Interviewing Graduates in Nottingham

Last year, I had the opportunity to work alongside the residents of Surface’s East Midlands Graduate Project (EM25). Surface is an established, volunteer-run gallery based near Nottingham’s Sneinton Market with exhibition, studio and workshop spaces. The annual graduate project is characteristic of their commitment to supporting emerging artists. Eight artists were selected to work onsite for four weeks to create work for an end-of-project show. Throughout the month, I sat down with the individual residents to talk about their time at the gallery, the old and new creative directions, and their time studying art at university. Some residents were from the East Midlands, and some studied in the East Midlands but there was something intimate about these eight very different individuals coming together in one place (Surface’s Project Space- empty, industrial, cold) and meeting at the same crossroads of their careers in the arts.

Topics covered include trusted relationships with art tutors, the nihilistic mentality of today’s young people, personal and regional connections to lace and knitting, how to paint and retrieve memories, and representations of the body in all its gruesome and sensual forms.

Click to read the interviews below: 

Xin Chen 

Amber Clarke 

Charlie Cook

Abigail Hurst

Becky Liberty

Olly O’Neill

Jasmin Sproule 

Lucy Vardy

Surface is a Nottingham arts collective and gallery based on mutually supportive professional development. Find them here and on Instagram.

East Midlands Graduate Project 2025 took place in Autumn 2025 at Surface and closed with Intervals, the end-of-residency exhibition.