A decade of exhibitions

It’s 10 years to the day since my first ever exhibition as a fresh faced and naive 19 year old first year student, I was selected to exhibit at Brick Lane Gallery.

19 year old me with my sister

Over the past decade there have been more rejection emails than you can imagine, moments of disillusionment (thankfully fleeting) and several occasions where my commitment to pursuing my childhood dream was tested.

I questioned whether or not it was worth it. Was it worth being broke? working terrible part time jobs that I hated. Was I even making anything that mattered in any way whatsoever? The thought that always kept me grounded which I would always - eventually - return to was the idea that I owed it to myself to give it my best shot and if I worked as I hard as I possibly could at becoming a professional artist and if it then didn’t work out then I would be happy that I did all I could.

Thankfully I stuck it out and 78 exhibitions, 10 awards and 5 residencies has led me to being a fulltime artist for the past 6 years with hopefully many more decades of creating art ahead.

Some highlights over the years include; exhibiting with Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018, being commissioned by Facebook in 2022, winning the UK New Artist of the Year Award 2022, being listed in Forbes’ 30 under 30 and my solo show at Pallant House Gallery in 2024.