Events & Exhbitions

London Library Emerging Writers Programme 2024/25

I was a part of the 2024/25 Emerging Writers Programme where I developed a feature screenplay about a migrant woman trapped in a visa marriage in the UK. The film explores coercive control, abuse and the psychological toll of migration, tracing her transformation as she ultimately becomes the ocean itself. Drawing on folklore and Greek mythology, the work blends surrealist elements with lived experience to bring the interior reality of asylum and displacement viscerally to life.

Projekt Europa, Projekt Empower emerging theatre maker 2025

I am a 2025 Projekt Europa Project Empower mentee, where I am developing a new stage play as part of the programme’s cross-European artistic development strand. Through this mentorship, I am working closely with writer Marcelo Dos Santos, deepening the dramaturgy, structure and performance language of the piece while expanding my practice across writing and performance.

Palewell Press One-Day Book Festival 2025

I read from Glitch at the Palewell Press One-Day Book Festival 2025, sharing an excerpt from the anthology Hold to Record: Voice Notes from Refugees, published by Palewell Press. The festival brought together writers and artists for a day of readings, discussion and celebration of literature’s role in social change.

Hold to Record: Voice Notes from Refugees Launch

Palewell Press and the Kensington Central Library present the launch of Hold to Record: Voice Notes from Refugees. The anthology features messages from 12 refugees and asylum seekers from around the world and offers new ways to think about displaced voices, creative networks and different modes of talking and listening across cultures.

BBC Radio 3, New Music Biennial, Hold To Record Performance

My voice and writing are featured in a global electroacoustic work presented as part of the New Music Biennial, celebrating the voices of those who have experienced displacement. The piece combines telephone messages from refugees and migrants with electroacoustic sound manipulation and directional speakers. It was created by composer and sound artist Hardi Kurda and librettist Sarah Jackson in collaboration with Compass Collective, Counterpoints Arts and New Writing North.
Genre: Global / Diasporic / Electroacoustic

ICA London, Panel Talk, Green Border

I appeared in a post-screening Q&A for Green Border, directed by Agnieszka Holland. The discussion followed the screening of the powerful feature exploring the humanitarian crisis at the Belarus–Poland border. I joined lead actor Behi Djanati Ataï and Angelina Hue of Privacy International for a conversation on migration, geopolitics and representation, hosted by Lily Parrott from the Migration Collective.

Voice Notes

This exhibition has been co-created with young people who have fled war, violence, conflict and persecution and yet who continue to offer stories of solidarity and hope. I led workshops with the UK participants, supporting them in developing and recording their contributions to the installation. At the heart of the installation are multidirectional ultrasonic speakers that are positioned to create a network of intersecting telephone messages. As visitors move around the gallery, they tap into stories of home and belonging, landscape and loss, and communication and connection. In turn, visitors are invited to shape new ways of thinking about sanctuary by contributing their own voice notes as part of our evolving telephonic soundscape.

Voice Notes is led by poet Dr Sarah Jackson, Associate Professor in Modern and Contemporary Writing at Nottingham Trent University, in collaboration with acclaimed sound artist and founder of the Space21 international festival Hardi Kurda, and refugee arts organisation Compass Collective, whose recent work includes the award-winning professional development arts programme Next Steps. The project is supported by international partners, including New Art Exchange, Counterpoints Arts, Refugee Roots, Nottingham UNESCO City of Literature, Slemani UNESCO Cities of Literature and STEP. It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Voice Notes has been shown internationally, with performances and installations at Arbat Refugee Camp (Kurdistan Region of Iraq), Space21 Sound Festival (Slemani), New Art Exchange (Nottingham), Yorkton Workshops (London), and an upcoming exhibition at Dr Guislain Museum (Ghent) in November 2024.

Creative Futures Writers' Award 2022 ("Fish")

I am a recipient of the Creative Futures Writers' Award, for my short story Fish. The piece is a lyrical, darkly humorous exploration of war, migration and what women inherit, told through a daughter reconstructing her mother’s survival, crossing minefields in heels with a newborn hidden in her coat and a goldfish in her pocket. Fish featured as a part of the London Literature Festival at the Southbank Centre.

Scriptease 2024 Reheased Readings ACT Brighton

After receiving development funding from Creative Futures, I was selected as part of the 2024 ScriptEase cohort. As part of the programme, we staged a rehearsed reading of my screenplay at ACT Brighton, further developing the work through live performance and audience engagement.

Floi, Installation, Studio Imposters, Concrete Block Gallery, ArchiFringe, Edinburgh

Floi was exhibited at Architecture Fringe 2021 at Concrete Block Gallery. The installation used environmental data from Scotland’s peatland restoration projects to generate an evolving, multi-channel sound composition. By transforming ecological metrics into immersive audio, the work explored the intersection of climate policy, landscape and urban responsibility, situating environmental restoration within architectural and civic discourse.

Artists Talk, Summerhall, Edinburgh

Floi, Installation, Studio Imposters, Summerhall, Edinburgh

Floi was presented as part of the Winter Exhibition at Summerhall in 2021. The immersive audio installation translates live peatland restoration data into a living soundscape, sonifying the ecological health of Scotland’s peat bogs through the calls of native wildlife. Installed within an urban arts setting, the work invited audiences to experience the fragility and resilience of remote ecosystems at a time of urgent climate conversation.

SPECTRA at The Etcetera Theatre

SPECTRA was presented at the Camden Fringe at the Etcetera Theatre. The production brought together two plays, Wines from Santorini and Chance of Rain, each depicting the intricacies of female relationships in contrasting contexts. Through intimate dialogue and shifting emotional landscapes, the work explored connection, tension and the complexities of womanhood.

Contact

Reach out to Olja for collaborations or questions.