ActionSpace

With the excitement surrounding Turner Prize winning ActionSpace artist Nnena Kalu, we’ve got lots of new followers to welcome, and we‘d like to share a bit more about what we do. We’re ActionSpace: a creative hub, a supported studio network, and an artist development agency championing learning disabled artists. In this post, we’re sharing a quick introduction to who we are, what we do, and how you can get involved. Swipe through to learn more. ➡️➡️➡️ 🔗 Head to the link in our bio to sign up for our monthly newsletter.

Kwaga Sillingi | Colour Without End ONE YEAR ON 🌟 This week, we’re reflecting on @ActionSpace resident artist Kwaga Sillingi’s inaugural solo presentation that took place at London’s @sadieshermangallery . The exhibition displayed Kwaga’s dynamic large-scale works on paper, a product of her steadily developed unique visual language centred around repetition, layering, and bold colour. Kwaga’s works invite close observation, encouraging the viewer to first absorb their visceral energy and then engage with their deeper complexities. Images: Kwaga Sillingi, Colour Without End, Sadie Sherman Gallery, 2025. Find out more about Kwaga via the Artists link in our bio🔹 #ContemporaryArts #VisualArts #ArtExhibition

Open Now ⭐ Exhibition: The Kingfisher⁠ Friday 8 May – Thursday 21 May⁠ Create Centre, Bristol⁠ ⁠ We’re excited to see @ActionSpace 's Mohammed Imran Khan featured in The Kingfisher exhibition, alongside 12 other brilliant artists commissioned for the new NHS Kingfisher inpatient service. The service supports autistic adults and adults with learning disabilities with complex mental health needs.⁠ ⁠ This exhibition offers a rare insight into how meaningful art is created within mental health settings.⁠ ⁠ Presented by @_hospitalrooms . Free to visit, all welcome 🌟 Image 2: Mohammed Imran Khan, 2026 #ArtExhibition #VisualArts

✨️ Open Now!⁠ ✨️⁠ Exhibition: The Kingfisher⁠ Open now – Thursday 21 May⁠ Create Centre, Bristol⁠ ⁠ Discover the 13 major artworks commissioned for the new NHS Kingfisher inpatient service, supporting autistic adults and adults with learning disabilities who have complex mental health needs.⁠ ⁠ Gain a rare insight into how meaningful art is created within mental health settings.⁠ ⁠ Featuring artists Peter Adjaye (@music4architecture ), Rubbena Aurangzeb-Tariq (@rubbena_art ), Hannah Brown (@hannahbrownartist ), Victoria Cantons (@victoriacantons ), Dhaqan Collective (@dhaqancollective ), Angela Harding (@angelaharding11 ), Christopher Hartmann (@hartmann.christopher ), Mohammed Imran Khan (@actionspace ), Chris Rose & Louise Morgan (@aim.artinmotion ), Phil Root (@philroot ) with Bristol Autism Spectrum Service, Veronica Ryan, and Boo Saville (@boosaville ).⁠ ⁠ Free to visit. All welcome.⁠ ⁠ #HospitalRooms #BristolExhibition #ArtAndMentalHealth

An extended chance to see ✨ ActionSpace artists’ international exhibition with @lovayfinearts in Geneva now on until 14 June! ‘Methodical Process’ brings together Nnena Kalu, Linda Bell, and Marie Gyger, exploring repetition of gesture as a daily practice and how it shapes image and meaning. Images 1: Linda Bell 2: Nnena Kalu Read more through the 'What's On' link in our bio. 🔹 #ContemporaryArts #VisualArts #ArtExhibition

Sharing event | Co-developing Art Technologies for more Inclusive Visual Art Spaces Wednesday May 20th 1-2pm I Online (zoom) You are warmly invited to a sharing event on the knowledge exchange project Co-developing Art Technologies for more inclusive Visual Art Spaces, hosted by CVAN London on Wednesday May 20th 1-2pm. Dr Sara Adhitya, Senior Research Fellow, UCL PEARL, Sheryll Catto, CEO and Artistic Director, ActionSpace and Jo Townshend, CVAN London Director, will be discussing the CVAN London X UCL collaborative project Co-developing Art Technologies for more inclusive Visual Art Spaces. Sara, Jo and Sheryll will share the project finding and invite you to join a conversation on the early recommendations. Register to attend via link in bio @ucl @actionspace

What does meaningful representation in the art world look like? 🤔 As Artistic Director and CEO of @actionspace Sheryll Catto has spent years dismantling the margins around learning-disabled artists. Her work is not about inclusion rhetoric but infrastructure - building studios, support systems, and professional pathways that treat artistic practice as serious, sustained labour. Nnena Kalu, who is represented by ActionSpace, won the Turner Prize in 2025. We are thrilled to have Sheryll on the selection panel for this year’s Annual Open Exhibition: 💬 I am excited to see the work submitted [for the 173 Annual Open Exhibition] this year and keen to encourage more neurodivergent and learning disabled artists to submit, as this is a fantastic opportunity to have their work seen and raise their profile. Read Sheryll’s full interview on our blog 🔗 rwa.org.uk/blogs 👉 rwaopen.co.uk 🗓️ Submit by 22 June 2026 @actionspace #RWAAOE173 #OpenCall #CallforEntries #ArtistsOpportunities #ArtPrize

#Repost @arcadiamissa ・・・ Currently in New York: Nnena Kalu (#nnenakalu) INDEX Arcadia Missa hosted by Chapter NY, New York, US 25 April - 30 May 2026 Nnena Kalu’s first solo exhibition in the US, INDEX, is now open at Chapter NY, New York (@chapterny ) until the 30th of May 2026. Much like the gesture-driven paintings typically attributed to Abstract Expressionists, Kalu values embodied mark-making rather than depiction. Her repeated lines accumulate into terrains that can feel rhythmic and sustained, behaving like an indexical script without semantic obligation. The weight near the top of the works, such as Vortex Drawing 50 and Vortex Drawing 51, translates the pressure of Kalu’s arm before it yields to gravity. This shift from pressure to lightness makes the body’s movements legible. Pictured: Installation view, INDEX, Arcadia Missa hosted by Chapter NY, New York, US (2026). Photography: Charles Benton. #actionspaceartist

🔦Our May 2026 Artist Spotlight is pointing firmly at Mohammed 'Imran' Khan. 🌟 Based at ActionSpace's studio in Brent, Imran works with a variety of materials, carefully considering the surface, placement and pattern he creates. With a strong sense of colour and form, he works abstractly shaping blocks of colour. Imran often works into the surface of paintings to strip back through layers of paint to complete larger works or series of smaller works. 🔗Read more about Imran through the News link in our bio. We're thrilled to have extra focus on Imran in May too - he's one of a group of artists commissioned by arts and mental health charity @_hospitalrooms for the new NHS Kingfisher inpatient service in Bristol. These extraordinary artists have worked with patients, NHS staff and people with lived experience of mental health services to create these inventive interventions. You can see a preview of the artwork to be installed later this year, in an exhibition hosted by @create_centre in Bristol from 9 to 21 May. Explore behind the scenes - from artist sketches and plans to artworks developed through collaborative workshops. Gain rare insights into how meaningful public art is shaped within mental health settings. Free to visit - all welcome. 🔗Again - read all about it through the News link in our bio. #artandmentalhealth #bristolexhibition #actionspaceartist #hospitalrooms

Celebrating #internationalsculptureday (if a little late!) with #actionspaceartists Abdul Hakem | Abubakar Akram |Ajanthan Jeevan | Andrew Omoding | Bert Heaney McKinnell | Lasmin Salmon | Linda Bell | Mark Lawrence | Nnena Kalu | Pardip Kapil

Congratulations to Nnena Kalu on being selected for British Art Show 10: A Chorus of Strangers. Curated by @ekoweshun , the landmark edition of British Art Show explores human connection and the figure of the Other in divided times, through the work of more than 30 artists. The UK’s largest recurring contemporary art exhibition, British Art Show 10 is produced by Hayward Gallery Touring and forms a key part of the Southbank Centre’s 75th anniversary national programme. The touring exhibition begins this autumn in Coventry - find out more via the 🔗 NEWS link in our bio. #britishartshow10 #nnenakalu #actionspaceartist #ContemporaryArt #ArtExhibition #UKArt Photo of Nnena Kalu in her studio, 2025, courtesy of the artist.

Highlights❣️We Contain Multitudes We Contain Multitudes 7 Feb - Sun 26 Apr 2026 at @dcadundee We Contain Multitudes, a new group show featuring work by Andrew Gannon, Nnena Kalu, Daisy Lafarge and Jo Longhurst. @andrewgannonartist @daisylafarge @jo.longhurst @actionspace Works in sculpture, drawing, painting, photography, and moving image filling both galleries at DCA. If you missed the show, discover all guides via the DCA website (audio, large text, easy read) Congratulations to all four artists x