Monthly Archives: September 2026
The Writing We Don’t Count: How Funding Reports Became Unpaid Labour in Regional Galleries
When I ran a gallery in Manchester, I spent more time writing about art than showing it. Not criticism — that would have been a pleasure. I mean the other writing: project narratives, outcome reports, case studies, impact statements, social … Continue reading
How Migration Shapes Contemporary British Art: Labour, Rent and the Right to Stay
Ask where contemporary British art comes from and the standard answers point to art schools, prizes and a handful of London rooms. Ask who actually makes it, and you get a different story. Migrants and their children are the artists, … Continue reading
How Migration Shapes Contemporary British Art: Exile, Labour and the Regional Question
Migration shapes contemporary British art in three connected ways: it changes who makes art here, it changes what the art is about, and it decides who gets paid. That is the short version. The longer version is what this article … Continue reading
Migration Shapes Contemporary British Art: A View from the Post-Industrial City
Migration is not a theme in contemporary British art; it is a structural condition of it. The artists who have kept studios open in Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent over the past two decades have often arrived from elsewhere: from … Continue reading