Cohort Five
Natasha Awuku
Natasha is a multidisciplinary artist based in London, celebrated for her intricate paintings, street art, and musicianship.
Her artwork is often surreal and dream-like, drawing inspiration from nature motifs such as clouds, flowers, and butterflies, intertwined with urban elements like graffiti and high-rise buildings. This unique blend reflects the harmony and tension between nature and city life.
Natasha’s work has earned her awards, including The Art of Energy prize, and has been featured in the curated display at The Affordable Art Fair.
A versatile musician, producer, and vocalist, Natasha’s multidisciplinary approach enriches her creativity, making it as dynamic as the environments she draws inspiration from.
“Learning about artistic expression is a never-ending journey. I’m excited that muralism is now a part of my path.”
You can follow her on Instagram: @natasha_awuku
www.natasha-awuku.com
Clare Barstow
Clare studied Classics and Ancient History at Royal Holloway College, University of London, before taking a diploma in Journalism at the London College of Printing, and working at various publishers on a variety of magazines including Tatler and Music Week. More recently she has worked at Inside Times and The View magazine. Clare volunteers for several prison charities and regularly gives talks in prison and the community. She teaches creative writing and facilitates other workshops at a women's hostel in Brixton.
Clare has lived experience of homelessness and the Criminal Justice System. She is also a member of Clean Break and Synergy Theatre companies. As an artist Clare recently curated two exhibitions called Freedom: Terms and Conditions and had work exhibited in over 20 shows nationwide. Clare creates fine art, digital art and installations as well as performance art. Her work looks at the themes of feminism, diversity, inclusion, homelessness, activism, technology versus spirituality and the myth of the fairytale. She has also worked for the charity Koestler Arts which provides prisoners with access to the arts and runs an annual competition.
You can follow Clare on Instagram
Amy Corcoran
Amy Corcoran is an artist, writer and researcher whose creative practice oscillates around human rights, ecology, and the more-than-human, and incorporates film, photography, sound, illustration and installation. She employs these mediums to kindle new perspectives and to produce intimate spaces for reflection and empathy.
Amy works to enhance her own connection to the natural world, and hopes her work encourages this in others too. She is also incredibly invested and interested in people. Her background is in psychology and human rights, and her practice is partly informed by her PhD, which investigated public art interventions in migrant solidarity movements.
Amy completed a postdoctoral research associate role at the RCA, which used co-design principles to explore the development of community projects connecting people with nature for wellbeing. She was recently a lead artist and curator for Forest of Imagination, which connects young people to nature through play, exploration, creativity and wonder.
Finn Donovan
Having grown up in this city, Finn has always loved the chaos and vibrancy of London’s streets. Public art has always captured her attention, specifically street art and meaningful subversions to urban landscapes. Although she didn’t study art in higher education, Finn continued to create throughout the years and has experimented with graffiti, collage, and large-scale abstract painting.
Community and participatory art are two aspects Finn is keen to foster in her developing practice. She feels the London School of Muralism will be an ideal place to nurture this understanding of how art can be used in the community, and for the community in sustainable, collaborative ways.
Finn’s background is varied – from working in education, to homelessness, to arboriculture. She enjoys working with people, outdoors, and with her body. She also loves the process of transforming everyday spaces into unique environments that tell visual stories, or simply surprise.
You can follow Finn on Instagram.
Lucy Edkins
Lucy is an artist, actor and writer living and working in the borough of Haringey. She is a member of Gaunson Creative artist studios and works part-time for the council as a peer support worker, running art groups and painting murals with outsider creatives in the borough. You can see some of their work on instagram @studio14_Artists. They’re interested in taking on projects that can help engage locals and brighten up our borough.
Lucy is a Clean Break Member Artist and the 2025 lead on painting a participatory mural for the public facing wall of Clean Break’s Kentish Town premises.
Recent commissions include a globe for The World Reimagined Hackney Trail (In Their Own Words - Mostly) and a commemorative painting of a legal victory for The Centre for Women’s Justice. Lucy is interested in social/political mural painting commissions.
Chantal Gagnon
Chantal Gagnon is a Canadian-born, UK-based artist, and intuition coach with a passion for creating art that fosters connection, joy, and community. Chantal specialises in colourful abstract paintings that map visual journeys, lived emotions, and the essence of moments in time. Chantal is expanding their practice to include collaborative community projects, aiming to bring people together through art. Her work has been featured in British Vogue, and reflects a vibrant interplay of energy, collective consciousness and the emotional resonance of spaces, inviting viewers to connect with the ineffable. Outside of painting, Chantal teaches people to connect with their intuition through workshops and meditation events, as well as makes neurodivergent-friendly stationery through her company, Socolo Ltd. Follow Chantal’s artistic journey on Instagram at @socolo.art.
https://socolo.co.uk/
Amy Johnston
Amy is an ex-teacher and environmental educator working under the name Antler Wildling Art. Specialising in art that helps people question their relationship with nature, she loves communicating complex stories in playful and accessible ways.
Amy enjoys bringing people together through collaborative approaches to art, particularly in multi-generational community projects. She loves images that connect the past, present and future.
Always aiming to work as sustainably as possible, Amy is also passionate about commissions that include or inspire exploring and re-wildling natural spaces. She enjoys bringing together a diverse range of practitioners to deliver both small and large scale projects.
Website www.antlerwildling.com
Instagram www.instagram.com/antlerwildlingart
Tia McKoy
Tia is an artist from North London with a passion for creating publicly accessible art. From a young age, she was inspired by her local area and Jamaican heritage, developing a great appreciation for ephemera, signage & public art as a means to understand and celebrate shared history and cultural dialogue.
After studying at art University, she took a hiatus from creating her own work and went on to pursue a career in youth work and community engagement. Joining cohort 5 at LSoM, Tia is excited to marry her two passions in art and community engagement; whilst also developing her own creative practice. She hopes to produce murals which foster a sense of belonging and collective ownership, whilst taking the chance to inject more colour into the grey of urban life.
Anna Maria
Mendoza
Ana is a Mexican graphic designer, illustrator, mural artist, entrepreneur, traveller, runner, and, naturally, a devoted sushi lover. After spending a few years finding her way in the world, Ana believes she has finally figured it out (or perhaps not entirely!). Ana wanted to create something that blends art with community, so she launched a street art and muralism school in Mexico City: @contrasta.mx. Projects like LSoM are so essential because they’re not just about acquiring new skills, but also about learning how to engage, connect, create, and communicate with others through art. Let’s unite in the name of art and community!
Follow Contrasta on Instagram
Ruan Murphy
Ruan (they/them) is a self-taught printmaker and socially engaged artist/facilitator. They began printmaking during a long period of illness, initially to stop people from telling them to get a hobby, and have been creating ever since. Their work often explores themes of social justice and community activism, drawing inspiration from folk, outsider and protest art. They have also begun exploring their own experiences of chronic illness, neurodiversity, and queerness and the broader social context they exist within.
Inseparable from their individual practice, Ruan is passionate about collaborative art-making and exploring art as a tool for social change. They have facilitated participatory projects in diverse community settings, including hospitals, schools, and community centers. A proud advocate of wonky art, they firmly believe there’s no such thing as bad drawing.
Ruan is excited to join LSoM 25, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to expand their practice and combine their passion for participation, activism, visual art, and taking up public space.
You can see Ruan’s work on their instagram: @Ruan.murphy.art
Tessie Orange Turner
Tessie is an actor, illustrator and born and bred North Londoner. With a natural flair for storytelling and creativity, she aims to channel her love for self-expression into two vibrant worlds: performance and visual art.
Five years ago, she discovered the joy of street art and mural painting, finding freedom in transforming walls into canvases for bold, fun and meaningful stories. Her work is mainly inspired by themes of womanhood, identity, and the hidden beauty often overlooked in everyday life. She aims to celebrate the strength and subtleties of the human experience while embracing the playful, unpredictable moments that make life extraordinary.
Tessie is super excited to be at LSoM and looks forward to gaining more fluidity and strength in the storytelling and structure of her work.
You can follow Tessie on instagram @turningorange
Emily Pettitt
Emily is an illustrator based in the Midlands, who loves creating playful images that celebrate people and places. After leaving a career in product design (drawing more inhalers and hoovers than Emily cares to admit), she was convinced she'd never draw anything fun again. Enter illustration! Emily’s work explores identity and champions the imperfect, using a mix of collage, texture, and wobbly lines. She also loves painting on walls, making her work into murals that brighten forgotten public spaces. Emily is inspired by folk art, craft, and the untold stories behind everyday objects. When she’s not illustrating, you’ll find her attempting to knit, painting signs, or hanging out with my Brummie cat, Linton.
Follow Emily on Instagram
Athena Maria
Athena is a freelance designer, artist and performer. She loves making work that is big, impactful and challenges the status quo. She works intuitively, being inspired and led by the architecture of the space, the needs of the project and collaborating with other creatives.
She studied Communication Design at The Glasgow School of Art where she developed an interest in immersive experiences, blurring the line between the artist and observer. She has Set Designed and Managed London based and international projects as well as working as a Design Assistant at Punchdrunk.
A Member Artist at Clean Break, she is excited to work with other Members to develop and facilitate a mural at Clean Break, keeping Clean Break’s community at the heart of the project.
You can follow Athena on Instagram
Daniel Smalling -
Bennet
As a Jamaican British artist, Daniel’s practice seeks to reconcile the intricate layers of his dual identity, exploring the intersection of heritage, colonialism, escapism and personal experience. Airbrushing has become Daniel’s primary tool, not only for its technical precision but for its ability to evoke a sense of fluidity and depth that mirrors the complexities of his cultural roots. Through this medium, he creates realistic portraits that reflect both the vibrancy of Caribbean life and the nuanced nature of the diaspora experience.
It has been a long-term goal of Daniel’s to push his artistic capabilities and paint bigger and bigger each year. As an educator he wants to share his passion for the arts and extend the conversations and stories that he has with the rest of the world. That is why Daniel thinks murals are so powerful, as he believes they can connect with the outside world the most.
You can follow Daniel on Instagram
Clare Wallis
Clare graduated in 2010 from Chelsea in Fine Art. She financed her way by assisting artists such as Damien Hirst and Henry Hudson. Alongside this she worked in prop houses and art department for live television shows. Her passion for painting was developed seasonally on festival sites such as Glastonbury and Boomtown where she painted large scale stages outdoors and in all weather. She soon stumbled upon scenic painting which married her background in painting and her experience in the television world. 2019 saw an opportunity to paint a 100m mural in Japan for and with a local community, this ignited the joy of illustration, the warmth of community efforts and the performance of painting. Covid halted further projects and Clare returned to England to work on feature films for the next 5 years.
She now has a young family and hopes to rekindle working with communities bringing out their stories.
You can follow Clare on Instagram
Beci Ward
Beci Ward is a “Live Illustrator” specialising in capturing lived experience.
She draws ideas, thoughts, feelings, and testimonials in an accessible, and vibrant way resulting in a visual narrative of sessions and workshops. Lived experience is so crucial in improving a product or a service rather than second guessing what people need, especially within marginalised communities. Her work is instantaneous, fast and she really enjoys the social element as well as the energetic nature of illustrating in this way. In-between these projects generating patterns with a lot of detail is a massive passion. This is also the go to setting she utilises to process some of the “Lived experience” testimonials as they can often be very emotional. Beci has recently undertaken solo mural projects but is keen to dive into the teamwork and collaborative element of this course and build on her skillset!
You can follow Beci on Instagram