The HappeningInMCR Team is back and ready to kickstart the new year with a new exhibition in their Community Micro-Gallery, featuring 16 talented local artists!

After combing through 70 submissions, the team is excited to present the 17 captivating artworks chosen from 16 emerging local artists. The exhibition showcases a diverse range of mediums including water colour paintings, textile work, highly detailed ink drawings, photograms, photography, and digital collage and illustration.

The exhibition will run from the 13th January until the end of April and is located
on the ground floor via the Tib Street entrance.
Below, you can read the featured artists’ information and statements.
If you are interested in purchasing any works which are for sale, please contact the artist or happeninginmcr@gmail.com. Both HappeningInMCR and Afflecks take no commision, so all proceeds go towards the artist and their practice.

Ash Healy (she/her)

Bird, 2024, cyanotype on watercolour paper, 24 x 17cm, £45 (framed)
Instagram: @Ashhealy.photography

Ash Healy is a Mancunian photographer, multimedia artist and a recent graduate of the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham. Healy works in both analogue and digital formats with a passion for experimenting with a range of materials and printmaking methods, referencing historical processes and emphasising the craft involved. Her practice is considered documentary based with prevalent themes, including explorations of identity and human relationships; with sustainability and the environment also being a significant interest.

Charlotte Barrow (she/her)

Photoautomat, 2024, Acrylic paint, Posca pen and fine liner on coloured card, 30 x 40cm
Instagram: @artworkbychar

Charlotte Barrow is a mixed media artist located in Lancashire. After studying fine art at the University of Salford, Charlotte now creates artwork in a variety of media. Her recent artwork focuses on her travels, specifically homing in on urban landscapes and everyday life. Charlotte often experiments with bright colours; she is interested in how colour can be used to add life to a city.

Daisy Lewis DIY (she/her)

Cheddar, 2024 Paper Collage, 24 x 33cm, £30
Instagram: @daisylewisdiy | website: daisylewisdiy.com

Daisy Lewis DIY is a creative force fuelled by a passion for food, humour, and connection. Her whimsical, food-themed collages celebrate everyday culinary delights, such as cheddar, offering a playful tribute to the meals and ingredients that bring people together. Her work speaks to the joy and community found in shared experiences, whether that’s a family dinner or the camaraderie of a bustling marketplace. Daisy’s collages are conversation starters and love letters to the simple pleasures of life.

Daisy’s background as a hands-on creator aligns perfectly with Afflecks’ ethos of
independence, individuality, and creativity. Daisy Lewis DIY embodies the spirit of Manchester’s Northern Quarter: bold, quirky, and unapologetically unique. Her creations invite visitors to embrace the joy of good food and good company, all with a hearty dash of fun.

Georgia-Millie Crocker (she/her)

Gladiolus, 2024, Photogram, 8 x 8cm, £10
Instagram: @georgiamilliephotography_05

Georgia-Millie Crocker is 19, from Bolton, currently doing her BA in Photography. She has visited Afflecks from a young age; being immersed in the vivid art culture here, as well as the rich sense of community within Greater Manchester, has influenced her own passion and goals as an artist. Inspired by the likes of Francesca Woodman, she often creates fine art photography that tends to address politics, as well as mental health, and self-reflection. These images are from a photo book she is currently working on about community, which aims to empower and represent neurodivergent women.

Jack Brett (he/him)

It Might be Over Soon, 2024, Dry Point Etching, 36 x 28cm, £50
Instagram: @jackbrett__

Jack is a neurodivergent artist originally from the South - now living in Stockport - drawn to the North by its deep connection to art. Jack refuses to pigeonhole himself and believes artistic expression shouldn't be exclusive. Jack creates work at this current moment through printmaking, oil portraiture, murals, and music. As an up and coming artist and career path nomad, Jack relies on instinct when trying to piece together the world through his art. As a newcomer to Manchester, Jack can honestly say he hasn't ever been anywhere quite like Afflecks.

Jensen (he/him)

Chicken Feet Dim Sum, 2024, Photoshop and red foil, 25 x 19cm, £15 (print online) or £24 (framed).
instagram @jensenchung | Website: jensenchung.co.uk/

Jensen works as an Illustrator who paints characters and environments. With a love of food it was only a matter of time for him to start merging his passion for art and food together and explore the world of food illustration. This dim sum series is inspired by Jensen’s recent visit back to Hong Kong where he got to explore more of his heritage and experience first hand why food plays such an integral part of his culture but more importantly his identity. Iconic, hunger inducing, and unique, these prints will resonate with dim sum lovers. More of this series can be seen on his website www.jensenchung.co.uk.

Kevin Boardman (he/him)

LemonCHAIRello, 2024, lemons, netting and digital print, 23 x 32cm, £50           

Instagram: @boardmankevin | Website: kevinboardman.com

Kevin Boardman is an artist and researcher who explores alternative modes of thinking in
relation to objects, spaces, and uses. Using drawing, mind mapping, sculpture, and
pedagogical methods, he creates a varied range of works in an attempt to explore new
insights. He also delivers workshops and lectures which focus on collaborative approaches to creative thinking and making.

Mersenne Umeki (she/her)

Chaos of Illustrators, 2024, Watercolor on paper, 29.7 x 21cm, £50 (framed)
Instagram: @umeki_3

Umeki-trio is a self-taught comic creator and watercolor artist, originally from Hong Kong, who moved to Manchester for more connections and a spark for new ideas. She is deeply inspired by Japanese manga art and downtempo music from the Orient, and loves to express how a person with ADHD can create a new era in a visual way.

Lauren Brown (she/her)

Lamb Intestines, 2023, Ink on paper, 24 x 32cm, £20 (framed)
Instagram: @never_endingwhy

Lauren is a 21 year old artist from Stockport. She was raised by goths so visited Afflecks a lot as a kid. She likes to write short, dark fantasy stories and illustrate them using various materials such as graphite and inks or printing processes like risograph. She is inspired by fairy tale literature and poets such as Dakota Warren and Ocean Vuong. She also leans into themes of escapism and is currently writing her dissertation on the psychology of death in children's picture books. Her work involves bringing alternative imagery to more mainstream audiences, making stories and morals more accessible through fantasy illustration.

Inrealitysdream (he/him)

All Cats Are Beautiful, 2024, Digital Photomontage Fine Art Illustration on premium card
stock, 34 x 44cm, £60 (framed)
Instagram: @malcolmstanbra | website: inrealitysdream.com

Inrealitysdream is fascinated in depicting and crafting beautiful and bizarre, nuanced and
layered, urban and arcane artworks. These images are infused with an array of everyday
signs and symbols intended to evoke and suggest memories universal and common to us all. They are often created in the form of digital collages and are comprised of his personal observations, with photographs primarily taken in and around the streets of Manchester. Some of these works are also allegorical stories, which not only explore humanity’s desires and deepest fears, but equally blur and question the boundaries between fact and fiction, myths, legends, and folklore.

Marguerite Charles

Idleness, 2024, Ink on paper, 26.2 x 20.2cm, £150
Chiloé, 2021, Ink on paper, 26 x 32 cm, £200 (framed)
Instagram: @marguerite.charles.blumen | Website: margueritecharles.fr

Marguerite Charles' work highlights the details of everyday landscapes and extracts an
imaginary world from them. She loves the hustle and bustle of small objects and the way
they pile up. She tries to show the different rhythms of urban landscapes, their forms and their lives.

Molly Campbell (she/her)

DOES MY LIFE MATTER TO YOU?, 2018, Metallic embroidery on woven wool and
monofilament base, 35.5 x 23.5cm, £90 (framed)
Instagram: @mollrose

With a background in woven textile design and having experienced working within the
fashion industry, Molly Campbell draws on her technical knowledge and commercial
experiences to create pieces which reflect the challenges she has faced in her continuous
journey, along with many other women.
Molly uses fabric composition, structure, and shape as a medium to reflect the ongoing
battles women face in society, such as sexism, colourism, classism, and unrealistic
pressures regarding body image and mental health. She conveys the tension between
societal expectations and personal identity through her use of woven structures and dyeing techniques. The fluidity yet rigidity of the fabric symbolises the constraints imposed on women, while its texture and form challenge the norms surrounding beauty, race, and class.
Molly’s work serves as a visual representation of how these battles shape women's lives,
offering a space for conversation, maybe even debate, but most of all, healing.

Creations_of_Ra (she/her)

Are You Wired?, 2023, Mixed media. Pen drawing and collage, 45 x 43cm, £25 for Print
Version Only
Instagram: @creations_of_ra / @meta_art_creative | Website: behance.net/rabiasaleemi

Rabia is a visual artist and facilitator. She experiments with intuitive mark making,
experimentation, and fun. Her work embodies the ethos of Afflecks; the quirky compositions and the surreal edge in her creations are a representation of the unusual curiosities found on the many floors of Afflecks. The charcoal piece represents people’s minds coming together, creative collectives, community, and tribe, which is what Afflecks signifies to Rabia and to the Mancunians that frequent here.

Mon Cheung

Cat can fly, 2024, digital painting /Krita, 12.7 x 12.7 cm, £50
Instagram: @mon.cheung.comics

Mon Cheung, a talented digital artist from Hong Kong, specialises in captivating cat
illustrations. His versatile career includes work in comics, picture books, games, and
animation across Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan. As an Art Director in mobile
game development, he continues to publish acclaimed illustrated novels, such as "A Life
Like a Cat" and "Bruce at Work." Now residing in the UK since 2023, Mon embodies Bruce Lee's philosophy, "Be water," as he navigates new creative ventures.

Stella Collier (she/her)

Two birds and a rug, 2024, pencil on heavyweight cartridge paper, 23 x 31.7cm, Not for Sale.

Instagram: @imartyfarty

Stella Collier’s piece encapsulates the essence of her art style, which is influenced by her
day to day surroundings in the city. The animal and/or human-like subjects of her drawings often exude a sense of familiarity, safety, and community which contrasts heavily with hereerie drawing style that is often void of colour. This theme carries through her work and aligns with Afflecks’ role as an important community hub for an array of Manchester residents, as people from all walks of life gather here 7 days a week to fulfil the same goal of self expression and connection.

Terry Milligan (he/him)

Riso 3, 2024, risograph on paper, 29.7 x 21cm in 44 x 32cm frame, £35 - multiple copies
available.

Instagram: @Terry.milligann

Terry Milligan is an artist and designer working across fashion and print. His work explores contemporary queer identity and queer world building. Through subversive imagery and unapologetic colour, the work seeks to inspire joy, hope, and wonder in the viewer. His work is centred around community and is a medium to connect with others, which is at the heart of the ethos of Afflecks.

Follow HappeningInMCR on instagram at @happeninginmcr , for regular updates about thearty goings on in Greater Manchester.

The HappeningInMCR Team are:

Jasmine, Admin and Coordinator, @sminspiring_art

Nahsa, Co-Curator, @nashacashart

Tom, Co-Curator and Gallery Technician, @tomkinlochart

Zhen, Graphic Designer, @shirotenzhen

Ella, Contributing Editor and Proofreader, @ellawarennn