D+C Contemporary is a digital platform managed by Donna Banks and Cecily Ferguson that exhibits works by emerging and established international artists. Donna and Cecily met in graduate school while attending Howard University in Washington, DC. Since meeting, they have collaborated on a number of art projects working with artists, collectors, embassies, cultural centers, and small businesses.

Their mission is to examine the intersection of both the beautiful and the provocative in contemporary art and design.

She co-founded a community theatre group that engages with social issues and raises money for charities. In addition, she has directed, scripted, and edited performances including an international cast of The Vagina Monologues for a cross-cultural audience in Istanbul.

With a background in art history, cultural history, and visual anthropology, Donna has worked in museums and galleries, including the Smithsonian Institution. She has written extensively on artists for Parish Gallery (Washington, DC) and the now defunct UK arts magazine Mongoos. In addition, Caribbean connections afforded her the opportunity to showcase local artists at Harmony Hall Art Gallery (Jamaica).

Donna is currently writing her doctoral dissertation on creative placemaking and its role in identity construction and representation. She is also working on her first children’s book while investigating the creative and performance art scenes in various cities.

Cecily Ferguson is a curator, writer, and creative collaborator, passionate about the contemporary art scene.

She has been professionally involved with various aspects of the art world in The States. While living in Pittsburgh and Washington, DC Cecily studied art history. She also worked for various art galleries and non-profit organizations including: UMOJA African Arts Company (Pittsburgh), The International Child Art Foundation (Washington DC), The John F. Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Four Winds Gallery (Pittsburgh), Parish Gallery (Washington DC), West Village Gallery (Durham NC), and Guarisco Gallery (Washington DC). In addition, she has contributed essays to the Stockholm based art magazine C-Print and the London based art magazine Mongoos.

Since 2000 her area of specialty has been The Caribbean and Latin America but in 2007 while working for Parish Gallery she became interested in Sweden and Scandinavia.  In 2009 she attended School of the Art Institute of Chicago and while there she focused on migration and diaspora identities connected to the Caribbean, Latin America and Sweden. Upon completing her MA thesis titled A Different Light: Creolizing Swedish Modernism she move to Sweden for love and also her career. And as of 2016 she has expanded her geographical interest to include Japan.

Cecily is currently the owner of a curatorial | creative studio called Kreativ Collabs, the writer and editor for an art and lifestyle blog called Creole Konst and is a docent for Skövde Konst Museum.