY 


The inaugural Through Our Eyes photography exhibition celebrates the creative work of eight teen photographers in the Baltimore area. In this 8-week course, teens learned photography and professional development skills from esteemed Baltimore-native photographer SHAN Wallace at the Walters Art Museum which culminated in this exhibition showcasing the skills they learned.

This program and exhibition received press from WYPR and Baltimore Magazine.
MARCH 2024

THE WALTERS ART MUSEUM

︎ Program,  Exhibition


AFROFUTURISM: A HISTORY OF BLACK FUTURES WORKSHEET


MSU Professor Harold Morales invited me to created a worksheet and lead his Center for Religion and Cities course “The Good Life” on a tour of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) exhibition Afrofuturism: A History of Black Futures, which I was a research assistant for in 2020. The worksheet guides you to focus on particular artworks throughout the exhibition.

See PDF of worksheet here.
FEBRUARY 2024

MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

︎ Program


ISLAM & PRINT STUDIO VISIT

 
JHU Professor Ünver Rüstem’s freshman seminar class titled “Mosques, Museums, and the Mind’s Eye: Discovering Islamic Art in Person” visited the Islam & Print office to learn more about the fellowship and Islamic arts initiatives in Baltimore.
NOVEMBER 2023

JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY 

︎ Program


WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE NURTURE


Islam & Print’s inaugural exhibition, What Happens When We Nurture, features the work of 2022 artist fellows Suldano Abdiruhman, Tayyab Maqsood, Anysa Saleh and Leili Arai Tavallaei. The exhibition is curated by Islam & Print co-founders Dan Flounders and Safiyah Cheatam, and was on view at Black Artist Research Space from July 8–30, 2023.

View press release and checklist here. All photos by Vivian Marie Photo for Black Artist Research Space (BARS). 
JULY 2023

BLACK ARTIST RESEARCH SPACE

︎ Exhibition


VARIOUS ART ACTIVITIES


I work directly with the Public Programs and Advancements departments to create and implement engaging and fun art-making activities, including 2 virtual lessons and 4 in person events corresponding with the following exhibitions:

See the take home version, Art-To-Go, of my OCT 2022 workshop here. 
FEB 2023 
JAN 2023
OCT 2022
JUL 2021
MAY 2021
DEC 2020

BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART

︎ Program


VISITING ARTIST / GUEST LECTURER


I spoke with Danielle Damico’s “Foundations for Immersive Storytelling” graduate course to share my art practice, a showcase of   #AllRappersGoToHeaven, and an augmented reality (AR) demonstation via Unity and SparkAR.

I assisted students in making an associative montage between an image and a gif, “creating meaning not contained in the images themselves.”
OCTOBER 2022

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

︎ Presentation


THE ART OF STOP-MOTION ANIMATION


These 2D animations were produced by middle and high school students of all levels. Through the course of a week, I led 14 young people towards the goal of a minute-long animation; The first year (Summer 2019, led by Stephen Bradley) using arts and crafts provided at UMBC and the second year (Summer 2020, assisted by Camille Olliverre) repurposing found objects virtually due to COVID-19.

Watch student-made short films here.
JUNE 2020
JUNE 2019

UMBC SUMMER ENRICHMENT ACADEMY

︎ Program


B’MORE ACCOMPLISHED CALENDAR


In this calendar, high school students in Design Team sought to commemorate Black History Month by celebrating the work of local African American arts and cultural workers right here in Baltimore. For this calendar, in addition to developing their technical skills to create portraits, I helped our youth to research important dates in Black history and write short bios about each of our local heroes. Many entries throughout the calendar include events relevant to our students’ own interests. 

See full calendar here.
SPRING 2018

WIDE ANGLE YOUTH MEDIA

︎ Program


THE SKIN WE’RE IN


Students from local middle schools gathered at the Orleans branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library to learn graphic design and Black American history. They worked individually and in pairs to create a two-page spread, choosing topics that were personally important to them on the theme Why Black Lives Matter. Using their learned knowledge of history, research, and design, they created this 18 page zine.

Read full zine here. 
SPRING 2018

WIDE ANGLE YOUTH MEDIA

︎ Program



STOP THE PLASTIC MONSTER + SISTER CITIES ANIMATED


Students from TU Assistant Professor Lynn Tomlinson's Animation Action Lab course and high school students from WAYM's Design and Video Teams met for a series of workshops to create a short animation on the environmental harms of plastic pollution. I oversaw student participation, co-developed the script, prepared cut out materials, co-led production and post (audio/video recording and editing), and maintained release forms and student documentation.

See Sweaty Eyeball’s program Sister Cities Animated Program here.
SPRING 2017
FEBRUARY 2019

WIDE ANGLE YOUTH MEDIA, TOWSON UNIVERSITY, SNF PARKWAY THEATRE

︎ Program