Mcr Finest Spotlight: AFOS @ Seesaw Space
Brought together 7 Greater Manchester based artists to meet, exchange ideas and create artwork in response to the question ‘how multicultural is Manchester really?’
Participants were invited to come together at the Whitworth to enjoy British Art Show 9, curated by Irene Aristizábal and Hammad Nasar.
Artists also shared recipes throughout the exchange, printing them alongside works in a cookbook.
British Art Show 9
Worked with Bolton-based, youth-led collective Creatives Now to support the delivery of workshop sessions to develop young peoples artistic practice.
Between Nov 2023 and Jan 2024 I was commissioned by Bolton Council on behalf of CN to deliver sessions responding to the touring Knife Angel sculpture and associated anti-violence and aggression campaign.
In these sessions participants created sculptures based on objects and experiences from their homes, made wallpaper using motifs from the town centre, and decorated furniture to create an installation inspired by the peace and serenity they find in their private spaces, and sharing this with the local community.
Creatives Now Instagram
Saan1 is an independent art gallery in Northern Quarter, Manchester, uniting communities through their interdisciplinary events and exhibitions.
LAYERS was an exhibition organised by the gallery owners to bring together artists from Hong Kong and the local area.
Work explored the layers we have within us and consisted of elegant bowls, expertly crafted bags, hand-crafted Hong Kong-style bins (doubling as tea-light containers), mixed-media paintings and music performances throughout the weekend.
Saan1 Instagram
AFOS and Sugar Punch collaborated to deliver an evening exhibition and theatrical performance at Feel Good Club.
Just a little taste
Developed and managed an open-plan studio space for 7 artists in an old mill in Salford.
Together we ran 2 exhibitions and proposed a number of community-engagement opportunities.
The Yoghurt Labs
Celebrating the opening of our studio, I worked with resident artists in The Yoghurt Labs to curate an exhibition around ‘coming-together’. Held across the studio-space and the adjoining photography studio, friends and supporters were invited to enjoy an evening of art, music, and cocktails.
Yogurt
Homgoo Village is a community hub and garden in Toucheng, Yilan County, Taiwan. Local residents were invited to the workshop to collage with friends and strangers.
SUPERMARKET is one of the largest art fairs in Stockholm, Sweden, and in June 2023 I was invited to display work in s_truggling arts space’s stall. Along with other international artists, we were invited to ‘mail our struggles to Salford’, where they would then be taken to Sweden. For this exhibition I shared the ‘Consumption of ideas series’ charting the end of a relationship and the following period from the perspective of one of the lovers.
Supermarket
The Yoghurt Labs second exhibition, this time on the theme of Eviction. Artists from the Yoghurt Labs and across Greater Manchester shared work across 3 floors of gallery space at Saan1, telling stories of eviction of all kinds. Eviction from physical, emotional, and spiritual spaces were conveyed through paintings, sculpture, textiles, and video works of art.
Eviction
As part of Hebden Bridge heritage day, I exhibited artwork at the IOU Hostel around the themes of nature and connectedness to one another. The piece I shared was ‘Newt’s Rendezvous’, a figurative piece depicting our connection to one another along with our disconnection from nature.
HappeninginMcr collaborated with Afflecks to deliver a micro-gallery in one of their entrances. The work I shared was ‘Outside the hairdressers’ depicting motorbikes and other objects parked on the street waiting for their owners to return.
Afflecks micro gallery
Local artists worked with Sandbar to deliver an exhibition on cats. I shared a framed watercolour depicting how cats’ relationship with one another are, at times, influenced by their relationship with us humans.
Lost Cat Video
In collaboration with local artists and a new venue, The Wayfarer, I organised an exhibition encouraging artists from across Greater Manchester to reflect upon how their soundscapes are shaped and the influence this has upon us.
Artists reflected upon questions such as: What do we hear on our day-to-day commute? What does it sound like to spend time with friends in town? How do the sounds of Northern Quarter differ from the sounds of Green Quarter? How do the sounds of Salford compare to the sounds of Ordsall?
Sounds of the town
Exhibited ‘A Gamble of the heart to be found on a train – split between places and decisions, dice in motion’ at Manchester Open alongside 480 other local artists.
Manchester Open
Throughout May local artists were invited to create artwork to be exhibited in Suda Cafe in London. All work had to be made using the Suda Coffee Pencil, a pencil made from used coffee grounds. I held a watercolour workshop for patrons of the cafe.
