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Nadia on... Sneinton Market's Redevelopment

In her monthly LeftLion column, Nadia Whittome, MP for Nottingham East, discusses issues effecting both Nottingham and Westminster. This month, she discusses the planned revelopment of Sneinton Market...

Street Art or Graffiti? Why Banksy's Notts Visit Shouldn't Distract from the City's Own Artists

Alex Kuster looks at the recent media circus surrounding Banksy's visit to Notts, and why local street artists aren't treated with the same level of respect...

Tender Coven: The Monthly Subscription Box That Merges Wxtchcraft and Support for Emerging Artists

Alex Stubbs catches up with artist, curator and educator Wingshan Smith to discuss Tender Coven, an online community and monthly subscription spell box that merges wxtchcraft with support for emerging artists...

The Island: Trekkah Benjamin on His New Project with Nottingham Community Arts Network Aiming to Support Young Males with Mental Health Issues

Through his charity organisation C.A.N, artist Trekkah Benjamin has launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund a program that aims to help young men in communicating mental health issues...

Why We Decided to Watch an Episode of Most Haunted in a Dark, Empty National Justice Museum...

We should do something Halloween-y for our October issue. Yeah, okay. How about with the National Justice Museum? Good shout. But what? I dunno. They made an episode of Most Haunted there, you know. Really? Yeah it’s on Amazon Prime. Imagine if we went over there and watched it in the dark where they spotted the ghosts. Do you think they’ll let us? We can ask...  

Lakeside Art's Djanogly Gallery Reopens with Mat Collishaw Exhibition

After closing doors in March due to the pandemic, Lakeside Arts will be reopening from Saturday 17 October with the first major solo exhibition of a Notts-born contemporary artist… 

Art Preview: The Near Room at Bonington Gallery

Muhammad Ali described “The Near Room” as a mental space he would enter during a boxing match – an otherworldly state where you are accutley aware of your own mortality. Sophie Cundale’s new moving-image work, The Near Room (2020), gives substance to this imagined space. Set in a vivid hallucination in the mind of a disorientated boxer, The Near Room muddles historic references with the fantastical and supernatural...

Nottingham Arts and Culture Venues Given Government Funding Lifeline with Culture Recovery Fund

Seventeen organisations have received combined funding totalling over £4.5 million to help with post-COVID recovery...

Under Cover Artist: Kate Sharp

Local artist and LeftLion regular Kate Sharp was kind enough to take a crack at our October cover, and I’m sure you’ll agree that she did a beautiful job. Here’s what inspired it...

MOAN Zine on Female Pleasure, Illustration and This Month's Cover

Since 2018, MOAN has been exploring female pleasure through the perspective of women. After two successful issues and this month’s LeftLion cover, we chat to the woman behind it all about how it all began, receiving and illustrating stories around desire, and what the future holds for MOAN...

The Chimera Plantarium Project Are Working with Primary School Kids to Create Art

Lenton locals may have spotted the remnants of The Chimera Plantarium Project on Church Drive. Two vividly coloured and curiously shaped murals command a presence that hints towards their leafy beginnings and leaves passers-by turning their heads. They are just some of the work delivered by artist Chiara Dellerba and the children from Years 5 and 6 at Edna G. Olds Academy, as part of Primary’s Making Place project. Working together, they explored and created artwork based on the idea of spontaneous plants – wild, urban flora. Spontaneous plants are resilient creatures and their perseverance to thrive almost anywhere, even in abandoned, overlooked, or routinely neglected areas, is something us humans could learn from. We spoke to Chiara, to find out more about the project…

Artist Mitch Proctor, a.k.a Bon Idle, on his new comic: Henshin

Nine years ago, a mysterious explosion plunged a city into a seemingly endless blackout. That is, until a Mark Zuckerburg-like tech billionaire rebuilt it into a futuristic metropolis – but to Journalism student Alex, this shady figure’s motivations don’t quite ring true. Alex’s hunch soon thrusts him into a world of superheroes and monsters in Henshin, a new series from Notts-based artist Mitch Proctor, a.k.a. Bon Idle...

From Sneinton to Xingu: Notts Musician Nathaniel Mann and his experiences with Brazil's Wauja Indigenous Community

When Sneinton-based musician and radio broadcaster Nathaniel Mann responded to a 2018 British Council + PRSF opportunity for a musical residency with the Wauja Indigenous Community in Xingu, Mato Grosso, Brazil, he had no idea how much his life was about to change. Two years later, he collaborated with the Wauja’s principal Akari Waura, assisted with the recording and preservation of his traditional songs and produced a BBC Radio 4 documentary about their work together. Now, as the community faces the threat of COVID-19, he’s working with the Wauja to help raise awareness and funds to ensure the long-term protection of a people whose descendants have lived in the Xingu territory for over a thousand years…

Leading From the Back: The Backlit Artists Creating Exciting Projects

From its three-story base in the heart of Sneinton, BACKLIT is home to more than eighty studio artists, spanning a diverse range of practices, including fine art, contemporary craft and creative businesses. The independent, artist-led gallery has provided affordable studio spaces for artists, graduates and emerging local talent for almost twelve years. With the studio currently still closed to the public, we took a look around to find out more about some of their exciting artists, including what they’ve been up to during lockdown...

Under Cover Artist: Stuart Jones

We’re back in print with a bang, and Stuart Jones’ cover – a love-letter to all things print – is the cherry on top of this 48-page cake. We chat with this month’s cover artist to find out more about his work...

Nottingham Arts Mela Returns to the New Art Exchange for Its 32nd Year

As Nottingham Mela Network, in partnership with New Art Exchange, gets ready to celebrate the 32nd year of Nottingham Arts Mela in the UK, Alex Stubbs previews the exciting, eclectic online programme of cooking, films featuring South Asian diaspora worldwide, music, dance, debates, poetry and spoken word, family art workshops, murals, archives activated, morning raags and yoga…

Art Works: Naa Ahinee Mensah

Artist Naa Ahinee Mensah tells us about her George Floyd triptych...

The Art of Beer's Seth Smith Has Drawn 41 of Our City's Best Boozers

Meet Seth Smith, aka the Art of Beer. He’s spent the last half-decade creating illustrations inspired by the nation’s favourite alcoholic beverage. This year he’s drawn 41 of the city's best boozers in conjunction with Nottingham Craft Beer Week and soon they’ll be available as free postcards at a pub near you…

Art Works: Kai-Yan Lai

After bagging success at the Young Creative Awards, Kai-Yan Lai has earned himself a successful career behind the camera... 

Honey Williams on her July 2020 Cover, Representation and Her Career

Our cover artist, Honey Williams, talks to our Art co-Editor, LJ Vaughan, about making art, her role as a choir director, and what it’s like to be a big black woman living in Nottingham...

Stop Wars to Stop Racism: The History Behind Belward Street's Iconic Street Art

For years, Richie 'Pops' Baker's 'Stop Wars' design stood as one of Nottingham's most recognisable and iconic street art pieces. Having recently been reimagined as the new 'Stop Racism' piece, the artist, who now calls New Zealand home, explains the history behind his design...

Isolation Art Mail Allows You to Work Creatively with Others Through the Post

In a bid to inspire creative communication through traditional, tangible methods, Tracey Meek is combating loneliness and isolation the old-fashioned way. We caught up with the artist to discuss Isolation Art Mail, her community art intervention project that encourages people to share a collaborative chain letter of unfinished artwork...

5 Nottinghamshire Artists You Can Support from Home

Back in mid-March, before our lives took an unexpected turn, Nottingham Contemporary hosted a fair celebrating all things print. It was my last cultural day out, and with a variety of workshops and some thirty stalls to browse, it did not disappoint. The fair introduced me to many talented makers based here in Nottingham, and now, without galleries to visit, it’s a great time to bring art into the home, while supporting Nottingham’s creative community.

Here are a few of the featured artists, whose works are available for purchase…

Letters of Constraint: How the National Justice Museum are Documenting Life in the Coronavirus Era

With the aim of encouraging people to reflect on their lockdown experiences to create a written legacy of the COVID crisis, the National Justice Museum’s new Letters of Constraint virtual exhibition is looking for your participation. We talked to Dr Martin Glynn, the museum’s writer in residence, about how you can put pen to paper and be part of Nottingham’s lockdown story... 

“All my life I’ve been taught that the police won’t help me” – Artist and activist Kay on George Floyd, police brutality and the ongoing protests in Britain…

For many, the death of George Floyd was quickly contextualised as an American problem. Stories of racial profiling and police brutality have grown to become expected from a country that seems more divided than it has been in a generation, leaving many in Britain feeling disgusted at how things are done on that side of the Atlantic. But, as the events of the last week have shown, the illusion that issues raised from Floyd’s killing are consigned to the US has been roundly smashed, with thousands taking to the streets in eighteen countries around the world (as well as all fifty US States) to support the Black Lives Matter campaign, which is now considered the largest Civil Rights campaign in history. Growing up in the projects of Alameda, California to Eritrea-born parents, artist and activist Kay – who works under the name The Rainbow Prince – has seen the way police brutality and racism takes form on both sides of the pond, having moved to Nottingham six months ago. And as Notts gets ready to play its part in the movement with a protest on Sunday 6 June, we talk to Kay about why activism is important in the UK…