Creativity and rest reign at this Tuscan residence for Black queer artists

For the last five years, founder of the MQBMBQ residency Jordan Anderson has been welcoming artists to Tuscany, pairing Black queer artists with established mentors in a cultural programme which has been supported by brands including Jean Paul Gaultier, Bulgari and Loro Piana.

To mark the anniversary, Anderson has done things a little differently this year. ‘We felt a deep desire to create something different and gentler,’ he says. ‘Rather than centring urgency or the pressure to produce, we wanted to honour rest, creative exchange, and radical imagination – it is a rare chance for Black queer artists to slow down, breathe, and simply exist in a world that so often demands their everything.’

Rather than the traditional four-week programme, four artists, selected by a curatorial board, were invited for a week-long retreat at the beautiful Turchese villa designed by Italian architect Oreste Martelli Castaldi. Artists Justen Leroy, Precious Okoyomon, YAV and Elliot Jerome Brown Jr. were encouraged to balance rest and creative work in the day, and share a text or piece of inspiration over dinner each evening.

Anderson was keen to work with the artists, who each brought something entirely distinct to the group. ‘Precious’ practice was one of the first that came to mind when we visited the space. Their profound relationship with the natural world, its entanglements with history, time, and race felt in perfect dialogue with a house nestled deep in the woods. Justen’s exploration of Black sound and sonic environments resonated powerfully in Tuscany, where the soundscape of cicadas, rustling trees, distant bells felt like a collaborator of its own.’

Yaav’s relationship with movement also appealed to Anderson. ‘His ability to speak through the body and to explore how we interact with architecture added an embodied, responsive layer to the space. Watching his physical language unfold within the structure made the house feel alive. And Elliott’s approach to photography felt like a natural extension of the residency itself: quiet, observant, tender. His practice, which navigates intimacy, fiction, and form, felt like a beautiful way to hold and document the nuance of being in this kind of shared space.’

Ultimately, the retreat is a chance to spark creativity through relaxation, pause and resetting, emphasising the importance of slowing down. ‘We were intentional about placing this experience outside the confines of an institutional residency,’ adds Anderson. ‘Choosing instead a space that was not only spectacular in itself, but also one they could fully inhabit, reshape, and claim as their own.’