Elham Hemmat is an award-winning graphic designer and visual artist from Iran who now works and lives in Bedford. She holds both a Degree in Visual Communication and a Master in Art and Design, and she works across different disciplines, creating posters, sculptures and paintings focusing on social and cultural issues. Her works have been exhibited in many countries, and won several awards including the first prize at the International Biennial of Theatre Poster in Rzeszow, Poland and the first prize at the Fadjr International Theatre Festival in Teheran, Iran. Her works have also been acquired for public collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art in Toyama, Japan and the Museum of Human Rights in Canada.

Lindsey Power is an English-born artist who has resided in Ireland for over 20 years. Working from her garden studio, she is currently making a series of abstract paintings based on the geology, biodiversity and landscape features of The Burren. Her work is full of gestural, raw, bold and imposing marks that create a sense of immediacy and chaos.

The work is about the things often overlooked within the dramatic landscape such as fossils, rocks, plant and sea life. These are studied forensically and abstracted further. The wild shapes and the variety of colour is viewed by Lindsey as a form of nature’s own graffiti, overcoming the boundaries of its limestone habitat.

The work often begins with photography to gather information for explorative charcoal sketches on paper, or directly onto the canvas.
The paintings are made using acrylic, oil, graphite, ink, marker, pastels and spray paint in experimental ways. Lindsey builds line, form and colour, creating balance or deliberate imbalance with fluid rhythmic motions and frantic linework that often involves boring in marks heavily using her entire body.