artists

About the

A photograph of two of the project artists in the studio. They stand beside an artwork in progress and appear to be discussing it.

The artists involved with this project are disabled artists from Art Riot Collective and Coventry University.

Scroll down to learn more about each of them, and what this project means to them.

Corinne (They/Them)

a black and white close-up portrait of a young person presenting as female with long hair, looking directly at the camera with a neutral expression. Small daisy flowers are artistically placed on their cheeks, chin, and neck.

I’m a disabled queer self-portrait artist and curator, producing art from the same 2 by 1.5 metre space; my bed. I’ve been ill since childhood, and for the last six years my health has confined me to bed.

I work mainly with photographic self-portraiture. My distinctively dark and evocative self-depictions, intimately reflect my ongoing struggles with mental illness. I love daisies but feel afraid and unable to visit them, as my voices told me I’m not allowed to leave home. So I paint the nature I long to be within upon my skin and my bedsheets.

Dove McColm

A photo of Dove - a person presenting as a woman, wearing an orange paint-splattered smock sitting at a table in an art studio, focused on painting. She holds a brush and works on a canvas.

I’ve loved drawing since I was a child, and art has now become a means to lose myself and ‘be’.

Taking part in the Art Riot project has been a privilege; it has allowed me to create alongside others in an accepting and collaborative space. Furthermore, I was able to joyfully express my love of painting and animals.

Augmented Reality is to me something novel and exciting as it allows our art to exist in a usually unobtainable environment.  I can’t wait for the people close to me in my life to see my companion floating in the sky at Broadgate.

Ismatjahan Ravat

A photo of Issy - a person presenting as a young woman wearing a black headscarf and a white paint-splattered lab coat leaning over a table, concentrating on painting a colourful cube-shaped object.

Artist Ismatjahan creates detailed patterned paintings, reworking and revisiting pieces, giving her work a richness in colour and texture. 

Her work is incredibly detailed and beautiful, often referencing the rich textiles and garments she wears. 

Issy’s work is sometimes small and sometimes larger and she has been experimenting with screen printing and printing techniques.

Melissa Perring

Photograph of Melissa - A person presenting as a woman, with long hair, dressed in a turquoise cardigan and blue pants, standing at a table working on a colourful sculpture made of wire and foam pieces.

I’m formerly a student success coach at Coventry University.

I am a proud late-diagnosed dyslexic and identify with other neurodivergencies.

Having just been awarded my Ph.D. in March of this year, after a challenging 6.5 year journey, the last thing I’d expected to face was redundancy only a couple of months later.

My art piece is an expression of overwhelming thoughts and feelings of my own uncertainty with regards to my career in the context of other local and worldly events and injustices that weight heavily on my mind.

My usual art form is writing and, inspired by Art Riot Collective artists’ approach to art, I planned to write a stream of consciousness in the shape of an explosion. With the nature of the project being 3D, I was challenged to explore a new medium.

This has been a very therapeutic experience for me, from being able to focus on a physical project, rather than all the mental strain I’ve been going through, to being surrounded by good company were people have been joyfully expressing themselves through art, and symbolically bandaging up my wounds along the way.

Munkyle

Photograph of Munkyle - A man seated in a wheelchair painting on a large canvas using a long brush. He wears glasses and a dark shirt with a black apron. His expression is focused as he creates bold black strokes on the paper in front of him.

Artist Munkyle is a musician, poet and painter. 

His current practice combines all three to create complex emotional performances that reflect his feelings and experiences of life.

Pauline Alexander

A photograph of the artist, Pauline, and her dog Smoky. They sit together in the studio and look directly at the camera.

I work at Coventry University as a service user/expert by experience. I have invisible disabilities including a mental health diagnosis and Crohn’s disease.

My reasons for taking part in this project was originally curiosity and despite misgivings of being hopeless at art, I realised that creating a piece could be as abstract as my thoughts.

I have been knitting from childhood, taught by my mum, who was an excellent knitter herself.

Working with the group, who welcomed myself and my dog, Smoky, has been a great experience.

In my interview, I talked about how everyone walks with their heads in their mobiles.

Augmented reality is technology and art reaching out to each other and walking side by side to make art accessible to this audience. There is also an exhibition of the original art on display, therefore it will appeal to all.