COLLECTIONS

• UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER'S CENTRE FOR JEWISH STUDIES AND THE JOHN RYLANDS RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND LIBRARY

• MANCHESTER MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

• PRESTON PARK MUSEUM & GROUNDS

• TEES ARCHIVES (DORMAN MUSEUM)

• WEST CHESHIRE MUSEUMS

• EAST STREET ARTS

• MADE WITH MANY

• KIRKHAM'S LOCAL HISTORY & HERITAGE COLLECTION

ILLUSTRATOR-RESEARCHER/CONSULTANT:

HISTORY / HERITAGE & SOCIALLY ENGAGED / SITE-SPECIFIC COMMISSIONS & RESIDENCIES

British Academy Leverhulme Small Grant with City, University of London, London (Oct 2024 - Jul 2026)

Power Grids: Researching Community Energy Infrastructures Through Comics with Dr Dominic Davies – plan and deliver comics-based research community workshops for data gathering and co-create research comics.

Endangered Wooden Architecture Programme (EWAP) Cultural Grant (Arcadia), Hosted by Oxford Brookes University and Delivered in Collaboration with CyArk - Vernacular Housing Compounds along the Borderline of Bulgaria and Serbia in the Western Balkan Mountain - Documenting Endangered Wooden Buildings and Related Oral Stories (Aug 2024 - Aug 2025)

Research Associate, field work documentation, mapping, and visualisation of dilapidated houses and folkloric housing spirits, location reportage drawing - co-ordinate illustration and ethnographic data gathering, conduct oral histories and reminiscence interviews, provide English-Bulgarian translation and interpretation, finalise data for project submission, project logo design, design of glossary, and project website maintenance.

Buckinghamshire Council Libraries, Buckinghamshire in collaboration with Buckinghamshire Archives, Marlow Museum, Amersham Museum (Aug 2024 -) Arts Council England National Lottery Heritage Grant

Lead Artist/project and artists’ management - Art Unites: Our Stories (Creative communities: A visual arts journey in Bucks Libraries) (Amersham, Princes Risborough, Marlow, Bourne End) - community consultation, questionnaires, and open heritage days - gather oral histories and memories about the region’s history and heritage; archival research in Buckinghamshire Archives; plan and deliver arts-based skills sharing workshops in Amersham and Princess Risborough Libraries; help recruit two local artists for Marlow and Bourne End Libraries and train them in community co-creation. Collate all textual and visual outcomes generated during all workshops and co-create a travelling exhibition across all four towns/libraries in Spring 2025.

City, University of London, London (Jun 2024-)

Reimagining Infrastructure – plan and deliver a comics-based research workshop (14 June 2024) for data gathering and co-create a research comic with Dr Dominic Davies; develop the visual identity (design a logo and poster) for Thinking Through Infrastructure Network.

Benjamin Franklin House, London (Jun 2015 - ) (National Lottery Heritage Funded 2017, 2018)

Illustrator in Residence - researched Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, and his life and work in London; developed a children’s activity book Benjamin Franklin: At Home in London (published in 2019 and consisting of reusable stickers, a map, spot the difference and puzzles) and site-specific illuminations used as educational projections to enrich young audiences’ experiences during historical re-enactments and as part of Franklin’s Fables to encourage children to write stories; illustrated and designed bespoke merchandise for the museum shop (fridge magnets, notebooks, bookmarks); devised activity sheets; delivered talks and mixed media illustration workshops for museum visitors and school children; independent study conceptualising and exploring comics-as-maps-as-poetry as a comics-based research methodology for visualising histories of migration through co-creation from a child’s perspective).

Barnsbury Team Ministry, St Andrew’s Church, Thornhill Square, Islington, London (May 2024 - Mar 2025) (National Lottery Heritage Funded)

Creative Community Practitioner - My Barnsbury: Past, Present, Future – working with the Community Engagement Facilitator and using archive material and photographs as inspiration, lead on a creative exploration of local heritage stories, bringing to life examples of people from the past that lived in Barnsbury in the 1850s when St Andrew’s Church was first built. Lead on discussions about memories of Barnsbury in the past and what it is like living there today listening and responding to participants' memories. Inspired by the gathered oral histories with St Andrew’s Church’s congregation, local community groups and residents living on estates near the Church, plan and deliver x10 mixed media creative learning sessions at St Andrew’s Primary, Thornhill Primary, and Montessori Schools to respond to the heritage stories and co-create two outputs: generate content for a large-scale pop-up portable exhibition at the church to tour community venues and estates around Barnsbury and wider Islington including Jean Stokes Community Centre, Islington Library, and Islington Museum and Heritage Centre; using high quality, recycled materials, create a time capsule celebrating life in Barnsbury today to be displayed at the Church.

Kingswood House, London (May 2024 - Mar 2025) (Funded by Historic England)

Lead Community Artist – working with volunteers and stakeholders, interpret the research conducted by historic researchers and community archivists (Dulwich Society Local History Studies and a PhD researcher at the University of Greenwich) and local people into the design and delivery of a permanent physical and digital exhibition telling the story of the Kingswood Estate from 1811-present day + future, with a focus on working class people. Lead on the design, procurement, and curatorial display of physical assets. Working with Kingswood Arts, develop and deliver 6 art activities for community groups and schools centred around the project. Working with a photographer and Kingswood Arts, help plan and deliver a launch event at which projections linked to the project will be displayed on the outside of the building; lead on a community exhibition committee.

Buckinghamshire Libraries and Culture Services, Wendover (managed by Buckinghamshire Council)

(Oct 2022 - Dec 2024) Wendover Community Library commission – independent research and research in Buckinghamshire Archives; collaborate with local communities/schools/staff/volunteers to co-produce a series of permanent installations as part of the library’s redevelopment to inform the design scheme for the rest of the library space, including lighting and signage. Aims: maximise the impact of the new library refurbishment with a digitally created word-image installation that is inspired by Wendover’s heritage and contemporary communities; develop interactive eye-catching designs (rhymes/riddles/poetry/games/art)that increase visibility and work with and complement the internal architecture (new extension to the front of the building housing the reception) and external architecture (down a side road off the main road and a small internal garden); work with a colour scheme that is complementary to the dementia-friendly palette chosen for the library; plan and deliver family-friendly (hi)storytelling creative workshops at Wendover Community Library; provide creative consultation and attend regular meetings to report milestones to the Culture and Leisure Services Development Manager (development of project plan, community engagement, sign off of final design, fabrication and installation); risk assessment, evaluation procedures, and reporting.

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(Oct 2022-) Co-lead on a fundraising campaign relating to enhancing the library’s children’s section/space - conduct research, develop artistic concepts/designs and lead on community engagement, identify practical considerations (materials, solutions) and advise on fabrication and installation, help produce marketing materials to communicate the ideas and drive the campaign.

University of Bristol (Aug - Oct 2024) (Arts and Humanities Research Council funded) in partnership with the Anglican Mission to Seafarers and Hull History Centre

Mariners: Race, Religion and Empire, 1801-1914 - archival research of marine missions and the experience of seafarers in British ports in the 19th century; historical visualisation using visual and textual evidence from archives and interviews with marine chaplains. Produce a graphic narrative triptych about race and wellbeing, religion and ritual, empire and identity for a travelling research exhibition in Bristol, Hull, Liverpool, London, 2025).

University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield (Jul - Oct 2024) (Funded by The British Academy Leverhulme Small Research Grant)

Huddersfield Centre for Research in Education and Society - research visualisation - create a series of black and white interactive illustrations based on photographs of work trays with annotations and activities for children for a freely available toolkit to be used by early years practitioners and in journal publications and conference presentations about the project; the trays illustrations will be coloured in by children.

IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society, London

(Sep - Oct 2024) Logo design for the new Instagram page of UCL’s MA Museums and Galleries in Education.

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(Nov 2022 - Feb 2024) Thomas Coram Research Unit, UCL Social Research Institute - Partition of Identity Study - 50 Years on since the inception of Bangladesh - Kaghazi Kashtiyan (Paper Boats): The Pakistani Bengali Story; using archival documentary sources and oral history interviews, created a graphic narrative book highlighting how members of the Pakistani-Bengali minority community traverse the space between being Pakistani and being Bengali with a focus on migration and settlement, statelessness and a lack of citizenship rights, sense of identity and (un)belonging, social and cultural representations. Used young people’s personal stories, ideas, writings, and drawings generated during arts-based workshops in Machar Colony, Karachi, to co-create a central collective graphic narrative script/story/book to be used as an educational resource. Helped co-curate exhibitions in London and Karachi in 2023 and Kuala Lumpur in 2024. Designed project postcards; co-planned and delivered a workshop at the British Film Institute as part of Being Human Festival (UK’s National Festival of the Humanities). In collaboration with Lahore University of Management Sciences, the Citizens’ Archive of Pakistan, Imkaan Welfare Organisation, Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Funded by UKRI AHRC). Comic publication by Markings Publishing in 2024. Comic launch and exhibition at World Conference on Statelessness in Malaysia, 2024.

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(Sep 2017) Department of Culture, Communication and Media - researched, designed, and illustrated an info map/trail for the MA Museums and Galleries in Education programme showcasing the main university areas and facilities as part of an induction package for new students. The info map is now used by the marketing department of UCL Institute of Education across the wider university community.

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(Jun 2016) Thomas Coram Research Unit - Child Language Brokering: Spaces of identity belonging and mediators of cultural knowledge co-created comic strips e-book communicating research findings for the wider public to raise awareness about lives, day-to-day struggles, and practices of young interpreters (aged 13-15); combined young people’s original writings and drawings generated during workshops by weaving and juxtaposing multiple concepts, voices, stories and research findings in innovative, informative and memorable ways by interweaving words and images.

The British Museum, London

(Aug - Sep 2024) Outreach Community Programme with Castlehaven - create an illustrated map of Camden for a skills share flyer.

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(Jun - Jul 2024) Outreach Community Programme with Claremont Project - using collections in The British Museum, plan and deliver a creative/art-making workshop with members of the men’s group. Use their original ideas, drawings, writings to co-create a foldable object trail leaflet exploring the personal connections that exist between individuals and museum artefacts including choosing themes, stories, and objects to be featured in the trail, and the type of medium/creative practice used.

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(May 2024) Outreach Community Programme with Burcham Street Community Centre (with crossover members of The Brownfield's Men’s Cabin) - using collections in The British Museum from women artists/scientists such as Mary Delany and Maria Sibylla Merian, plan and deliver a series of botanical illustration, drawing, collage workshops with members of the gardening group focussed on nature, plants, and cultivation.

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(May - Aug 2023) Outreach Community Programme with Brownfield’s Men’s Cabin - Illustration Workshop and Design Project - engaged men aged 55 and over through a creative project centred on the British Museum and its collections that enabled the showcasing of skills, the learning of new skills around materials and techniques, and the sharing of experiences. Aims: harnessed the knowledge, skills and creativity of participants working together within their social groups by encouraging the production and making of tangible outcomes; delivered a workshop to teach participants illustration techniques; produced a visual response reflecting the group’s ideas and interests incorporating the workshop's illustrations of museum objects and the group’s pre-written recipes to co-create a set of 5 double-sided flyer recipe cards with co-written instructions and a poem. Participated in skills share celebration and evaluation event.

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(May - Jul 2022) Outreach Community Programme with Single Homeless Project Arthouse (SHP) (Funded by the Japanese Tobacco Industry)

Co-curation project – Object & Art Hunting: Finding Inspiration Together – collaborated with the Head and Co-ordinator of Community Partnerships to plan and deliver 8 art/storytelling workshops with SHP members. Aims: provided a safe creative space and opportunities for SHP clients to share personal stories, connect, take part in artistic activities, and learn about the British Museum and its collections; co-created a digital and physical foldable object trail leaflet exploring the personal connections that exist between individuals and museum objects including choosing themes, stories, and objects to be featured in the trail, and the type of medium/creative practice used; co-wrote/produced the interpretation for the objects in the trail; designed an invitation/welcome letter to give to the participants.

Bedford Creative Arts, Central Bedfordshire, in collaboration with the Canals and River Trust, Wildlife Trust, The Greensand Trust, funded by Central Bedfordshire Council’s Culture and Countryside Teams (Feb - Sep 2024)

River/Flow/Connect: Our Natural Blue Spaces Charter - an environmental initiative exploring blue spaces and waterways - devise and deliver creative art/storytelling comics-as-maps-as-poetry workshops (counter-mapping, tracing (taking our lines for a walk - Paul Klee) as part of location drawing, drawing with our eyes closed, swapping places while drawing, patternmaking, monoprinting, comics-making and character development, rhymes and erasure poetry) with 4 local schools in 4 local towns, Southcott Lower School (Yr 4) (Leighton Buzzard and The Grand Union Canal), Edward Peake Middle School (Yr 5) (Biggleswade and River Ivel), Parkfields Middle School (Yr 8) (Toddington and Rushmere Park), Thornhill Primary School (Yr 5) (Houghton Regis and River Lea). Use the Synallactic Collective Image Technique (Vassilou & Vassilou, 1974) to collect individual stories and observe the interpersonal transactions of the school groups with a view to creating a central collective narrative (Prokopiou, 2007) about the local waterways. Using the children’s original ideas, writings, mappings, and images, co-produce physical/digital regional tetraptych deep maps (that can work individually and as a set) exploring and linking natural blue spaces in Central Bedfordshire as part of a display for Linslade Canal Festival (27 July 2024) followed by library tours. Aims: organise sketch-up walks (field trips) to record and map natural findings and evidence the area's incline or decline as a way of preventing the negative impact of climate change using archive data; with the children’s help, co-produce a regional menu of positive steps and a campaign for healthy living and wellbeing alongside the waterways and a call to action to use and respect the natural blue spaces without impacting the planet. 

Green Close, Rural and Social Development through the Arts, Lancashire

(Aug - Sep 2024) Coastal Community and Creative Health - illustration co-produced with involvement from youth co-researcher at Boingboing Foundation. Funded by UK Research and Innovation, Arts and Humanities Research Council (Mobilising Community Assets to Tackle Health Inequalities) and led by University of Liverpool and University of Bristol.

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(Apr - Sep 2022) Artist Researcher and Artist in Residence - Kirkham High Street Heritage Action Zone collaborative and co-created site-specific (oral) history/heritage community commission and exhibition - archival research at Kirkham and Lancashire Archives and delivery of open creative/heritage/storytelling workshops with the wider community and identified partners and stakeholders (Milbanke Home for Older People (people with dementia), Wesham Rehabilitation Unit, Kirkham Library, St Michael’s Church); co-conceptualisation and co-creation of an interactive digitally illustrated A-Z heritage map/trail brochure and bookmark of Kirkham using ideas, text, and visuals generated during the workshops (Funded by Historic England) (part of Kirkham’s Local History and Heritage Collections); designed a trifold brochure promoting the whole programme (Funded by Fylde Council); designed a 16-page saddle stitch booklet to represent/explain one of the commissioned artists’ work.

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(May - Aug 2021) Phoenix Rising Social Prescribing Arts & Wellbeing Programme Mapping Kirkby Lonsdale’s Heritage - using a co-production model, planned and delivered a series of online and physical visual storytelling walking/drawing workshops relating to the histories, myths, folktales, and participants’ personal stories and memories about Kirkby Lonsdale. Introduced participants to the various creative ways of bringing historical information to life such as rhymes, collage, and comics making. Used the workshops’ visual and textual outcomes to co-create an illustrated, visually appealing, educational, and accessible digital/physical map/poster that communicates a variety of individual stories and positions them in the wider historical context to celebrate people, culture, and heritage in contemporary ways; involved the participants in the research, planning, production, and design of the final map/poster (exhibited in Kirkby Lonsdale) (Thriving Communities Fund).

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(Oct 2020) The Phoenix Art for Wellbeing & Health Project in partnership with Lancashire and South Cumbria (NHS) Foundation Trust, LSCFT Recovery College (Arts Council England Emergency Funding) - planned and delivered a series of international online Comics & Personal Well-being workshops for women on the theme of Stress & Anxiety. Through discussions and self-reflection, introduced participants to the numerous ways they could employ the unique language of comics and their combination of image and text to visually communicate their thoughts, feelings, frustrations, anxieties or experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown conditions. Developed a co-created comics poster with the workshops’ creative outcomes.

Enfield Chase Station Partners (part of The Enfield Society) supported by Hive Curates, London (Apr - Aug 2024)

The Charter of the Forest: There is a Magical Place for the Lure of History - Enfield Chase Station mural and walkable poetry (4x6 metres) – community heritage co-creation project in collaboration with Enfield Council and Enfield Archives: workshops with Chase Side School, societies, and stakeholders (Knit and Natter Group, Dugdale Arts Centre, MHA Communities North London, Enfield Town Library) and engagement with Enfield Chase Station commuters inspired by Enfield as a market town, its historical landmarks, industry and innovations, and its people with reference to railway heritage showing support for affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems and green spaces (printed onto Dibond and installed on the Northbound platform of Enfield Chase Station); designed 8 panels depicting the project journey to be installed in the waiting room and café areas on the platform (Funded by Great Northern Railway as part of ‘Your Station, Your Community Improvement Fund’).

Dr Grazia Caleo, Doctors Without Borders, Manson Unit MSF (Dec 2023 - Jul 2024) (Being Human Festival 2024)

Children’s book illustrator: The Secret of the Bush: A Story of Healing and Repair - ‘based on a lived experience’ children’s educational book (ages 8-12) - collaboration drawing on Caleo’s work in Sierra Leone with Doctors Without Borders and her resultant research publications. During the Ebola outbreaks, children and the elderly paid the highest toll; their narratives have been poorly documented. Interweaving West African proverbs and their age-old wisdoms, the book tells the story of the origin of Ebola from a 10-years old child’s perspective who survives the disease and her emotional relationship with her grandmother, a traditional healer.

National Portrait Gallery, London (Mar - Jun 2024)

Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens – design and illustrate a sticker and family activity trail that are fun and engaging and bring to life the activities and the Queens and their stories that forever changed the landscape of English history to accompany the exhibition in interactive ways.

National Portrait Gallery, London (Mar - Jun 2024)

Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens – design and illustrate a family activity sheet as a trail that is fun and engaging and brings to life the activities and the Queens and their stories that forever changed the landscape of English history to accompany the exhibition in interactive ways.

Xenia Women, London (Nov 2022 - Feb 2024) in collaboration with Newington Green Meeting House, PEER UK, Hackney Archives, Hackney Museum (Mayor of London Untold Stories: Greater London Authority Grant by the Commission for Diversity in Public Realm)

Untold Stories: Trailblazing Women project – mix archival research and creative mapping practices as a way of highlighting stories of women of all ages who are disabled, LGBTQ+, economic migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and those born and raised in the UK, as well as children collectively cared for in Hackney; plan and deliver a series of creative workshops and nominations collection sessions (activities that enable artistic/language practice, cultural exchange, and relationship building); co-create a final digital/physical map/trail by interweaving the work generated during workshops exploring radical histories of (ordinary and underrepresented) women in Hackney and women’s rights by interweaving past and contemporary oral (hi)stories and linking those to the places in Hackney where women have lived, worked, or been active.

MAST Mayflower Studios Theatre, Southampton

(Sep - Nov 2023) Community Exhibition Christmas Takeover Projects – plan, prepare, and deliver outreach creative workshops to produce and gather material and co-develop accessible, inclusive, and interactive large-scale 3D installations with No Limits Young Carers (Presents and Post with a focus on drawing and paper puppet sculptures) and with Weston Park Primary School’s children and their parents and teachers (WonderTALES and WinterLANDS based on 9 international folktales and fairy tales with a focus on character development and creative writing, accompanied by a leaflet and crossword linked to the installation).

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(May - Aug 2023) The Pride co-production project - ran a series of arts workshops for participants from the Solent Queer Society at Solent University to explore what Pride means to them through visual arts, painting, photography, poetry, and prose; used the workshops as a creative platform to celebrate young people from the LGBTQ+ community and co-developed a freestanding digitally co-created 6-piece installation displayed at MAST Mayflower Studios in Southampton’s Cultural Quarter; worked with the group to plan and paint an 8-piece visual narrative on a mezzanine glass railing adding thoughts and ideas and responding to the creativity and provocations already discussed. Planed creative workshop activities for Pride Festival to gather text-images resources to incorporate in the exhibition. The final piece must be robust, free standing and flame retardant.

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(Jul - Nov 2022) Community Exhibition Christmas Takeover Project ‘Wonderland’ - White Rabbit 3D Puppet Sculpture (5ft in height). Focussing on storytelling through comics; worked with Redbridge Primary School to co-create the pieces of a white rabbit art installation and the letters for a bunting signage “Welcome to Wonderland” inspired by the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; constructed the rabbit and signage outside of the workshops ensuring the final installation in the foyer in the main theatre entrance is robust, safe for interaction with the public, and flame retardant.

The Wolseley Bridge Centre, Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, Staffordshire (Aug - Sep 2023)

Wildchild Festival freelance illustrator/creative workshop provider - worked with young children and families to co-create nature and environment-based artworks (through tracing, monoprinting, creating paper puppets); helped them develop postcard pledges with key messaging to send to the local MP; documented the ideas/stories/images created during the workshop by children/families and co-created a large-scale legacy triptych poster reflecting the wider messages and themes of the festival (a general celebration of youth and a positive future through slogans and playful rhymes) to be used at conferences and events.

Wallingford Town Council and Wallingford Museum, Wallingford on Thames (May - Sep 2023)

Exploring Wallingford’s history in rhythm and rhyme with the Queen of Crime – a history-mystery trail with an Agatha Christie’s twist - co-design ten A1 historical information boards (made of aluminium composite and with UV coating to last in good condition for up to 20 years) to enrich the heritage aspects of the town and create a stimulating environment for residents and visitors of all ages; the information boards include rhymes and riddles to engage a younger audience around the town; design a leaflet with a crossword to accompany the trail. Co-produce the work in close collaboration with the Town Council, Wallingford Museum, and the local community (Wallingford’s Public Arts Working Group and churches’ representatives) through open and pre-planned intergenerational creative workshops (during the Curfew Bell celebrations and with Waterside Court Care Home, Wigod Way Family Centre, Wallingford School). Attend project meetings with the Councillors and Mayor; liaise with the Community, Tourism & Business Development Officer to support the publicising and promotion of the artworks and help co-produce a travelling community exhibition starting at the Town Hall; provide detailed advice and guidance on the long-term maintenance and any required specialist cleaning of the artworks. Provide the Town Council with a detailed risk assessment relating to the installation and viability of the artwork (Funded by South Oxfordshire District Council).

Headstone Manor and Museum, London (Jul 2022 - Jul 2023)

Learning and Engagement Facilitator – designed and delivered a Mindful Sketching and wellbeing course for women 18 and over to support the museum’s engagement programme with a focus on exploring the Manor House and grounds, connecting with nature, and representing this via traditional and experimental sketching methods.

McPin Foundation Mental Health Research Charity, London (Jan - May 2023)

10 for 10 co-production project: developed bespoke independent and interdependent celebratory and sombre conceptual visual metaphors (Bridge Between Worlds, Valuing Vulnerability) and bespoke illustrations for a 10-year anniversary legacy project/resource conveying complex ideas about mental health research directed by lived experience and incorporating different perspectives into the overall vison of the piece; illustrated icons and visual threads tying and elucidating the strongest messages and key resources together from across the body of work (Opposing Oppression, Collaborative, Compassionate, Courageous); developed a 10 for 10 branding/logo as a means of identifying the new suite of resources; used a vibrant colour palette that could sit alongside McPin’s brand colours (Valuing Vulnerability selected for 2024 Gold Humanism Summit: The Person in Front of You – conference exhibition and year-end greeting card).

Made With Many, Wellingborough (Oct 2022 - May 2023) (National Lottery Heritage and Arts Council England Funded)

Social History Society, Pamela Cox Public History Prize 2024

Wellingborough Stories ‘What is Home: Arriving and Departing’ – Wellingborough Stories ‘What is Home: Arriving and Departing’ – community-led oral history project in consultation with Wellingborough Museum and creative intergenerational workshops at Victoria Primary Academy, Victoria Centre, Wellingborough Library, Swansgate Shopping Centre. Aims: researched archived oral histories and audio recordings and visually captured the untold stories with the help of the town’s diverse communities and depicted them through co-created large-scale poetry/artistic shop-windows mural installations representing large local audiences (Wellingborough African Caribbean Association, Easter-European Communities, NN8 Writers Group, St Marks Church Wellingborough, the LGBT and Disabled communities, Teamwork Trust, Ukrainian refugees, Women’s Refuge) using their input in terms of co-production and outcomes; presented at Wellingborough Stories and Fringe Festival and indefinitely displayed in Swansgate Shopping Centre; collaborated with a Ukrainian videographer to record and co-produce a video based on a

poem I had co-written with the Wellingborough communities; produced a creative map pinpointing the festival locations for the festival flyer. Wellingborough Stories | PDF to Flipbook (hflip.co)

East Riding Museums, East Riding of Yorkshire (Jul 2022 - Apr 2023) (Arts Council England Funded)

Natural History Visual Art Uplift Schools and Community Engagement Project ‘Rhyming and Mapping the Wildlife Travellers and Settlers on the Wolds around Me through Comics’ in collaboration with The Treasure House and the Humber Museums Partnership - curated a site-specific contemporary workshop model comprising a series of bespoke natural history sessions for King's Mill Special School and Driffield Junior School with the aim to create representations from participants of the world closest to them and the place they call home by exploring their perspective of the East Riding and North Wolds area. Ran a taster drop-in activity inspired by the workshop model at ArtWaves Festival 2022 at Bridlington Spa. Developed an end-of-project co-created short history of the Yorkshire Wolds in rhymes digitally illustrated with works produced by children during workshops displayed at community exhibitions (Church of St Michael and All Angels and The Treasure House, Apr - Aug 2023).

The Open University, Milton Keynes (Nov 2022 - Feb 2023) in collaboration with Oxford Brookes University (Funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme)

NEW-ABC Networking the Educational World: Across Boundaries for Community-building / Pilot: Empowering Young Translators – developed a distinctive digital infographic illustration for inclusion in a report on arts-based participatory approaches as a means of exploring the social and emotional impact of language brokering as a caring activity; interweaved key themes, ideas, quotes, facts, figures together with text and images generated during after-school language brokering clubs with young people to tell a visual story to support guidance materials that can be used by other schools or youth groups who may want to set up a similar scheme.

Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, Shrewsbury (in partnership with The British Museum) (Apr 2022 - Jan 2023) (Arts Council England Funded)

Created bespoke digital designs for application to retail ranges (homeware, stationary, games, prints, clothing) inspired by the museum’s permanent collections and key objects with the aim to offer audiences a unique retail experience and help them engage with the collections in new ways.

BBC Tiny Happy People, London (Nov - Dec 2022)

Hanukkah activities for babies and toddlers - social media and editorial digital illustrations showcasing the different activities children can do with their families for Hanukkah depicting people from different backgrounds and with visible and invisible disabilities such as wearing a sunflower lanyard.

University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth 

(Nov - Dec 2022) (Funded and supported by the U.S. Embassy, London, and the British Association for American Studies)

Celebrating 50 years since The Blue Marble - Image of the Earth from Apollo 17 | NASA – developed and delivered a pre-recorded digital workshop and downloadable activity aimed at KS2 using comics as a means of learning about and engaging with The Blue Marble’s iconic photograph and its enduring legacies.

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(May - Aug 2022) in partnership with the Ministry of Defence, Dorset Diocese, Dorset Museums and Historic England (2 rounds of Culture and Heritage Hub Seed Funding - Higher Education Innovation Fund and Participatory Research Fund)

Tyneham Unravelled: Establishing and Connecting the Communities of Tyneham Village - a co-production research project seeking to identify stakeholders interested in collecting, co-creating, and presenting the hidden narratives of Tyneham by responding to the site’s historic, archaeological, and ecological qualities in order to preserve its history through documentation. Aims: collaborated with researchers across disciplines to initiate and develop contacts, networks, and sustained partnerships with non-academics in the area of culture and heritage; established a supportive infrastructure to nurture the existing Culture and Heritage Network; developed a forum to enable public engagement through creative mapping and comics/storytelling workshops with communities to facilitate accessible forms of engagement and knowledge exchange.

Barbican Centre, London (Oct 2022)

Creative Workshop Facilitator Family Film Club as part of Family Film Week – co-plan, prepare, and deliver a creative workshop for children and families to support storytelling sessions by Wendy Shearer; help participants create masks, puppets, and characters inspired by the screened films to be used as props during the storytelling sessions. Read More

Southbank Centre (Royal Festival Hall), London (Oct 2022)

Wild Wild Words - London Literature Festival – created digital illustrations to be projected/screened as a means of enhancing storytelling performances by Wendy Shearer Storyteller and TUUP from Crick Crack Club; engaged in live illustration/sketching/visualisation of children’s ideas and discussions during storytelling sessions; partook in rehearsal sessions prior to the event. Read more

Newhampton Arts Centre and Curiosity Productions, Wolverhampton (Jun - Oct 2022) (Supported by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation)

Creative Community Mapping in Whitmore Reans – delivery of creative workshops and co-production of a digital map to support a creative project with the Refugee & Migrant Centre and Wolverhampton City of Sanctuary; co-production of a large-scale digital map of Whitmore Reans with artists and participants across the whole project and all groups (Refugee & Migrant Centre, African Caribbean Community Initiative, Gatis Community Space (Acts of Random Caring CIC), The Good Shepherd (Families Group) in a form that can be recognised as a representation of the area and overall project; ensured the creative process was documented and all necessary permissions were obtained from participants so that images/media produced can be disseminated; ensured the work produced can become a part of the end of project exhibition and community sharing event; contributed material for the project publication, risk assessment, monitoring, and evaluation procedures (Arts Council England Funded).

Milton Keynes Youth Cabinet (MKYCAB), Milton Keynes (Funded by MK Council)

(Mar - Nov 2022) Domestic Abuse Art Project Campaign – in consultation with young people (11-18 years old), conceptualised and designed a logo and 5 PowerPoints about domestic violence and abuse for school years 7-11 to raise awareness about the issues at public events.

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(Dec 2021 - Jul 2022) Homelessness Action Group Youth Homelessness Project Campaign – raised awareness about the growing issue of homelessness by co-creating a digital visual digital asset in collaboration with young people (11-18 years old) working directly with the young people to inform the design which conjured moments of abstraction to bring an emotional depth to the overall narrative. Aims: incorporating LGBTQ+ colours, we developed a flexible outcome which can work as a whole design and as component parts and can be reproduced in a variety of formats (physical and digital platforms) printed and displayed in public places – a billboard at Station Square opposite Milton Keynes Train Station and a 14-metre-wide mural in an underpass at the Buszy Plaza Skatepark; delivered creative digital and physical workshops with the young people to generate ideas and visual material (text/typography, images, poetry) to inform the outcome; adapted the design into a postcard format for distribution to 15 secondary schools. Objectives: reduce the isolation and stigma surrounding homelessness, inform the general public, provide support to homeless people.

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“This was the second most voted project in 2020/21 which is why we created the mural with our artist, Kremena, in the hope of educating and supporting people about homelessness. We want to portray a ray of hope for anyone who is going through a similar situation as well as creating a positive message to the wider community.”

- Alessandro and Crystal Rose, MKYCAB Homelessness campaign group.

Oxford City Council, Oxford

(Apr 2022) Large-scale digital illustration commission printed on display boards (visually showcasing the hidden gems of the city and creatively unearthing the lesser-known stories of the city’s history through rhymes and humour while reflecting the diversity of Oxford’s communities) used to enhance key annual events in Oxford on an ongoing basis.

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(Jan 2020) Site-specific illustration commission responding to the climate emergency A Cup of Inspiration; printed on purpose-built giant coffee cup recycling bins creating a trail of inspiration in three of Oxford’s business areas to inspire people to take positive action to address the climate emergency; concept development, draft sketches, final colour design creation covering the themes: inspiration, positivity, diversity, inclusion, visibility, logistics, impact.

Wendy Shearer Professional Storyteller and Author www.wendyshearer.co.uk, London (Jan 2022)

Caribbean inspired fairytalelike hand painted wall mural commission combining collage and water based acrylic paints for a textured and multi-layered effect "as seen on BBC Radio 5 LIVE and as part of other storytelling events".

Museum of the Home, London

(Nov 2020 - Mar 2021) Concept Illustrator/Designer Rhymes Through Time large-scale multi-artwork mural/trail/game family-friendly installation in collaboration with poet Valerie Bloom MBE. Responsibilities: created 5 digitally illustrated walls/cupboard murals displayed in different rooms in the museum visualising the experience of the child during four periods in British history; interpreted the stories from the domestic home in a fun and child-friendly way aimed at children aged 6-12 and families with a focus on edutainment – teaching and learning through entertainment and play; ensured the displays were inclusive, interactive, engaging and memorable through visual poetry map mazes, puzzles, matching pairs, spot the difference games, while considering the rooms’ contemporary relevance relating to family structures, gender, race, multiculturalism; artistic direction of project; design and proofing; concept illustration; created print ready artworks that were fully accessible for all audiences in accordance with accessibility guidance regarding font colour, font size, background colour contrast, text over image; created smaller versions of artworks for use on Soundcloud and the museum website; designed exhibition interpretation and credit panels; worked with the Digital/Social Media Editor to help with marketing and PR by posting about research and ideas, work in progress, creative processes, artistic choices and concepts; liaised with printers for practicalities of printing and delivery (National Lottery Heritage Funded).

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(Nov 2021) Created an illustration ‘A Betrothal Gift’ based on a historical Hanukkah lamp (Hanukkiah) for display at the museum to represent a personal family (hi)story; delivered creative workshops for families as part of Hanukkah Festival at the museum.

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(Mar - Sep 2021) Concept Illustrator/Designer - co-created Multimedia Associate Schools Project Tomorrowland - inspired by the themes of heritage, community, home, and the future in collaboration with a team of creative practitioners; created a poster and large-scale digital and physical maps populated with QR codes, ideas, writings, rhymes, and visuals created by primary school children during workshops imagining what their future homes could/should look like in 2050; posters and maps’ installation in the museum, schools, shops, and residential windows throughout Hackney.

Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, Manchester (Aug 2021 - Jan 2022)

Mosan Enamels: A Medieval Craft Carried and Continued - archaeological visualisation - working from a script, employed a comic strip format to creatively reimagine the emotional stories of spiritual and religious driven movement inspired by a rare and fragile archaeological Medieval Mosan enamelled plaque that people had carried with them from Europe to the UK (discovered in a field in Oldham in December 2020); used the power of comics to help visitors visually 'see' the object by revealing the emotional realities of belonging this object represents relating to people, places, time; exhibition at The Belonging Gallery and Oldham Histories Festival; use of comics spreads by learning and visitor teams in schools programmes.

University of Oxford, Oxford (Sep - Nov 2021)

Digital Scholarship (DiSc) - reflected on the nature, importance, and activities of DiSc as practices that complement and extend existing methods of academic research and generated a large-scale digital illustration to form a part of DiSc’s visual identity; launch and display in Autumn 2021.

Suffolk Libraries, Stowmarket (Aug - Sep 2021) (Arts Council England Funded)

Stowmarket Garden Project - led on the concept design and hand-painted creation of a large-scale site-specific mural installed in the courtyard and garden space of Stowmarket Library; drew inspiration from own research and local stories collected through public engagement events and weaved these with text and image to celebrate Stowmarket’s past, present, and future; participated in planning sessions and worked with Suffolk Libraries’ staff and project partners from Fox Yard Studio and Modece Architects to help with the evaluation and documentation of work throughout the project.

Wigan STEAM, Wigan (Aug 2021) (Arts Council England Funded)

Future Human - a socially engaged and co-created art-science project with young people exploring what is in store for humanity and planet earth in the year 2050 by delving into the problems we might face as our species evolve, the climate continues to change, and technology advances at an ever-increasing rate. Responsibilities: I planned, prepared, and delivered a storytelling, character development, comics, and map-making workshop to help the young people co-produce a large-scale site-specific digital illustration visually communicating their research findings and visions for the future inspired by their work with scientists about cutting-edge technologies and scientific evidence and theories. Exhibition of work in Wigan STEAM in 2021.

Preston Park Museum & Grounds, Stockton-on-Tees (May - Jul 2021) BBC COVERAGE

Site-specific contemporary collecting exhibition project Lockdown Legends Exposed - working from photographs and stories, devised and designed a large-scale digital vinyl wall mural in a portrait/map style inspired by elected Covid-19 nominees - inspirational individuals whose heroic acts of kindness during the pandemic were deemed by the Tees Valley’s residents to deserve recognition. Responsibilities: maintained ongoing communication via email and phone; research, concept development, considered quality, format, and longevity of portrait map to become part of the museum’s permanent collections showing future generations how ordinary people did extraordinary things and how communities worked together during difficult times; provided initial ideas of the composition layouts; sent regular updates on the progress of work; created versions of work for an interactive wall, website use, and social media promotion; designed exhibition interpretation panels; illustrated frames for the nomination text; Collections: Preston Park Museum & Grounds and Tees Archives (Dorman Museum).

Collections: PRESTON PARK MUSEUM & GROUNDS & TEES ARCHIVES (DORMAN MUSEUM)

University of Manchester’s Centre for Jewish Studies and The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, Manchester (Jan 2020 - May 2021)

Social History Society's Postgraduate Exchange Prize 2020 - Commendation

Exploratory visual research residency 50 Jewish Objects public history commission and collaborative book publication - researched and visually investigated, employing a comics format, a 14C compendium of Jewish law – an illuminated manuscript of Isaac ben Joseph of Corbeil’s Sefer Mitzvot Katan (Semak) (documented for internet usage) – which is exhibited on The Centre for Jewish Studies’ website is a part of The University of Manchester’s permanent collections in The John Rylands Library. Created a pre-recorded online comics/storytelling talk/workshop to showcase the project, captivate public’s interest and widen understanding of artefacts, Jewish history, and Jewish studies; contributed blog articles which communicated the research, thinking, design decisions, processes and approaches when visually responding to the manuscript.