Nahom Assefa is an Ethiopian-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, designer, curator, and writer based in Toronto. A self-taught creative and Creative Director of Cultured Creative Studio who explores belonging and identity through a deep curiosity about the world's cultures, drawing on anthropology, cinema, design, and curatorial research to make work that is honest and culturally specific.

His work has been exhibited in Canada and internationally, including working as an Intern Curator at Dalhousie Art Gallery under Director Pamela Edmonds and curating In Relation: Black Material Life and Memory on Mi'kma'ki at NSCAD Treaty Space Gallery. He has worked on short animations like Funky  Barcelona Panot Tiles for OFFF Festival 2026 in Barcelona, and Landed to Takeoff at Nocturne Festival as a NOISEmaker, screened during the festival and later at Emerging Lens Cultural Film Festival. He created illustrations for Halifax Public Libraries' 40th anniversary African Heritage Month, the North End Business Association’s 2026 Valentine's Day postcards, and has shown artworks at Dalhousie Art Gallery and Nova Scotia Community College.

Through his studio at Cultured Creative Studio, he has worked with organizations like Lululemon, Latispanica Cultural Association, and Atlantic Flamenco on projects that bridge diverse community perspectives to listen, exchange ideas, and celebrate what makes us distinct. Nahom works directly with the community by organizing and co-facilitating community programming, including a $5,000 newcomer artists workshop, Our Way Here, co-facilitating Project HOPE at Student’s Commission Canada, and facilitating the Access Ability-Employment Stream at St. Mary’s University. He received the 2025 NSCC Immigrant and International Student Experience IMPACT Award and served as a 2025 Atlantic International Film Festival Ambassador. 

Currently serves as a board member at Creative Community Impact Association and a participant in Toronto Arts Foundation’s ArtWorkTO: Newcomer Artist Program, Communicating the Arts 30 Under 30 Program, RGD Canada Mentorship Program, and DesignTO’s Design is Everything.

Curiosity is central to who I am, and my practice is dedicated to building belonging. My work is a research-driven response to a question I keep returning to: what did we lose, and does anyone notice? This urgency guides my exploration of cultural memory, identity, and shared humanity, themes shaped by a life spent navigating between worlds. Born in Malaysia, raised in Ethiopia, and now based in Canada, I approach creative work from the perspective of an outsider learning to read places and cultures deeply.

I believe that true cultural exchange does not happen at the extremes of division or in superficial aesthetics. Far too often, culture is reduced to decorative motifs, stereotypes, or exoticized symbols. My practice intentionally pushes past this surface level to uncover the "deep cuts"—the distilled essence, oral histories, rituals, and gestures that hold a community’s authentic voice. I research before I draw: tracing the griot tradition to understand the blues, studying azulejo tiles before rendering saudade, learning salsa before illustrating Latin dance, or understanding the Ethiopian coffee ceremony to capture true gestures of hospitality.

Rather than viewing art through a defensive lens, I use creative curation, visual art, writing, and community programming as tools for celebration and seed-planting. Art functions as a QR code to the soul; it creates the conditions for empathy that argument and mandated policies alone rarely achieve. By uncovering the specificities of different cultures, we ultimately discover the universal human values that connect us all.

Ultimately, my practice creates the space for communities to meet in the middle—the vibrant beating point where people can listen, converse, and celebrate each other with dignity. My work is for anyone who has ever felt between worlds, and for anyone seeking a space to belong.