Middlesbrough Art Week 2025

Middlesbrough Art Week 2025

Seeing my work step out into the world is always a powerful moment. This September, my painting Snare became part of Middlesbrough Art Week, a major contemporary art festival in the North East, marking a milestone in its journey and mine.

There’s something powerful about seeing your work take on a life of its own, stepping away from the walls of the studio and into a space where it can meet people on its own terms. Middlesbrough Art Week is a major art festival, the biggest in Tees Valley, that brings contemporary art to the area.

Middlesbrough Art Week is one of the North East’s most significant annual art events, transforming the town with exhibitions, performances, and installations that stretch across streets, galleries, and unexpected public spaces. Having my work shown there alongside a host of other local and international talent was a moment that felt both surreal and deeply grounding. After years of working away, coming back to a town I hardly knew and an art scene where I was a complete outsider felt so daunting but being included gave me this sense of completion, like being welcomed home. To have my work included in this vibrant mix of voices and visions was both an honour and a reminder of why I make the work I do — to be part of conversations bigger than myself.

Snare was originally created as part of my Industrial Seas series, a body of work responding to the human impact on marine environments — from dredging and trawling to chemical pollution. This particular piece explores entanglement: the push and pull between power and vulnerability, industry and ecology. It’s a visceral painting, marked by the tension of movement, with sweeping marks that suggest both the churn of the water and the unseen forces beneath.

Seeing it exhibited in the festival context, surrounded by other artists’ work and witnessed by so many different audiences, was incredibly moving. People responded in ways I hadn’t anticipated — pointing out textures I’d layered months before, or drawing their own parallels between the painting and stories from the Tees estuary. These conversations reminded me that once a painting leaves the studio, it’s no longer just mine. It becomes part of a shared language.

Being part of Middlesbrough Art Week also connected me to a wider network of artists and curators working in the region. There’s a real sense of momentum here in the North East — a growing energy that celebrates both local identity and bold contemporary practice. To contribute to that feels significant.

Moments like this are milestones, not in a loud or showy way, but in the quiet, steady way that affirms the path you’re on. Snare has always carried weight for me, both thematically and emotionally. To see it illuminated within the context of a major festival felt like a fitting chapter in its journey.