Sandblast is an arts and human rights charity based in London. It works with the Saharawis of Western Sahara, a dispossessed and marginalized community that largely live as refugees in harsh desert camps in SW Algeria. Under the Moroccan occupation, in their homeland, the Saharawis suffer from all kinds of human rights abuses and have no freedom of expression. In either context, the Saharawis lack a voice and visibility but continue, nevertheless, to approach their long struggle for the right to self-determination through peaceful resistance.

Educational, cultural and artistic events are the main tools that Sandblast uses to raise awareness of the situation in Western Sahara and put the Saharawis on the map culturally. Through its Saharawi Artist Fund, Sandblast finances projects in the camps to promote artistic and cultural development and stimulate creative ties between the Saharawis and artists worldwide.

Our mission is to empower the Saharawis to tell their own story, promote their own culture and earn a living through the arts.

Aims and Objectives

Sandblast was founded by anthropologist and photographer Danielle Smith in 2005. Having been involved with the Saharawi refugees in SW Algeria since 1991, Smith is convinced that one of the greatest hindrances to the Saharawi self-determination cause is its enduring invisibility. The invisibility of the Saharawi situation in mass media and public discourse is a serious problem.

Through educational events and the arts, Sandblast aims to raise awareness of the situation in Western Sahara and put the Saharawis on the map culturally. It seeks to promote artistic development and stimulate creative ties between the Saharawis and artists worldwide and to raise funds for projects in the camps of Saharawi cultural and economic empowerment.
Danielle Smith followed her conviction to put the Saharawis on the map after she witnessed the Saharawi situation herself.

Through our Saharawi Artist Fund we finance projects in the refugee camps to facilitate cultural/artistic expression and development, and help develop collaborations between Saharawis and artists worldwide. In order to help raise funds for our projects, Sandblast is promoting  “Running the Sahara 2010″ (aka The Saharamarathon).

In 2007, Smith organised the Sandblast festival in London to bring Saharawi artists from the camps to the UK and celebrate Saharawi arts and culture. Danielle Smith believes that “the arts can reaffirm the Saharawi distinct identity and also help bolster a culture which is being threated by the twin realities of exile and the occupation of their homeland in Western Sahara” (Smith 2009).