Join Hidden Compass for our fourth annual Ethos of Exploration event, featuring our 2024 Pathfinder team, “Beyond the False Summit: Unearthing the Queer Pioneers of Alpinism” — and introducing our 2025 Pathfinder Prize winners, “The Rebel Reef: Seeds of Hope.”
Last year, expedition leader Lola Akinmade, visual storyteller Noo Saro-Wiwa, and videographer Erik Jaråker journeyed to Greenland on a cultural expedition. They followed in the footsteps of Togo-born explorer Tété-Michel Kpomassie, exploring the question: Who gets to tell the story of a place? In the 1960s, Kpomassie set off on a decade-long journey from his home in West Africa to the Arctic, becoming the first African we know of to explore Greenland. He chronicled his journey in his book, An African in Greenland. Nigerian-born storytellers, Akinmade and Saro-Wiwa, whose careers were inspired by Kpomassie’s work, teamed up with Swedish videographer Jaråker to follow in Kpomassie’s footsteps. On Thursday, October 3, join Hidden Compass’s co-founders Sivani Babu and Sabine K. Bergmann for the virtual premiere of the short documentary, “In Tété’s Footsteps,” followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.
In “The Future of Water,” ocean explorer and shark ecologist Cristina Zenato takes us on a journey through pine forests, mangroves, submerged caves, and open ocean — showing us how, in these fragile places, even the slightest change can have far-reaching impacts. Following these ripple effects, we find that water, whether salt, fresh, rain, or frozen, flows through every aspect of our lives.
