Ayesha Tan-Jones

Our first Artist in Residence, Ayesha Tan Jones, was nominated by Lindsay Friend, Director of the brilliant IMT Gallery.

Ayesha is a graduate of Central St Martins College of Art and Design. Their work fuses activism and art to present an alternative, queer, optimistic dystopia. Ayesha approaches activism through art, creating diverse, eco-conscious narratives that aim to connect, enthral and induce audiences to think more sustainably and ethically. Traversing pop music, sculpture, alter-egos, digital image and video work, Ayesha sanctifies these mediums as tools in their craft. In June 2016, Ayesha was awarded the Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s graduate residency award.

We’ve loved having Ayesha here, who worked on their own personal projects, as well as running community and art projects. This included their ‘Fertile Souls’ events, which involved sound therapy and a vocal resonance workshop, as a way of celebrating collective healing. Ayesha also ran the Shadow Sistxrs Fight Club in our hall - this physical and meta-physical self defence class combines Brazilian JuJitsu and magical/medicinal herbalism to create a holistic approach to self defence. SSFC is a way to explore a safety and strength through community ritual and collective.