FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR 2025 EXHIBITORS
Ones to Watch 2025 is our 12th annual exhibition of emerging artists and makers based in or from Yorkshire. This year’s 31 artists were selected by judges Karanjit Panesar, Gill Crawshaw and Helen Moore, along with our Arts Team.
ABBIE MOONEY
Abbie Mooney is an authorial illustrator and printmaker whose practice is grounded in her Northern working-class upbringing and her family’s own textile manufacturing heritage in West Yorkshire. Abbie’s practice explores material processes as a form of heritage-making, exploring how collagraph and other traditional printing methods can enliven and give weight to heritage narratives.
Blazing Away is a sequential project centred around a concertina book which celebrates the joy and collective moments shared on the railway. Taking original collagraphs and monoprints which have been reimagined through risograph printing, Blazing Away, brings together the emotional experience of trainspotting from the perspective of those who share a personal connection with these incredible locomotives. Either simply from sharing fleeting moments seeing them with family or having had a personal connection to their build and life on the mainline. Abbie uses traditional collagraph methods to build layers that observe the material qualities of key objects, such as railway sleepers, before scanning these originals in and reprinting them as risographs to give the prints their unique colour and overlays.
Abbie sees illustration as an opportunity to share heritage with contemporary audiences to enable our regional and collective identities to be relevant and celebrated for years to come. This project seeks to highlight the belonging felt by communities who come out to partake in these small moments of railway history. Abbie’s illustration practice covers a range of other industrial heritage topics including mining, brass bands and mills.
ALEGRIA REPILA SMITH
Using objects scavenged from around Leeds, Alegria transforms them into a series of quasi- musical instruments which illustrate the power of music and dance to transport people to and from the Underworld.
This connection is visible through well-known tales such as ‘Orpheus and Eurydice’ and ‘The Red Shoes’ as well as lesser-known true events such as the dancing mania plagues of the Medieval period. Alegria’s installation conjures up an absent or ghostly form playing these mysterious instruments, perhaps attempting to bring viewers along with them as they travel between life and death.
In a mind bending, morally ambiguous tapestry of truth and lies, history and fiction and the endless shades of grey areas between these traditionally polar states, boundaries are rendered obsolete, and chaos is restored to its rightful place as the natural order of things.
This work is part of Alegria’s ongoing exploration into the Shadow of Leeds. Employing traditional Trickster tools such as disguise, sleight of hand and a dubious relationship to objective truths, she hopes to reacquaint people with the unconscious sides of themselves and their world. Chaos is humanity’s origin, and she believes we should celebrate this, rather than shamefully condemning it to our unconscious, where it lurks, pulling the strings of our conscious mind.
ALICE BOOT
Alice Boot is an artist born in East Sussex, currently studying a BA in Fine Art at the University of Leeds. Their practice encompasses sculpture, drawing and installation as well as curating exhibitions and community-based projects.
Alice is concerned with unpicking the complex mysteries of fibre. Through a practice which spans deconstructing and reconstructing burlap and hessian, they seek to understand how fibre behaves, its vulnerabilities and sensibilities, and how it responds to manipulation. Through this laborious process, an intimate relationship is formed between Alice and the material, where the interactions of rough fibre, clay and skin are crucial to their works.
Alice’s research is inspired by post-war Polish women’s sculpture, where they continue to reference their use of found and organic materials to produce complex fragmented forms. Their visual vocabulary often responds to the natural fibres and knots found in coastal environments, where the colossal sea forces the decay and transformation of objects.
Through this research, Alice often combines clay, decaying metal and destroyed ceramic to interfere with the fibre’s hand-woven structure. This forced unification creates forms charged with resistance whilst delicately balancing a state of fragility and decomposition. This sculpture includes layers of deconstructed burlap with clay carefully woven through and coating each fibre. Its perforated form hangs in the space, creating an environment of instability and disruption. Alice navigates these deep tensions and entanglements, with this sculpture embodying the dialogue of hand to fibre contact.
ANGELIKA KACCOURIS
Angelika Kaccouris is a multidisciplinary artist currently completing a degree in Fine Art with Contemporary Cultural Theory at the University of Leeds. Although presently based in Leeds, Angelika grew up in North London and comes from Greek Cypriot heritage.
Her practice often focuses on themes of nature and meditation through grounding; the works encourage her audience into a hypnotic state by focusing for prolonged moments on small details of the natural world. In addition, Angelika’s work takes on a range of forms and mediums, including photography, video, poetry and sculptural installations.
Observe is a compilation of videos which were all taken from the same day during a walk in 2024. This piece is 2 Minutes, 58 Seconds and takes place in Meanwood Valley, Leeds.
“To watch Observe is to watch my own observations. The simple act of watching the world around us brings into focus its beauty and a personal calming mental state. While appreciating the world in Observe, there is a juxtaposition of it being merely a reflection of the real world presented on a screen. In a modern day where many of us experience a fast-paced environment, this piece aims to remind the audience how simple observation in your everyday can have significant mental health benefits.”
ANNABEL COHEN
Annabel Cohen is a Leeds-based photographer with roots in Hong Kong. Her work gravitates towards urban environments, capturing traces of human activity with minimal direct presence of people. Exploring the interplay between psychogeography and visual storytelling, she uses photography as a vessel for memory and meaning.
Annabel’s practice extends into alternative photographic methods, incorporating natural pigments and sustainable processes to create pieces that challenge traditional notions of permanence and representation. Her recent works dissect the role of the camera in social media, using these platforms to highlight cultural dynamics and question how digital tools shape identity and self-expression in contemporary society.
Marrying the Fleeting Images of Snapchat Selfies and Anthotypes juxtaposes the ephemeral nature of digital selfies with the impermanence of anthotypes. This series reinterprets Snapchat images from Annabel’s adolescence, transforming fleeting, performative moments into tactile anthotype prints created with natural pigments and UV light. Through this convergence of contemporary and traditional methods, the work interrogates themes of identity, impermanence and the evolving role of photography as a medium of self-expression.
The project reframes the often-dismissed selfie as a vital cultural artifact, emphasising its role in constructing and communicating identity in a digital age. The transitory nature of both the Snapchat images and the anthotype process parallels the erosion of memory and the performative aspects of teenage self-discovery. By celebrating imperfections, fading and fragility, her work bridges the fleeting and the enduring, inviting viewers to reflect on the ephemeral yet profound connections between photography, identity and memory.
ATIYYA MIRZA
Atiyya Mirza is British, Pakistani, Muslim artist based in Bradford. Her work explores themes of womanhood, empowerment, storytelling and identity through textiles and sculpture. She applies a sense of playfulness to her work, whilst showcasing topics important to her, such as breaking cultural barriers and stereotypes, exploring religion and relationship as well as language and heritage.
Great Women Chilling is an abstract textiles piece showing a group of women shown with exaggerated body features, in a relaxed and social setting. The figures are sitting and lounging together.
In this piece, Atiyya shows how rooms within the home become places for social interaction. Three of the women here are seen sitting on a couch whilst others sit or lie on the floor. They are gathered to share stories, ask advice and seek guidance from each other.
The inspiration for this work came from visiting a female only café ‘Lyari’ in Karachi, Pakistan as well as observing the women in her own family. Atiyya’s notes how her grandma has her own designated comfy armchair and how her mum slouches into the sofa after a long day of work. These everyday interactions have informed the stories told through Atiyya’s practice.
Her textile work shows women enjoying being in each other’s space and company. Embodying the concept of ‘women supporting each other’ – together they navigate personal challenges as well as aspirations and goals. Atiyya’s work celebrates the importance of these interactions and how they build an essential support network for women.
AURÉLIE NOTTELET
Aurélie Nottelet is a French artist living in Leeds. Whilst always enjoying art in a school setting, Aurélie persued a degree in psychology. After a challenging time in her life, she started painting again in 2017. She has continued ever since, for her art has become a therapeutic and transformative process.
Aurelie loves life, people and art and embeds this passion into her artwork.
She paints her abstract mixed-media works on paper in bold and expressive colours, creating a sense of joy and liveliness. Aurélie’s work is colorful, bright and sometimes fluorescent. The work is created using a variety of mediums such as acrylic paint, oil pastels, pencils and ink.
Aurélie creates very instinctively, focusing on the process and, by doing so, enables her unconscious to arise. She wants those looking at her artwork to feel the cheer and energy that radiates from the process of painting.
Working in an abstract way allows freedom of expression for both the artist and the viewer. The viewer is able to project their thoughts and feelings onto paintings, and have them reflected back through their colours, textures and patterns.
CHARLOTTE WILKINSON
Charlotte Jane Wilkinson is a mixed media illustrator living in the Yorkshire Dales. Specialising in printmaking and digital Illustration, she is inspired by nature, history and human interaction, expressing forms though organic textured shapes.
The Wonky Guide to Ingleborough is an illustrated historical timeline of the mountain, Ingleborough, situated in the Yorkshire Dales. As an artist, Charlotte wanted to produce a project that was deeply rooted in nature and history, while showcasing the landscape through a new lens.
DISHA GUPTA
Disha Gupta is a Visual Communication student at Leeds Arts University. Her artistic journey began by expressing aspects of her Indian origin, but she has now grown to explore a wide range of themes and views.
Her work explores the intersections of design, storytelling, and experimental techniques, frequently combining cultural and traditional notions with digital technology to produce compelling narratives. She is deeply inspired by mythology, folklore, and everyday observations, and she incorporates these inspirations into visually complex and symbolic works.
Her most recent works investigate the interrelationships of humans and nature, with significant inspiration from Egyptian mythology and ancient symbolism. Each painting features fantastical beings with bird heads and human bodies, surrounded by celestial symbols, serpents, and a mysterious, gender-neutral entity. Her complex designs and vibrant forms explore issues of identity, transformation, and the cyclical aspect of existence. The evolution of these figures, from solitary people to a cohesive society gathered around a radiant sun, represents harmony, communal consciousness, and the endless dance of creation and rebirth.
Disha’s creative approach is quite intuitive, as she combines traditional mark-making skills with digital experimentation to create compelling, immersive narratives.
ELLIE ANDREWS
Ellie Andrews is an emerging portrait and figurative artist and the founder of Leeds Drawing Club. She studied Theatre Design at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts and after a period working as a set designer, returned to Leeds to set up Leeds Drawing Club in 2007.
Ellie runs life drawing and portrait sessions from her studio in Burley and regularly teaches life drawing courses to 6th form students in schools, and portrait workshops to University Fine Art students across Yorkshire.
In 2024 Ellie developed an exhibition called (M)OTHER, of which 2 pieces are exhibited as part of Ones to Watch.
The (M)OTHER exhibition was a series of large-scale charcoal portraits and working drawings of 5 Mothers that explore the difficult thoughts and challenging emotions that accompany becoming a mother and highlight how powerful creative expression is for mental health.
The pieces exhibited are of Gwyneth, Ellie’s close childhood friend and fellow mother. Using fragments of memories, a shared history, and a Summer spent together talking, laughing, and drawing, Ellie created many working studies and a large-scale portrait of Gwyneth. The resulting portraits reflecting personal, honest and fragile moments between the artist and sitter.
This project was about maternal subjectivity, placing mothers front and centre, encouraging us to reflect on how our society presents the concept of motherhood in particular to the next generation of women, and to make sure we are having open and honest conversations about the reality of the experience.
ERIN VALLANCE & CHARLY SCHOLES
‘Lovers of a Violet Sky’ are Lesbian Kites.
Lesbian Kites are for everyone to see.
They are from us (Dykes), to you (Dykes).
Lesbian Kites depict the freedom of our future,
and the solidarity of our past.
They say, ‘I am a Dyke with you’
Erin Vallance and Charly Scholes are visual artists and collaborators currently based in Brighton. They make up one half of C U Next Tuesday Collective; a dyke art collective interested in the documentation and celebration of Lesbian identities, communities and histories through textile fabrications, such as banners and kites.
Lovers of a Violet Sky is the first build of their lesbian kite series; a series dedicated to visualising queer future freedoms. It is made up of two partner kites, one orange and one violet, as a nod to the progressive lesbian flag. They mirror each other, representing the artists’ relationship as a couple but also as their connection to one another through community. They are created as a celebration of their shared dyke identity, which has grown through finding and understanding the community as they get to know themselves. They make up a part of their larger, overarching project titled: I AM A DYKE WITH YOU.
EVE O'CONNOR
Eve O’Connor is an artist who primarily works with sculpture, currently studying Fine Art and History of Art at the University of Leeds. She recently returned from a year abroad studying sculpture at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts in Budapest. Eve’s practice currently explores the boundaries between architecture and sculpture.
Eve’s work has previously involved materialising unseeable facets of our surroundings through a sculptural medium. This has included sculptures based on the materialisation of sound, exploring how sound can be fabricated into a visual three-dimensional state.
Eve uses her sculptural practice to draw attention to neglected aspects of our architectural space through intervention, including the sounds of spaces and the inner workings of an architectural structure.
In her piece Burnt, the logs were designed to look like a part of the architectural element of the building they are being exhibited in – as if they had been burnt through the wires connecting them to the building’s structure. To create this effect, the wood has been charred, displayed in a partly decayed state, halted in the process of its disintegration. The allusion to the inbuilt structures of our everyday surroundings in the work references the inbuilt structures in the fabric of our society and how these structures are contributing to the global burning of our environment.
GAVIN EMBRIE
Gavin Embrie is a contemporary abstract artist based in Hull. His work is inspired by the often-overlooked details of urban landscapes, observed during walks around his home city.
He is particularly drawn to the way pavements crack, are repeatedly dug up, patched over, and repaired, revealing layers accumulated over time. Through his abstract compositions, Gavin reflects on themes of impermanence, transformation, and the traces left behind by these continual changes. His work uncovers the hidden stories of everyday spaces beneath our feet.
Gavin’s process begins with observing and capturing the shapes and patterns he encounters on his walks. Sometimes, he photographs these details; other times, he creates quick, intuitive sketches to capture their essence and the feeling of the moment. These sketches are not meant to replicate but to serve as impressions, forming the foundation for his paintings.
These observations are translated into abstract compositions using paint and various media, reinterpreted through layering, contrast, and the interplay between geometric and organic forms. This process explores the connection between subject, technique, and form.
Through layering, erasure, and discovery, Gavin’s creative process reflects both physical and metaphorical concepts of exploration and revision. His work explores the interplay between what is hidden and revealed, forgotten and rediscovered— mirroring the way pavements and histories reveal themselves through layers over time.
GEORGIA DALZELL
Georgia Dalzell is a Leeds based painter currently studying Fine Art at Leeds Arts University, having moved from the Lake District. Her oil paintings on canvas use cinematography to capture recognisable settings and landscapes that shift the viewer into a strange sense of familiarity.
To create her scenes, Georgia focuses firstly on the underpainting, using a mixture of oils and charcoal to sketch in the narrative of a setting. She then builds up specific areas of the canvas, occasionally leaving sections of the underpainting exposed to imitate qualities of light associated with film.
Georgia’s work is interested in the ways that ambience can be created through the mise-en-scene of film (including set design, blocking and lighting) and how that can be translated into paint. Imagery consists of dream-like empty spaces and solitary figures. These compositions inhabit a world of obscure dormancy that aims to capture the viewer in a spatio-temporal state, similar to the experience of engaging with cinema.
IZZIE HINTON SMITH
Izzie Hinton Smith is an illustrator, printmaker and storyteller. She uses contemporary narrative and character theory within illustration to translate obscure folklore into tangible works for a modern audience. Bright colours, texture and eclectic design reinvigorate local stories to both celebrate a previously trivialized art form and introduce their timeless themes of otherness, chaos and embracing the unknown.
Folklore was often used as a way to connect with the community and attempt to understand the world around us. Now locked frozen within fairytales and condescending historical records, Izzie uses their practice to reintroduce folklore as an ever-evolving collective knowledge – not literal stories of goblins and ghosts, but examinations of ourselves and how we interact with our landscape.
Hedgerows, Heresy and Hoodlum is a tapestry made using a combination of disperse dye, screen and relief printing. Both the process and the narrative combine contemporary and historical techniques to engage in new perspectives. It is a response to an obscure local poem “The Busky Dyke” by Rev T. Park, 1840. It is a product of its time, condemning the ‘brutish’ nature of folklore and spirits that haunt the local Knaresborough landscape. It also reflects the ‘collection’ of lore; locking the stories away from the collective consciousness of our community and freezing it in time.
JENNY BRADBURY
Jenny Bradbury is a multidisciplinary artist currently studying a BA (Hons) in Textiles Practice at Bradford School of Art. Jenny sees the world around her as a series of patterns, capturing and transforming this into a vision to create imaginative and abstract interpretations in textiles. Her passion for rich colour and texture enables Jenny to create embellished surfaces to playfully express her ideas.
Enriched Envelopments displays colourful textural and highly patterned three-dimensional textile sculptures which explore the postal system. It is based on mail communication and connections, focusing on the packaging being more than just a wrapper and becoming a separate item to admire and consider.
The inspiration for the collection came from living in The Old Post Office and informed by historical research and exploration of the 1950’s Mail Art movement. Additionally, from research of the Japanese practice of respect and gratitude when wrapping goods, Jenny focused on attractive external packaging. She used mixed media techniques to decorate the outer wrappers of a series of objects.
Enriched Envelopments links the postal system to people, places and memories, referencing the importance of connections created through the act of sending and receiving mail. This is echoed through the surface designs of the coverings, encouraging recipients to consider the aesthetics of mail and value the wrapper itself.
Informed by this research, and using a combination of screen printing, stitching, smocking and embellishment, a contemporary, playful and uplifting interpretation of the art of wrapping was created.
JESSIE DAVIES
Jessie Davies is an artist whose work highlights important yet fragile wetland and woodland environments that play a vital role in our wider ecosystems.
Living with multiple disabilities, including paraplegia and autism, Jessie’s access to and view of the rural environment result in an acute observation of small, overlooked objects which nestle in the landscape. Immersing herself amongst the foliage of these terrains, she creates textural paintings and ceramics, often incorporating materials found in these habitats.
Since engaging with a wheelchair-accessible pottery wheel in 2022, Jessie has developed a ceramics practice that complements her textural painting. Rooted in the wetland and woodland sites she studies, each ceramic piece is wheel-thrown by Jessie and then shaped through carving, forming, and layering with various materials, including wild clay, mine ochre, oxides, and slips. The pieces are finished with glazes that use natural materials found in the sites, like reeds, leaves, charcoal, and twigs.
By merging personal lived experience with broader environmental narratives, Jessie invites viewers to contemplate their own role in preserving the fragile balance of our natural world.
LINDA CASSELS
Linda Cassels is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores identity, memories and the interconnectivity of being human. Linda uses performance, installation, photography and objects to investigate and question the world around her.
The temporality of time, meaning and self are often questioned through the materials she uses. Linda’s work can be described as eclectic, but the thread that runs throughout is narration. Linda often describes her sculptures as an attempt to capture and freeze a moment in time and investigate the truth within that moment.
Linda makes use of found objects to reframe archival material, or familiar objects that already have a societal value, and add something that lends context to her heritage, memory or past to find a common understanding of the image. Surrealism, repetition and the concept of line or thread as a starting point are often visible in her work. Her practice functions within the realms of the abstract and storytelling, drawing on the participation and empathy of the audience and celebrating our collective consciousness.
LISA RISBEC
Lisa Risbec is a visual artist based in West Yorkshire with a background in photography and facilitation, having worked as a creative facilitator, mentor & researcher for over 10 years. After taking a break to study an MA in Fine Art, she now works on her own practice. Lisa explores themes of materiality, archives, personal histories and collecting – and as an artist having dealt with chronic illness, research on accessibility and care. Alongside her practice she works as an Imaging Assistant at John Rylands Library.
Lisa works with found and crafted materials and objects and systems of organising and arranging. Her practice centres memory and how objects relate to our emotions and bodies, retelling stories using quilting and embroidery combined with found objects, print, ceramics, performance, moving image, sound and text.
The installation The Weight of it All, shares a retelling of a personal grief ritual; inviting the audience to listen, sit and reflect. The blanket is embroidered with an incantation or poem, quilted and then filled with pebbles collected from the beach a year earlier after a bereavement. It aims to soothe and comfort and sits alongside the bench to create a space to reflect. The installation also features an audio loop, text and field recordings, placing the audience at the site of remembrance.
MEG WILLIAMS
Originally from Leicestershire, Meg Williams is inspired by anything and everything from the smallest details in everyday life to deeper, emotional happenings, leading her to use her creativity as an outlet. Meg is in her final year studying Fashion Photography at Leeds Arts University.
Her latest project Grin and Bear It explores politics and its effect on her generation – Gen Z.
Shot digitally in Blackpool, Grin and Bear It is a satirical finger point to the letdown Gen Z has faced from the political system. At a time when we are most impacted by the government’s choices, we are left to face the consequences of laws and policies we weren’t at legal age to vote for, e.g. Brexit. Gen Z is supposedly the future, yet the government doesn’t hear our cries? We are simply expected to grin and bear the state our country is in, despite being unable to have a say on many important policies that are now in place. The fallout is now ours to live with.
MILES DYSON
Miles Dyson is a children’s illustrator based in the coastal town of Maryport. Miles’ work primarily focuses on his personal experiences as a way for him to heal and put light on topics which can sometimes be uncomfortable to discuss.
Miles recently developed a children’s book My Mum Named Me Twice, which he wrote and is currently in the process of illustrating. The story explores coming out as trans, portrayed in a positive light, through rich symbolism and scratchy oil pastel to visualise the sharp and complex emotions.
Miles’ current project is about his bond with his kitten Sookie and how they need each other. The narrative of the work has themes of depression and anxiety. Miles believes bringing these difficult topics to children’s publishing can act as a conversation starter between parent/carer and child. He makes these stories with the hope that this will help the child understand themselves better.
OLIVER WALTON
Oliver Walton is a self-taught artist from Bradford. Despite a longstanding interest in art, it took him until 2019 to start drawing and painting with intent. His work began focusing on landscapes in his local area; more recently, he has been searching further afield, whilst still keeping an eye on the everyday familiar.
The three selected works in Ones to Watch are an initial attempt at introducing subtle distortions and an altered perspective to unremarkable scenes taken from locations around UK suburbs and towns. The chosen subjects – garages, a wheelie bin, junction boxes – are functional objects in daily life that contain and conceal, and are mostly meant to blend in, be ignored or remain out of sight.
OLIVIA HAWKSWELL
Olivia Hawkswell is a 22-year-old artist based in Liverpool. She is originally from a farm in North Yorkshire, an environment that has profoundly influenced her work.
Her vibrant figurative oil paintings feature a neon pink acrylic base, combined with oil paint and pastels.
Through playful colour choices, she blurs the line between reality and fiction, contrasting artificial tones with traditional nature-based palettes.
Goats frequently appear in her practice, a subject matter tied to her farming upbringing and one that continues to inform her exploration of the innate human desire to connect with animals. This work employs a looping narrative to explore the tension between human will and nature’s resistance, capturing the absurdity of repeated efforts to impose control.
PAUL EMSELL
Paul Emsell is a self-taught artist based at Barkston House in Holbeck, Leeds. Originally a painter, his works have become increasingly sculptural in recent years, typically assembled from a wide range of materials.
Solar Tree is one of a series of works dealing with symbiosis, and how the creative process stretches the imaginative faculty, which in turn affects memory. There is the linear and the circular, and somehow, they must coexist.
What is depicted could be a cosmology of sorts, but then it could be little more than an arrangement of paint, wood and wire. It is the interplay of the materials that interests him as much as the meanings he ascribes to them.
SABA SIDDIQUI
Saba Siddiqui is a multimedia artist based in Yorkshire whose work centres the experiences of Global Majority people living in the U.K. to investigate notions of home and identity.
Saba uses colour, pattern and texture to challenge stereotypes around her ethnicity, evoke nostalgia and celebrate how two cultures can interact. Her practice explores the contributions of South Asians to Yorkshire’s textile past; during the 1950-70s many Pakistani migrants worked in the mills here. Numerous British clothing brands run factories in Pakistan, where highly skilled tailors operate in poor conditions.
Engl ~ ish is a handmade flag of the St George’s Cross. The white is made from Saba’s late grandmother’s Islamic prayer scarf, and the cross is made up of lino prints inspired by timeless patterns found in her South Asian clothing and jewellery. The England flag is often associated with masculine, rowdy football fans but as an Asian Muslim girl, Saba played football, which was a challenging hobby to have.
The traditional red stripes have a pink tint to challenge these gender stereotypes and celebrate the sewing skills passed down the female line of her family.
Saba’s work has become increasingly important given the growing far right presence in England and beyond. Her degree show installation Defiance My Way won the People’s Choice Award for the 2024 FUAM Graduate Art Prize and she is a recipient of the Berkofsky Award. Siddiqui is making work for a Bradford 2025 art exhibition and undertaking a curatorial fellowship at Barnsley Museums.
SUE GREEN
Sue Green was born in Huddersfield; her ancestral heritage is rooted within Textiles in Yorkshire. She has a BA Hons in Textiles, a PGCE and an MAFA with Distinction. Teaching Art for many years, she currently lives in Somerset and is a member of the Textile Study Group.
16 Hours is a tribute to the hidden labour of women in the textiles industry, celebrating woollen mill workers with strong familial connections. When researching archives of mill history, she discovered punishing work schedules.16 hours per day was standard practice. The installation is 32-yards of stitched cotton rag paper and a nod to migrant workers underpinning the labour force and keeping the industry afloat.
Stitching for 16 hours per day in solidarity with the workers, Sue remained faithful to the original schedule and early starts were required. An emotional, immersive challenge ensued, even after only stitching for a week. A kind of metaphorical veil or a portal to the past is imagined here as conversations with her great grandparents emerge. They produced worsted cloth in the 1900s until a mill fire destroyed their livelihoods.
Sue collected ephemera from old mill sites to make charcoal and recreated 19th century recipes for black dye at the cusp of the Industrial Revolution to achieve a permanent black.
The intention is a resonance of the past within a large scale and imposing work. It is hoped that there is sufficient intrigue in the delicate lace-like structure for it to be viewed intimately, as herein lie the deeper narratives to be discovered within the ephemeral shadows, cast against the walls of such an iconic building as Sunny Bank Mills Gallery.
TAFSIA MUZIB DANA
Tafsia Muzib Dana is a Bangladeshi painter based in Leeds, currently pursuing a BA(Hons) in Fine Art at Leeds Arts University. Her work explores the transience of things, whether it’s the rusting of window grills, the wear of leather boots, or the fading interaction between two people. The fleeting nature of these moments imbues them with deeper meaning. Everything leaves behind a record of history, an untold story.
Tafsia’s paintings are records of moments, observations, conversations, and interactions that have been left behind but not forgotten. In other words, her paintings are like looking at one’s past through a dusty windowpane. These works are created entirely from memory, with the image gradually emerging over several months. As she makes changes and contemplates each step, she develops a clearer visualisation of the final piece.
In her paintings, she blends fragmented memories, using misremembering as a tool to reimagine and transform past experiences into new compositions. She begins with a specific memory but allows the confusion of merging details to guide the work’s evolution.
Recurring motifs, such as fans, windows, and cats, hold personal significance for Tafsia. The fan evokes a rhythmic calm and windows act as a bridge between the interior and exterior. The cats in her work embody the changing moods of a home. Their forms and expressions appear almost fluid, shifting in response to the environment around them. In this way, the way a cat sits or behaves often mirrors the mood Tafsia seeks to convey in her paintings.
TOMISI LOUSSALA
Ship to Ridley Road Market is about the shipment process of goods (in this case lemons), to the UK specifically. The use of metal cast lemons represents the welcoming of an exotic yet overlooked fruit into the country. Materials like bronze, bring attention to the mundanity of the lemon, it becomes appreciated and noticed.
The lemon seed talks about the importance of seeds and growth, its size brings attention to the fact that it is manufactured with technology. Ridley Road Market is significant within this work, as it is linked to Tomisi’s childhood, memories and identity.
Tomisi’s reproduced objects are given agency and autonomy, escaping familiarity by conflicting their original purpose and disregarding their true material. This is done through casting these objects into various materials ranging from metal, resin, plaster and plastic, and giving the reproduced object a new purpose and identity. Her intention is to create a visually appealing quality and tactility to her sculptures.
TWINKLE AND EHSAN MOJAVER
Two Voices, One Vision is a collaborative exploration of colour and cultural identity by Indian artist Twinkle, and Iranian artist Ehsan Mojaver. This project blends Indian and Iranian artistic traditions, focusing on the emotional and symbolic resonance of the colours red, blue, yellow, and green.
Through 30 minimalist wooden blocks arranged in a rhythmic grid, the artists invite viewers to reflect on memory, identity, and the power of shared experiences. Against the grey tones of England, this installation offers a vibrant reminder of the warmth and diversity of their homelands.
Twinkle draws from India’s Rasa philosophy; crafting works that evoke deep emotional resonance through a vibrant palette and intricate expressions. Her art bridges tradition and modernity, celebrating shared human experiences that transcend boundaries.
Ehsan explores minimalism and abstraction, inspired by the symbolic elegance of geometric forms and the psychological impact of colour. His serene compositions create contemplative spaces, encouraging personal connections through harmonious simplicity.
Together, Twinkle and Ehsan use colour as a universal language, bridging cultural divides and evoking comfort and belonging. Their collaboration celebrates the richness of their individual heritages while inviting viewers into a shared dialogue about identity and connection.
UNA THE WIMPER
Una Lo is a UK-based jeweller, skull lover, and sustainable fashion designer from Hong Kong. Her passion for metalwork was ignited during a year-long journey across Europe, inspiring her to pursue a degree in jewellery and metalwork at Sheffield Hallam University. Known for reinterpreting skulls, Una’s work challenges traditional views of mortality, exploring life’s fragility and memory through intricate craftsmanship.
Many people hesitate to talk about death. Skulls and skeletons are often stereotyped as symbols of danger or darkness. As a skull lover, Una has encountered those who label their work as ‘dark art,’ with some even expressing fear at the creations. Una’s goal is to challenge these perceptions and offer a fresh, thoughtful perspective on mortality.
Jewellery is not merely about crafting beautiful objects -it’s about creating vessels of remembrance. Each piece invites reflection and contemplation, carrying the emotional weight of personal and collective memory. Una’s work offers comfort during times of mourning and serves as a reminder to embrace life with gratitude and intention.
Through these designs, Una aims to spark curiosity and encourage audiences to explore the intricate relationship between life and death. Jewellery becomes a bridge – a tangible connection to memory, reflection, and the human experience.
Una’s project, The Episode, won the BA Best Design Award (2018). Continuing with an MA, her final project, Immortality Within Mortality, earned both the Sheffield Assay Office Silver Bursary and the Sheffield Assay Masters Recognition Award – Highly Commended (2024).
XIA HOOPER-AINSWORTH
Xia is in her third year at the University of Leeds, studying Fine Art and Contemporary Cultural Theory. In addition to her fine art practice of painting and multi-media works, she paints scenery for touring theatre productions and has assisted in producing large-scale murals.
Xia’s practice centres around intuitive pastel and charcoal drawings and the refinement of these forms into rendered oil paintings. The work plays with depth, creating intersecting abstractions which utilise atmospheric and solid line to create energetic forms and a sense of movement.
The surface of the work is a key element, often rejecting the traditional rectangular format. By exploring shape and texture, Xia invites the surface, be it canvas, paper or wood, to come into conversation with the abstracted forms of the work.
A convergence of abstract, surreal and realist elements, Cup of Tea is an intuitive exercise which considers the distortion and relation of form, weight, texture and colour. Its oscillating depths almost form a viable space, but not quite, as the claustrophobic figures anchor the drifting shapes.
There is a sense of entanglement and idleness yet also a reaching and expanding, it is as though we are observing the moment before an event.
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