Join us at London’s Southbank Centre for our in-person April artist peer group.
Established in 2015 our artist peer groups are an opportunity for artists exploring health and wellbeing in their practice to gain feedback and support on their projects, ideas or challenges that they are facing. The space is for active feedback, meaning that artists aren’t sharing finished works, but asking for specific support from others attending the session. Together we pool resources and provide feedback in a supportive environment.
Our presenting artists for this session are Naima and Esme Green. Read on to find out more about their work and what they’ll be sharing. This session is facilitated by artists Daniel Regan and Camilla Ellingsen Webster.
Want to share your work at a future group? Fill out our application form.
Cost.
Pay What You Can (suggested donation: £5) / Free
Photograph: Greta Stepanyan
About Naima
Naima is an abstract artist and print designer who focuses on raising awareness of mental health, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and grief through her art work. Her aim is to communicate her internal experiences to her external world through her visual approach, in hope to bridge the gap between the two. Naima hopes to inspire others to do the same, and to normalise conversations surrounding these topics. After losing someone close to her back in 2019, Naima found herself experiencing low moods and difficulties with her OCD. It was through painting that she was able to create a body of work that felt authentic to her. Naima is a graduate of Central Saint Martin's (2020), completing a Bachelor's Degree in Textile Design where she specialised in Print Design.
Naima's paintings are about her experiences with mental health and grief and she would like to inspire others to express these topics. Her aim is to de-stigmatise these topics and to normalise these conversations with others through a visual approach, as sometimes it may be hard to express these verbally. Naima would like to give people an opportunity to express what grief/mental health looks like to them as it is more than just a feeling or an experience. Naima is looking for support in thinking about the next steps for identity as an artist, continuing to work in a way that feels authentic to her experiences.
About Esme
Esme Green is a Dance Movement Psychotherapist (DMP) with experience in creating and holding creative workshops and therapy groups for a variety of underrepresented communities. After training as a dancer, Esme continued her studies to complete a masters in DMP, leading her to work in a variety of settings including charities, mental health hospitals, refugee camps and SEN schools.
Esme has recently founded her own project named Creative Voices Collective (CVC) and has received funding to deliver a year-long project of creative workshops and exhibitions for those who have suffered with their mental health in Lambeth. Esme is looking for feedback and support on how to grow the project, including how to support the creative participants in the next phase of the project, and hearing about different business models that will help Esme expand her company.