The HappeningInMCR Team has returned with their 10th open call exhibition in their Community Micro-Gallery, featuring 13 talented local artists.

The team were blown away with the quality of submissions and, after combing through 66 entries, are excited to present 17 selected artworks.

Head to the Community Micro-Gallery on the ground floor via the Tib Street entrance. The gallery is also wheelchair accessible via the Church Street entrance.

Below, you can read the featured artists' information and statements.

If you are interested in purchasing any works that are for sale, please contact the artist directly or email happeninginmcr@gmail.com. HappeningInMCR and Afflecks take no commission, so all proceeds go directly to the artist and their practice.

EXHIBITING ARTIST STATEMENTS

ABBY TURCO (she/her)

Instagram: @cherryq.paint

There You Are, 2026
Gouache on cotton paper
18 x 24 cm (in A5 frame)
£75

Come on Down, 2026
Gouache on cotton paper
18 x 24 cm (in A5 frame)
£75

Abby is a queer artist based in Manchester City Centre. Her works showcase whimsical snapshots from her childhood in the American South. Places like Afflecks provide her with a sense of belonging, something her hometown couldn't provide. Since finding community in Manchester, her practice connects with the isolation of queerness in her hometown while honouring the beauty of the place that raised her. Dizzying wide skies, petrichor air and cicadas chirping through hot summer nights spark vibrant, eerie depictions of home. Through her artwork, she remembers the oddities of queer youth overseas and acknowledges the thin line between memories and ghosts.

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ALICIA BROMWICH (she/her)

Instagram: @aliciabromwich

Reflection, 2025
Coloured pencil on paper
21 x 30 cm
Not for sale

Untitled, 2023
Coloured pencil on paper
29.7 x 21 cm
Not for sale

Alicia is a 21-year-old artist based in Manchester whose artistic practice has evolved significantly in recent years as she moved beyond exclusively academic spaces and began developing her own distinctive style. Primarily working in coloured pencil, she enjoys experimenting with intense colour, contrast and mark making through portraits.

Whilst her practice is constantly evolving, the submitted works reflect the enduring constant within her style: vibrancy. Through her art, Alicia hopes to inject energy and colour into the spaces her work inhabits, offering viewers an invitation to take up space authentically and unapologetically, without watering themselves down.

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AMELIA BRIDGE (she/her)

Instagram: @minniemoo.art
Website: ameliabridgeportfolio.weebly.com

Sisters, 2026
Digital artwork using tattoo-inspired linework
21 x 29.7 cm
£30

Amelia Bridge is a young illustrator from Manchester whose upbringing in the creative melting pot of the Northern Quarter continues to inspire her textural creations. These works celebrate the messy artistic inspiration she sees in the history of her hometown and her love of subcultures that find homes in its alleys and corners. She began developing her art during lockdown and uses it to create vibrant visuals to fight the beige of modern-day life. She builds on the patterns she finds in local vintage shops and architecture while injecting them with wilder, more organic elements.

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BEN FARRUGIA (he/him)

Instagram: @chibby.96

Lamp Light, 2026
Oil on canvas panel
20.3 x 20.3 cm
Not for sale

Ben Farrugia is a self-taught artist born and raised in Manchester. Ben was first introduced to Afflecks at a very young age by his older sister, giving him his first exposure to alternative and indie subcultures. This experience has shaped and inspired him to this day.

Ben uses art as a meditative practice to explore his own fears, doubts and anxieties. Inspired by film, anime and music, he blends imagery that fascinates him into his own iconography. Through painting and illustration he explores themes of isolation and existentialism, often depicting quiet moments with characters who are absurd in their own worlds.

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DANNY LILLICO (they/them)

Instagram: @maybe_danny_art

festering - coming apart, 2026
Ink on cartridge paper
45 x 32.7 cm
£45 (framed)

Danny Lillico is an illustrator whose practice focuses on emotional imagery and a surreal visual language. Through simplistic line work they explore connection and mental illness, often portraying the human form alongside fungal imagery. They have always been interested in character design through the lens of fashion and comic art, something clearly reflected in their current style.

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EVIE ROBINSON

Instagram: @evies.jpgs

Untitled2. Project: Soul Purge, 2026
Photograph (self-portrait)
29.7 x 42 cm (including frame)
Not for sale

Evie Robinson is a visual artist from Stockport specialising in surreal photography, particularly self-portraits. Her work is inspired by mental health, creating images that illustrate feelings that sometimes cannot be explained through words. She intends to reject stereotypes and applies her work to feminist ideals.

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LLOYD FOSTER (he/him)

Instagram: @yeet_me_into_a_recycling_bin

Lost, 2026
Coloured pencil on wooden panel
15 x 8 x 1 cm
£200

Lloyd is an artist interested in the peculiarities of everyday life, with a particular focus on public transport. Working primarily in coloured pencil, he explores the relationship between the surreal and the mundane. Drawing from his own journeys on the Bee Network and Northern Rail, his work reframes everyday frustrations through surreal figurative compositions.

Lloyd also prioritises environmentally conscious materials, reflecting the lower carbon impact of public transport and aligning his practice with a commitment to sustainability.

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LOKI (he/they)

Instagram: @lokiloki.art
Website: lokiloki.art

Peel Discarded, 2026
Acrylic on cardboard
24 x 33 cm
£75 (framed)

Loki is a recovering former STEM student who found their true passion in painting and poetry. Working mainly with acrylics, they create introspective and emotionally textured work infused with urban melancholy. Their paintings offer psychologically charged perspectives that sit just slightly off-kilter.

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MAISIE GREEN (she/her)

Instagram: @ssoupdragon

A Knight and A Dragon, 2024
Plasticine / digital illustration – Giclée print
20 x 20 cm
Not for sale

M Green is a mixed-media illustrator based in the UK. Her work exists within the realm of fantasy, combining dreamlike imagery with the natural and human worlds. Working mainly with plasticine clay and digital finishing touches, she creates dark, atmospheric works that reflect the human condition through fantastical and poetic influences.

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RICHARD CORBALLY

Instagram: @rcorballyart

Hotspur Press, 2026
Oil on board
19.5 x 14 cm
£150

Sunset, Bowness, 2025
Oil on board
14 x 19.5 cm
£150

Richard graduated with a Fine Art degree in the mid-1990s and returned to painting seriously around ten years ago. He paints part-time alongside other work, mainly focusing on landscapes and places shaped by renovation, demolition or damage.

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SONIA KONG (she/her)

Instagram: @soniakong.design
Website: soniakongdesign.com

Bill — Bus Driver, 2025
Acrylic on canvas
23.5 x 28.5 cm
Not for sale

Sonia Kong is a product designer and artist driven by a simple belief: design should make you feel something and act as a language for storytelling. Working primarily with acrylic, she explores expressive brushstrokes, vibrant colour and playful composition to create work that sits between function and feeling.

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SOPHIA SHEN (she/her)

Instagram: @sophia_shen_art

Van Gogh & Monet: Colour Celebration II, 2026
Cotton thread
15 x 15 x 3 cm
£72 (framed)

Van Gogh & Monet: Colour Celebration III, 2026
Cotton thread
15 x 15 x 3 cm
£72 (framed)

Sophia Shen is a Manchester-based artist exploring colour, texture and material through multimedia artworks. Inspired by Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh, she reinterprets painterly colour palettes using layered cotton threads instead of paint, transforming everyday materials into expressive visual experiences.

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TEHMINA TASADDUQ

Instagram: @a.r.t.by.t

Veil of Becoming, 2026
Oil on canvas panel
21 x 29.7 cm (in A3 frame)
£450

Tehmina Tasadduq is an emerging contemporary artist from Pakistan, now based in Manchester. She holds a Fine Arts degree from Fatima Jinnah Women University and a Master's in Art and Design from the University of Huddersfield. Working primarily in oil, her practice explores identity, silence, resilience and transformation through layered surfaces and restrained palettes.

Veil of Becoming explores transition, fragility and endurance, using painting to express subtle emotional states and moments of quiet emergence.

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Follow HappeningInMCR on Instagram at @happeninginmcr or join their mailing list for regular updates about the arty goings-on across Greater Manchester.

If you missed their last open call, the next one launches in early September 2026.

The HappeningInMCR Team:

Jasmine – Co-Director, Admin and Coordinator (@sminspiring_art)

Nahsa – Co-Director, Co-Curator (@nashacashart)

Tom – Co-Curator and Gallery Technician (@tomkinlochart)

Beeve – Social Media Assistant (@_beeve_)

Pita – Graphic Designer (@pitahpat)

Jade – Marketing Assistant (@jadeartchive)