Meet the New Artist Collective #2
Each year, as part of our ‘Taking Place’ (People, Place and Practice) programme, UK New Artists will work with a dynamic, contemporary and exciting group of new artists selected from a nationwide call-out.
New Artist Collective is a cross-disciplinary group of artists who are within the first 10 years of professional practice, from all art forms, across the UK. Each artist in the cohort receives a bursary along with opportunities to present and create new work and work deeply in the place through micro-residencies exploring themes and creating connectivity. They also have access to a programme of talks, workshops and resources and the opportunity to collaborate, share and network with the other artists in the collective and beyond.
The New Artists Collective #2 is a group of 12 artists, who will be working collaboratively for six months as part of UKNA’s second iteration of ‘Taking Place’ (People, Place and Practice) embarking on an exciting journey in Derby; sharing their work, undertaking residencies and collective activities.
Read more about them below.
Abdullah Adekola
Abdullah Adekola is a Black-British working-class writer and performer. He is interested in decolonisation, alternative and healthy approaches to masculinity, and mental health recovery.
He has been selected for the New Creatives talent development program funded by Arts Council England and BBC Arts. He has been selected for Momentum, a nationwide mentoring, training and mental health programme for Black filmmakers and content creators in conjunction with Channel 4. He has been selected for UpLift, a leadership initiative for people of colour in literature in conjunction with Words of Colour and The Irish Writers Centre.
Website: adekola.bigcartel.com
Instagram: @ adekolapoetry/ @ workinprogpod
Emily Armstrong
Emily Armstrong is a visual artist with a thirst for candour. Through self-portraiture photography and the influence of personas, her practice has transformed into a journey of self-discovery and self-preservation. She invites her audience to witness a visual insight into the social practice of her personal life – bridging the gaps between the personal and the political.
She strives to stimulate her audience, creating thought-provoking environments which question both social injustice and existentialism. Through photography and film, she transforms her ‘self’ into characters / egos which hold a significant impact to her subject. Whilst her prop making, and installation skills provide a context for her expedition. She often provides humour, mixed with the uncanny to reiterate her message to the viewer.
Her ethos – art as activism takes motivation from second and third-wave feminist ideologies, with influence from female artists such as Cindy Sherman, Martha Rosler and Jo spence she seeks to disturb and dismantle the, in her eyes, somewhat corrupt world around her through collaborating with community and culture.
Website: erarmstrong01.myportfolio.com
Instagram: @this.artist.is.screaming
Photo by Yigit Gunel
Mustafa Boga
Mustafa Boga first graduated from Harran University's Radio-TV Broadcasting department in 2000. Later, in 2009, Mustafa graduated from Istanbul University's Department of Journalism and successfully completed hi first Master's Degree in Cinematography and Post-Production at Greenwich University, London. Following 5 years of experience in film production companies, Mustafa pursued his passion for the arts, culminating in the completion of his second Master's Degree, in Fine Arts at Central Saint Martins between 2014 and 2016.
He has won several awards including The Red Mansion Art Prize in 2016. Following year Musafa worked with international artists Otobong Nkanga and Irena Haiduk, and performed in Documenta14 in Kassel, Germany. In 2018 he was awarded a ‘Highly Commended Artist’ at the Ashurt Emerging Artist Prize and got a fellowship at RAW Material Company in Dakar, Senegal. In 2019 Mustafa took part in a residency (ThirdBase) in Lisbon where he created a series of textile works. In 2021 he won Bilsart’s video art competition in Turkey and had a solo show. His artworks become part of several collections OMM Modern Museum in Eskişehir. Since he has had solo exhibitions in Istanbul and London and several group exhibitions overseas.
Instagram : @bogamust
Robyn Bradford
Robyn Bradford is a female artist who predominantly works with sculpture and installation. She recently graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Art Multimedia from the University of Lincoln in 2023.
Bradford’s practice is based on turning functional objects into non-functional sculptures and installations. Her work has a key value of sustainability, with a belief in reducing waste in the art world. This is reflected through Bradford's reusing of unloved or unwanted materials and everyday objects by giving them a new purpose through her artwork. Chopping, morphing, and merging the everyday objects into one another.
The basis of her designs takes influence from making the viewer feel uncomfortable or confused when observing her work. She takes inspiration from Surrealism, focusing primarily on the Found Object aspect of this movement. The objects that she creates typically use furniture as the base material. She appreciates re-constructing an object that has already been manufactured and created with a purpose.
Some of Bradford’s most recent collection “Please (don’t) take a seat” – 2023, has been purchased by the University of Lincoln. This piece was created from 12 wooden dining room chairs that show the destruction of their original form.
Instagram: @robynbradford.art
Dylan Bull
Dylan Bull is an actor, musician, writer, composer and theatre-maker from the midlands. Born and based in Derby, he has been working in professional productions since 2018 and specialises in devised performances for young/family audiences. Graduating with a degree in Theatre Arts from the University of Derby, Dylan has been an active performer since, bringing high-quality live performance to regional theatres and community spaces such as libraries, schools and nurseries.
Dylan made his mid-scale debut in Derby Theatre’s Wind In The Willows (2022, 2023) and has continued to work closely with his hometown theatre, most notably in Sarah Argent’s Let’s Play Messing Around (2022, 2023) which toured Derby, Surrey and Somerset as commissioned by Take Art. Since then, Dylan has begun writing and devising with several theatre companies touring children’s theatre in the midlands including B-Team Theatre’s A Garden In My Living Room (R&D 2022, toured 2023) and as Associate Artist and composer for Chaotic Good Theatre’ two children’s shows Ivan Turbinca (2022), which toured community venues in Derby including Derby Museum and Nottingham Playhouses Amplify Festival (2022), and Cardboard Kingdoms (2024) which will be touring midlands venues this year. Dylan was also a New Perspectives New Associate for the 2023-2024 cohort.
A multi-instrumentalist, Dylan also plays bass as part of Dreadnought, an original Hard-Rock band based in Derby, and has performed in Derbyshire, Birmingham, Loughborough, Sheffield and Leeds.
Instagram: @_dylanbull
Parham Ghalamdar
Born in Iran in 1994, Parham Ghalamdar is a 2021 graduate with an MA in Oil Painting from the Manchester School of Art, Ghalamdar adopts a profoundly experimental approach, incorporating diverse media such as stop-cell animations, ceramics, and AI-generated pieces within a painterly framework.
His recent exhibitions include a solo show titled "Painting, An Unending" at Manchester's HOME gallery, as well as displays at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery in London, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester Art Gallery, and Whitworth Art Gallery. His works have also been acquired by public and private collectors, including the Governments Art Collection and the University of Salford Art Collection
Instagram: @parham.ghalamdar
Noemi Gunea
Noemi Gunea is a Romanian performance artist. She has shown her work at the Tate Modern, British Museum, Royal Academy of Arts, South London Gallery and Arebyte Gallery. She was longlisted for Best UK New Artist of the Year by Saatchi & Robert Walters in 2022, for a BBC Audio Drama Award in 2020 and an Aesthetica Art Prize in 2019. She makes theatre, live art, film and radio. Her interests include economics, somatic practices, comedy and surrealism.
Website: www.noemigunea.com
Instagram: @noemigunea
Laurie Luxe
Laurie Luxe is a clown, drag artist and theatre-maker originally from Melbourne, Australia. She has a background in comedy (performance, writing) and fashion (design, performance). She is a regular on the London cabaret scene, a graduate of the two year program at L’Ecole Philippe Gaulier and an award-winning director and designer. Laurie is a founding member of Pointy Finger, London. Her work includes Movements In Motion, Whoopsie!, Lachlan Werner: Voices of Evil & Nitwit at Hanging Rock.
Instagram: @laurieluxe
Divija Melally
Divija Melally is a trained contemporary and Indian classical dancer, graduated from Bath Spa University, with BA (Hons) Dance, dedicated to the arts, and spreading the intricate nuances of dance through performance, teaching, choreography and therapy. She has completed a 2-year diploma in Movement Arts and Mixed Media, which focused on ballet, contemporary and martial arts, from Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, India. Her creative practice revolves around exploring the amalgamation of contemporary and Indian Classical dance. She is interested in creating works that explore social and political themes, and she hopes to help the audience be more aware of the world that they live in through her art. She is a part of the Sadlers Wells South Asian Dance Development programme, and received the ‘Moving With The Times’ commission from Pegasus Theatre in 2023, with a second commission in 2024. She works as a dancer with Sweetshop Revolution (I am 8’), Trigger (‘TEABREAK’) and Dam Van Huynh Company (‘Exquisite Noise’). She is a resident at ARC Stockton and Kunstlerstadt Kalbe (Germany). She wants to inform her practice further by conducting workshops for participants of different ages, needs and abilities.
Instagram: @divija_melally
Oliver Nancarrow
Oliver Nancarrow’s work is concerned with the relationship that exists between artworks and humans – focusing on how both parties serve and interact with one another. Using art as a mechanism for unearthing the connections and memories that exist between objects, space, and people – often joyous and welcome, yet sometimes malevolent and destructive. Ollie often produces work in response to the objects and spaces that surround him as an artist – whereby the work starts to converse with itself, creating paradoxes or moments of absurdity and surrealism. More recently, Ollie has drawn upon his own family’s history and significant paraphernalia to analyse and understand familial breakdown.
Alongside Ollie’s work with objects and their relationships to us, he is also interested in the Relational Aesthetic: whereby human relations and their social context is central to how and why the artwork manifests into the world. A recent project of Ollie’s, ‘1111 cans of baked beans’, saw all £300 of his university materials budget spent on cans of baked beans to make public sculptures from – eventually being donated to three food banks across Leicester. Catalysing many important conversations over the artists’ and art institutions’ responsibilities within society and their local community.
Instagram: @ollienancarrow
Ella van der Straaten
Ella van der Straaten is a multi-disciplinary artist from Basildon, Essex. Through her work, you are invited into a fantastical near-reality. With artworks ranging from installation oil paintings to fuzzy felt sculpture, her use of vivid colour, scale and material welcomes you to a place of comfort and a humourous tone encourages you to celebrate the mundane everyday, while offering a space for us to question the systemic shortfalls of our society and speculate on current socio-political issues. She draws inspiration from the surrounding world and documents traces of human personality by walking and observing her community on the council estates she grew up in. The Echo News describes her home as the worst place to live in Essex. The effects of postcode stigma shaping childhood feelings of shame and embarrassment. Van der Straaten intends to create visibility in the contemporary art space for others who feel a sense of kinship with the themes she addresses. Additionally, her outcomes serve as a much needed escapism for both the artist and audience member alike, taking time to be free of the incessant news cycle, the crusades of the culture war and seek joy in the overlooked; to embrace your corner of the world in a new light.
Instagram: @straatenart
Theo Vasiloudes
Theo Vasiloudes is an American-Cypriot artist based in London. He completed his BFA in Film and TV Production at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and his MA in Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art in London.
His work revels in the contradictions of navigating intimacy in contemporary gay life. Using both archival histories and the ephemeral histories of personal experience, he examines how cruising (the queer practice of finding casual sex in public spaces) has shifted in the context of digital life and apps like Grindr and Scruff. Looking at the network of interactions facilitated by the semi-public space of such location-based hookup apps, he uses physical and digital processes to create pieces that lie somewhere between installation and performance – the virtual and the real. These pieces bridge the gap between the physical and digital realms that these apps straddle. In doing so, Theo asks how these location-based hookup apps shape queer intimacy and interrogate the role these apps play in structuring identity within the queer community in ways that are simultaneously empowering and alienating.
Website: theovasiloudes.com
Instagram: @theo.vasiloudes