Ruby, Oil on canvas, 180 x 130cm

My paintings are about the experiences of women and most of my paintings are of women in a scene. Sometimes use these women to evoke feelings of alienation and paranoia, or to explore issues around one’s self-conception or social position.

During the pandemic, I created a chromatic series, featuring women in domestic interiors, inspired by a house I’d recently bought - a Victorian terrace in Gorton, Manchester - and the contemporary lives of me and my colleagues. The women in these paintings were linked by coincidence of name and place. ‘Ruby’, depicts two of my colleagues: Ruby, with whom I worked at the art shop Fred Aldous; and Ruby, who works at the Whitworth Art Gallery. They're posed in a parlour-like living space that has been recreated in the style of a Vallatton painting. The meeting of the Rubys was the meeting of parallel worlds.

This series had several references to famous male painters; but each time the mood is distorted, tense and uncertain. The subjects’ private thoughts are not as easily interpreted, the tropes of bourgeois comfort less reassuring. I think paintings of women in domestic interiors had an additional resonance during the pandemic too, when we all spent longer contemplating the physical contours of home.

A Gap in the Landscape, Sound

Bethany and Bertie are a creative duo, both hailing from the North originally (Thirsk and Chester respectively) and are now living in Amsterdam. Their works explore the intersection of the ecological crisis, extraction and exploitation, and loss and memory.  

Bethany is a soil scientist, creative practitioner, and writer. She is a co-founder of RE-PEAT, which works to bring more appreciation to peatlands. They draw attention to their socioeconomic, cultural and environmental entanglements and importance. The last few years have highlighted the deep need for artists to navigate complex and interlinked crises we are facing and express the future in ways that are imaginable and compelling. She is currently studying an MFA in Planetary Poetics at the Sandberg Institute.

Bertie is a musician (multi-instrumentalist, producer and composer) as well as a poet and writer. Alongside these primary artistic pursuits, he also sketches and does woodworking. His works are strongly rooted in hip-hop and jazz (particularly bop), and, thematically, often centre on the struggles of marginalised communities and his own mental health. A keen interest in film and gaming composition as well as direction and writing buttresses these endeavours. These influences can often be seen in the underlying structures of his pieces.

Physical Smoochin, Silver birch, metal, tung oil

Physical Smoochin’s whittled indentations monumentalise the touch of two lovers, briefly separated, leaning over a kissing gate to embrace. By solidifying these ephemeral moments between walkers and human-made interventions in the Northern landscape, the artist emphasises the intimate trace left by each interaction between skin and wood. The audience is invited to pass through the gate, discover the intricate whittling and place their hands in the outlines of those who have travelled before them. The activation of Physical Smoochin allows for an endless recreation of a timeless ritual; the viewers become performers whilst the sculpture collects traces of their passing.

The gates creation was bought about by the artists series of work inspired by Pendle Hill. Physical Smoochin exists as a queering of the kissing gate at the base of the hill that greets walkers on their passage. Through the piece the artist explores what it is to be openly gay in the Northern rural landscape, and the juxtaposition of the freedom and comfortability that they feel in this environment with the inherent risk that comes with existing as a queer person in small rural communities.

4a. Land of Kings, Photopolymer Etching on Paper, 8No 20cm x 6cm

4b. Land of Kings, Single Channel Digital Tapestry, 4.16 mins

Donald Shek is a 2nd generation British Chinese visual artist, his current visual works from the ‘Land of Kings’ series explores a strand of British Chinese life in the UK, with its beginnings inspired by the lived experiences growing up in a takeaway shop in the North of England. Donald has been playing with the written word for ‘King’ in Chinese written as ‘王’ using 4 strokes, representing Heaven, Man and Earth, with the King unifying all three; as a thematic framework to delve into the intricate tapestry of British Chinese Identity(life) and the ¹personas we construct to navigate this world.These personas are shaped by societal expectations and evolve over time, often at the expense of our true selves. As we adapt, we suppress parts of our authenticity, and the line between our true essence and the persona blurs. The 'King' becomes a facade, a mask reflecting the ideal, but this control leads to repression, creating a shadow of what’s hidden and denied.

¹The Persona: The social mask or facade that individuals present to the outside world, often reflecting societal expectations and norms.

On another landlocked day he looked into the canal and saw dolphins, Engraved Sign, 115x210mm

Challenging what he perceives as a narrow, limited view perpetuated of late by artists and galleries, Elliott Flanagan addresses “the north” and “class” in his practice as an act of reclaiming, and redefining values and aspirations.

Navigating carefully beyond archetypes mined from acid house raves, terrace culture, heritage and industrial tradition as defining features of northern culture, he argues for a new narrative, widening representation away from dialect, vernacular and quaintness.

Burnley bus station where the clock transports you back and forward in time, the local petrol station resembles a spotlit American road movie and the gap between lock-ups is a portal, the backstreet a cycle speedway. Blackpool. Rochdale. Bradford. Oldham. Lost and found places of comedy and tragedy, passion and yearning.

“Dolphins” marks the inner lives of northerners, the way we create a working, living dialogue between internal fantasy and external obligations. A unique voice based in realism underpinned by an intensity of the everyday. From the quotidian to the sublime. Transfiguration in the cinematic north. Hope and ambition in the face of inequality. The north looking out towards the world.

Elliott Flanagan is a multimedia artist and writer exploring class, identity, memory and transfiguration in his work via writing, moving image, sound art, installation, performance, spoken word, co-creation and collaboration.

Tower Cranes Study II, Repeated risograph printed tiles, 1.3 x 2.7m

himHallows is the working name of Paul Hallows, an artist and multi-disciplinary creative practitioner based at the Engine House studio in Salford's Islington Mill.

Part of Paul’s art practice is creating large, repeating patterns revealing infrastructural systems and their extent and reach. Each pattern tile represents a single scene and our experience of it. Stepping back, the tile repeats at every edge, part of a much larger system with logically absurd boundaries, reflecting societal use and pressure on these systems. The seeds for this began with an off-season visit to Jesolo in Italy and encountering the regimented rows of sun loungers packed onto the beaches. The neverending, factory-like scene would lead back in Manchester to seeing patterns in other architecture and infrastructure.

The first result of this infrastructure-as-patterns exploration started with a shipping container study in 2018 (based on a shipping container storage site near Trafford Park). This pattern started a series of A1 - A0 prints titled infrastructure that was exhibited at the Modernist Gallery. Since then, this exploration has evolved in scale, construction and print methods. This led last year to a series of 3m tall risograph print patterns exhibited at Altogether Otherwise, Manchester as an exhibition titled SCALE.

Walking on silver waters (2025), Glazed stoneware, steel rods, metal support structure, casted pewter, hagstone, 165 x 40 x 40 cm

Rio Darwin is a sculptor of experiences, translating the ephemerality of place into tangible forms through the synthesis of ceramics and metalwork. Fascinated by the resilience of East Yorkshire’s Holderness Coast, Rio’s work envisions the evolving landscapes of our future ecology.

Through constructing an interdependency between delicate ceramics and structural metal, Walking on silver waters (2025) honours the dynamic relationship between vulnerability and resilience. The tension within these materials nurtures a dialogue surrounding the ephemerality of nature and the stability of manmade; questioning how these conflicting materials will converge to form future landscapes.

Ode to Wright & Co, Oil on Canvas Board, 23 x 30cm

Christina Catherine is a classical artist based in Leeds. With a background in mathematics, she brings an analytical approach to traditional still life, often working on a small scale and with a focus on fine detail.

Her practice is rooted in the disciplined use of a limited palette, beginning with alla prima techniques to capture immediacy and form. These foundations are then refined through methodical layering, allowing for buildup of detail and depth. Her work balances structure with sensitivity, inviting close observation.

Ode to Wright & Co is inspired by a return to the artist’s hometown of Hull, where she spent her formative years. At the heart of the work is an implicit reference to the city’s historic annual fair, where Wright & Co brandy snap has long stood as an iconic element of the experience. The piece serves as a symbol of shared cultural memory - a sensory link to tradition, place, and identity. The work invites viewers to reflect on how context shapes meaning: whether the image reads as an ordinary snack or as a poignant emblem of Northern heritage depends on personal experience, familiarity, and cultural connection.

Northern Willow (Chippy Fork) 2019-ongoing, Porcelain, 8cm x 1 cm

Northern Willow is an ongoing investigation which considers how location might shape cultural identity. The traditional willow pattern was originally brought from the Orient, partly to satisfy the Victorian lust for the exotic. The images and techniques were adopted, copied and mythologised in the West into the generic and multiple iterations we see and understand today. This re-appropriation distorts our understanding of place. How does a typically Eastern aesthetic become a very visible marker of Englishness?

Northern Willow is a reimagining. Ian Clegg and Angela Tait reinterpret the pattern with local imagery, using the process to think through local identity with a wide ecological lens. The apple trees and factories sit alongside the Manchester Ship Canal and Jodrell bank in playful distorted symmetry with the weeping willows and pagodas of its ubiquitous ancestor. The support for this imagery, not mass-produced earthenware plates and platters, but handmade, fine porcelain casts of disposable crockery. Chippy forks, cardboard cups and tinfoil trays. Each seemingly similar but with unique anomalies courtesy of the making process. This misuse of materials giving more than a knowing nod to the current discourses surrounding recycling and the ongoing - sometimes heart-breaking - daily images of the earth’s increasing burdens. 

Not In The Mood, Acrylic on Board, 140 x 110cm

Sarah is a second year on the MFA programme at Glasgow School of Art and a recipient of the Leverhulme Master of Fine Art Scholarship. Since moving to Glasgow, Sarah has exhibited at Strange Field, South Block Gallery, New Glasgow Society and the Glue Factory. After graduating from Wimbledon College of Art in 2014, she was shortlisted for the Works in Print Art Graduates Prize, selected for the Clyde & Co Art Award Collection and longlisted for Saatchi New Sensations. In 2024, Sarah was shortlisted for the BEEP Painting Prize. More recently, she was selected for the RBA Rising Stars exhibition, which will take place in May 2025. Sarah’s practice deals with the fractured relationship she has with nature. After moving to Scotland, she began to paint landscapes, but landscapes from the perspective of someone who spends a lot of time indoors, staring at their phone. Her paintings play with how we experience images in a world overflowing with them. At first, they seem like familiar scenes you might have scrolled past on Instagram, but they refuse to sit still. They flip back and forth between making perfect sense and reminding you that you’re looking at a painting. 

'Barmcake', 'Bap', 'Muffin', 40 x 30cm; Sculpture, ‘Untitled’ on White Porcelain Plate, 20 x 20cm

This artwork looks to challenge the cliched view of the North & its people. Interest in ‘Northerners’ often comes with a side of condescension - feigned humour focused on language, dialect & colloquialism, barely masking the reality of class stereotyping. It aligns with the view of the North being ‘other’, a place of triviality or tribalism. These works utilise the ‘bread roll debate’, the most overused & hackneyed form of geographical marker, and display them in the context of street tags, as a performative act of marking territory & seeking validation.

After all, this is all we care about, and this is all we are. Baps, Muffins or Barmcakes.

Based in Manchester, Laurie Driver is a visual artist exploring themes of personal & national identity, class and consumerism, through the lens of modern-day Britain. Their work focuses on language & wordplay & humour, often employing the visual tropes of advertising for clear & direct communication. 

Recent collaborations include film artwork for The Face x Nike, an interactive census installation at the Fete of Britain, and stage design for Shangri La at Glastonbury. Their artworks are often contextually displayed in public, but they have recently shown in exhibitions such as the Manchester Contemporary, HOME Open, Weserhalle, Paradise Works & Seesaw.

Mill, Canal, Yard, Kitchen. 2024, White valance from Sue Ryder, Catford, Net Curtain from Facebook Marketplace, Baby DK wool from Salvation Army, Catford. 115cm x 115cm

Sometimes a tablecloth is not just a tablecloth. In 1920s Middlesbrough my great gran Alice crocheted a border of lace for her daughter, my gran Loretta. It was a birthday present – the only thing they could afford because they were so hard up. Flash forward to Streatham in the 1950s and Loretta made a cutwork tablecloth and stitched onto it the lace border that Alice had made her. There are no photos of it and its whereabouts is a mystery so I decided to recreate it using half-remembered skills, hearsay, YouTube and the rich pickings of Catford’s charity shops and Facebook Marketplace.

The story of the tablecloth, and my fascination with it, allowed me to map the matriarchal line in my family. From the Rochdale velvet mill where Alice worked as a young girl, to Middlesbrough of Loretta’s youth, and down to south London where the tablecloth was made.

Through this, the work explores traces of northern ancestry and connection to materials, skill and care that may well lie dormant within me and my children, lost but perhaps not forgotten. The tablecloth unpicks a central question: is making in the blood and culture, or is that just in my imagination?

Camera operator Alfie Anderson, HARES ON THE MOUNTAIN, varying dimensions

Katie Grenville (they/she, b. 1997, London, UK) is a multidisciplinary artist working across painting, film-making, writing, drawing, textiles, performance and installation.

Their work often explores themes of sexual relationships, as well as the politics of gender and the body, which she examines from her distinctly queer and radical-feminist viewpoint.

Katie lives and works in Glasgow, UK, where she is currently studying on the Master of Fine Art course at Glasgow School of Art on a full scholarship awarded by The Leverhulme Fine Art Bursary.

Clam, Takeaway container, fake pearl, chip fork

I work mainly in sculpture and installation.

I would rather lose my phone, wallet and keys than my notebook, I sleep next to it. I think objects have feelings and sometimes feel so drawn to material it wakes me up in the night. I am sometimes compelled to seek material by a force I respect deeply and don’t want to explain. I cannot believe it could be me. I think Churches and Factories are the same thing. I love horses in a way that it physically pains me sometimes. If I had a horse I wouldn’t make work.

‘Clam’ uses easily accessible materials, mass produced materials as a vessel for ideas about value, labour and beauty. Working-class art is often portrayed as mass and grit, that it can only exist within struggle etc. My motivation is to represent that it is only through grit and labour of creatures' bodies that a
pearl is created, and so it is with people.

The box suggests single-use and throw-away. The contents show my belief in the enduring beauty of and joy in the apparent every day and often overlooked - whether that be people, their labour or their heritage.

Pie in the Sky, Cardboard, papier-mâché, acrylic paint, spray paint, varnish, 500x500x120mm

Through a humorous lens, Broadley celebrates the objects, experiences and fascinations that have helped situate his position within society.

Recreating items from the digital realm in physical reality, replaying experiences from his youth and elevating familiar household objects, he brings a slice of humour into what he considers a catalogue of existence.

With cardboard acting as the common medium within this catalogue, Broadley inspects what makes an object representative of a community – generational pull, geographical significance, socioeconomic status.