Radical Gifting: Artists 2024

Lo Lo No (they/them) is a trans-disciplinary artist, performer and producer. 

Their art practice has a focus on self portraiture, theory and collage in the expanded field, revealing queer+ and trans+ phenomenology. 

Creating self-portraits and performing academic texts as an access tool, a way of seeing and becoming in a society where they have struggled to see them-self reflected. As subject and object they are a site to explore and perform, embody and enchant self expression and process identity through discourse around transformation and psychoanalysis. 

Lo Lo was born as Alex Noble in London (1981) and studied fashion design at the London College of Fashion before going on to work for Selfridges and showcasing collections at London Fashion Week whilst designing for Lady Gaga, Alison Goldfrapp, Florence and the Machine and many other stars and mega brands. 

Elly Rutherford is a socially engaged artist, dancer, performer and workshop facilitator based in Folkestone, Kent. Working across participatory art, performance and installation, her playful, experimental practice is like a giant collage, combining different mediums together in site-specific settings: sculpture, found objects, collage, drawing, printmaking, photography, video, poetry, spoken word, improvisation, dance, meditation, sound and scents. Inspired by mindful curiosity in the everyday, her artworks respond and transform spaces with embodied experiences and quirky, tactile creations to alter perceptions and benefit well-being. Exploring our connection with touch and the natural world, the importance of play for all, the psychology of making and performance in the everyday. With experience of dancing in many styles such as contemporary, salsa and swing, she fuses these together with performance techniques to create a unique movement language (enter Kate Bush the Organised Dancer). 

Elly is experienced in delivering workshops around sensory play, art making, mindfulness, improvisation and performance for all ages and abilities. Recent examples include adults with dementia and learning disabilities with Spare Tyre, children with SEN/D at Squish Space, Barbican Centre and young families with Leap Then Look. She believes everyone has a unique sense of creativity; she just plants the seed. 

She has made work for community, outdoor, domestic, gallery and online spaces across Kent, London and Europe. Most recently for Beyond Text: Innovative Poetry Festival (2023), Last Fridays, Creative Folkestone (2021), Folkestone Fringe: Sub Plot (2021) and Domestic by Word of Warning (2020). Elly has an MA in Performance Design & Practice from University of the Arts London: Central Saint Martins and BA in Fine Art from Kingston School of Art. 

I am a multi-disciplinary artist whose roots lie in collage, but I have expanded my idea of collage to encompass  the third and fourth dimensions, to create immersive environments and events, examining the zeitgeist and the world around me as I perceive it.  I am increasingly interested in working in non-gallery spaces on site-specific projects. I’ve recently introduced video, song, audio and neon into my work, alongside the collage and assemblage, to further push the boundaries of my ideas. I have also started to introduce performative elements into my practice, using my own body, and autobiographical stories, to function as metaphors for universal topics.  All this is done through a dark prism of melancholia, mixed with a sense of humour, that definitely comes from the blacker end of the comedy spectrum. My work is always made with public engagement in mind, and an awareness of an audience is important to me. I want to create ephemeral, memorable experiences that live on in people’s minds.