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Shabu’s practice focuses on the effects of structural and historical violence, and different forms of marginalization on the individual and collective psyche.

Shabu’s paintings are considerations of societal and cultural fissures. His work has previously dealt with questions of collective suffering, and the effects that inequality, marginalization, and other forms of structural violence have on communities.

More recently, his work traces an ongoing personal journey of striving to understand the balance between the two things that drive us, love and pain, and how we react in different ways depending on which of the two is dominant. In this new body of work, he has turned his gaze inwards, focusing on an examination of the self. He asks himself questions about how he sees the people around him and his interactions with them.

Shabu has participated in workshops and residency programs both locally and internationally. His work most recently featured in Systems of Emptiness, a prelude to Documenta Fifteen, a group show with Wajukuu Art Collective and The Sources of Our Seas, a solo show at Circle Art Gallery in 2021; East African Encounters, a Circle Art Gallery group exhibition at Cromwell Place in London in 2021, and Self Addressed, an exhibition of self-portraiture by artists from Africa and its diaspora curated by Kehinde Wiley for Deitch Projects LA.

In 2022, Shabu and fellow members of the Wajukuu Art Project participated in Documenta Fifteen in Kassel, where they went on to win the Arnold Bode prize. Shabu participated in the 13a Biennial do Mercosul in Brazil in 2022 and his latest exhibition was Winters Memory at GravitArt Gallery 2022. He has had numerous other shows, participating in residencies in Kenya, Germany, and Italy.

Asmaa Jama, a self-taught Somali multidisciplinary artist, writer, and filmmaker in Bristol, explores themes of myth, movement, and migration. Their film works, including "Before We Disappear" (2021) commissioned by BBC Arts and "Except this Time Nothing Returns from the Ashes" (2022) at Spike Island, showcase their interactive storytelling.Jama's art has reached international platforms like the Venice Architecture Biennale and film festivals such as Blackstar and Sharjah Film Platform.

Jama's theatrical involvement spans writing for productions like Dorothee Munyaneza’s "Mailles" and "Akal." Their impactful writing has been commissioned by respected entities like Jerwood Arts, Hayward Gallery, Arnolfini, and Ifa Gallery, with published works featured in notable publications like The Poetry Review and Nataal.

Jama was commended for the Brunel African Poetry Prize (2022); and shortlisted for the New Poets Prize (2022); Queen Mary Wasafiri Writing Prize (2021); James Berry Poetry Prize (2021); To Speak Europe in Other Languages Prize (2020), and longlisted for National Poetry Competition ( 2021) and is a Cave Canem Fellow. Their accolades include commendations for the Brunel African Poetry Prize and residencies at prestigious institutions like the School for Sonic Memory, and Mucem/Onassis Stegi.

Recently, Jama's solo exhibition at Spike Island culminated with a commissioned showcase across 25 billboard sites in Bristol, exhibiting their diverse artistic talent.