"My work sets out to interrogate and dissect the many aspects of my own existence, including my ancestry, emotions, mental health, self acceptance, identity and healing."

Often working in a variety of different mediums, I employ the same methodology across all my creative projects and work with the principle that the spirit, energy and inspiration of the subject determine the materials and form of the piece.

Each project often consists of multiple works, often explored and experimented with in a range of different media, grouped around specific themes and meanings. During my process of research and production I often come across new areas of interest which in turn, lead to new bodies of work.

I am a strong advocate of art as a form of creative therapy and strongly believe that engaging in art - whether in a creative capacity or a voyeuristic role - has a beneficial effect on mental health and personal wellbeing.

b. 1981, Berkshire,UK

Merissa Hylton is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in London. She studied at London Guildhall University and embarked on a career in architecture, interiors and textile design for 13 years before leaving the design industry to focus on developing her own art practice. She works across a variety of media employing both traditional and experimental techniques in her creative process. With a focus on painting and sculpture, her work explores her ancestry and identity through the use of symbolism, abstract imagery and portraiture.

She is inspired by African symbolism, spirituality and storytelling, and aims to share their rich narratives through contemporary visual interpretation.

Merissa is a qualified university lecturer and Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

She was a key contributor to The World Reimagined Project learning programme and currently lectures international art students at a private college in central London and Westminster University.

Freya Bramble-Carter is a ceramics artist based in London, creating work with a strong connection to the natural world. Freya has been working with clay since she was a child, firing pots in her father’s studio from a young age. She and her father, Chris Bramble, now share a studio space in Kingsgate Workshops, London. Both functional and decorative, they bring together a cross-generation of contemporary and cultural references to ceramics, often with forms emerging from hand thrown vessels using highly textured glazes from special recipes. Freya also teaches a wide variety of techniques which keeps work/ ideas moving and multi faceted. The forms Freya captures within the medium of clay hold a true essence of creativity. In moments of flow the forms take on a story of their own. See it almost as a guided meditation, as Freya depicts the concept and an initial vision of creation she is met halfway by each moment of possibility as she moves through her fingers. The potential of how each petal unfolds is infinite. It is the beauty of potential and movement she strives to catch and capture, and hold still for others to see and feel.

Claudette was born and raised in inner city Bristol, the child of first generation Jamaican immigrants. As a teenager, the race riots in her neighbourhood, St Pauls, in 1980 made a lasting impression on her. Her curiosity about the government's attempts to fix things ultimately led to her pursuing a 30 year career in local area regeneration.

These experiences are reflected in her art, where she explores the complex issues surrounding inner city areas and communities.

Based in Peckham, London, she often gathers her ideas by observing scenes and people in her neighbourhood. She creates ceramic art that is provocative, subversive, playful and humorous. She aims to test interpretations of the present day, whilst producing tangible objects that contain a certain beauty and references a past.

Claudete brings her musical skills to create soundscapes to accompany her ceramic installations. These inspire and enhance her conceptual development and her making.

Process

Claudete uses the full palete of ceramic techniques to make her pieces, emphasising surface decoration with mono-print slip transfers, digital decals and in some cases metallic lustres. She also experiments with the addition of non-ceramic materials.

Shawanda Corbett’s (New York, b. 1989) studio practice background is in ceramics (vessel making). The craft principles, fundamentals and discipline in ceramics are applied to other mediums, such as dance theatre production (live performance and film performance). This technique is called craft theory. Currently, she is researching how AI facilitates craft theory in her studio practice. This includes: 1. Designing temporary architecture for live dance and music performances. The temporary architecture design's aim is to immerse the audience into acoustic sound without the traditional scale and structure of concert halls. 2. Composing music. 3. Cinematography robotics for dance performances in film. 4. Mechanical dance performances with human dancers. Corbett is currently pursuing her practice-led doctoral degree in Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Art and Wadham College, University of Oxford. Her research redefines Donna Haraway's cyborg theory, or the cybernetic organism, as anything mechanical that enhances an individual's life. The research also focuses on the relationship between human beings and technology created with Artificial Intelligence. She approaches this through science fiction films and literature but assumes the perspective of a differently abled-body (cyborg) woman of colour, so this includes texts, film (visual representation), music in African American history/African history and Artificial Intelligence history. Her first solo exhibition, Neighbourhood Garden, was held at the Corvi-Mora Gallery in London (2020). She described the exhibit as a revisit of her family’s history as southern African Americans living between Mississippi and New York. The work challenged the history of African American tropes without reducing her subjects to their physical bodies by focusing on the individual’s personality, daily activity or place of residence.

Maya Vivas is a multidisciplinary artist working in a variety of mediums such as ceramic sculpture, performance, painting and installation. Maya has exhibited work, spoken on panels and hosted workshops throughout the United States including venues and institutions such as Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, Louisiana State University and The Yale Center for British Art. Vivas is also co-founder of Ori Gallery. Whose mission is to redefine "the white cube" through amplifying the voices of Queer and Trans Artists of color, community organizing and mobilization through the arts.

Martin worked as a carpentry and joinery for 13 years before attending art school both in Cardiff and the Royal College of Art in London, awarded the Sir Eduardo Paolozzi Travel Scholarship that facilitated a research trip to experience first-hand West African sculpture. Two years as Artist in residence at South Hill Park Arts Centre, Berkshire culminated in a solo exhibition in 2000. Awarded first public art commission, since then he has been engaged in gallery exhibitions, public art commissions, working with museums and teaching. His creative output ranges from portrait sculpture to public art and design.

He has collaborated with industry to realise a number of ambitious sculptural projects and is currently engaged in a commission to commemorate the life of the footballer Justin Fashanu who was the first black footballer to be signed a million pounds and the first outwardly gay premier league football.

He has exhibited in the UK and internationally and his works are in the permanent collection of the British Museum and the Horniman Museum.

Taslim Martin lives and works in London.

In the words of the artist himself, "My hand-crafted pots and ceramic sculpture bring together my interest in the European sculptural tradition, and the love of African craftsmanship, shape and form. Sculpted faces and torsos emerge from the wheel-thrown vessels and shapes. Making each of my pieces is a meditation, and a spiritual and emotional activity which I can share with everyone. Teaching a wide variety of techniques keeps my own work fresh and multi-faceted. Many of my pieces are composite, using thrown, moulded and sculpted parts. I use a range of techniques, several different clays, and used to use both electric and gas reduction firing methods, but now only electric." Chris Bramble studied Art and Design at Glasgow School of Art and spent ten years working in the city. In 1985 he took two years out to go and work in Zimbabwe as the Exhibitions Officer at the National Gallery in Harare. On moving to London in 1989 he set up a studio at Kingsgate Workshops in Kilburn. Chris runs workshops in schools across London, teaches in colleges and has regular classes at his workshop.

Bisila Noha is a Spanish London-based ceramics artist. With her work she aims to challenge Western views on art and craft; to question what we understand as productive and worthy in capitalist societies; and to reflect upon the idea of home and oneness pulling from personal experiences in different pottery communities. Her work is primarily wheel thrown, with the distinctive addition of marbled slip decoration. However, for her last project, Baney Clay: An Unearthed Identity, she set herself a new challenge by processing and using new clay bodies and mixing throwing and coiling aiming to, through the clay, exploring her own identity. Strongly influenced by Japanese ceramics, she makes ‘simple’ ceramic pieces that she uses either as canvas for abstract landscapes or as the embodiment of her reflections and personal life stories. She also co-directs @_lonartorg, an arts and activism organisation. You can check out their flagship project Sheroes via @_sheroes.