Announcing Co:Lab Exhibition + Call for Zine Contributions
Date: 20 March 2026
Time: 6:30–9:00 PM
Location: Art Against Knives, London
Creative Opps is proud to present Co:Lab, a collective exhibition developed in partnership with Art Against Knives (AAK) and created by young artists from the Creative Opps Membership Programme.
Bringing together nine emerging creatives from across the UK, Co:Lab explores what inclusion means within today’s creative landscape — and how artistic practice can challenge the structural barriers shaping access to the arts.
Working across visual art, film, sound, writing, installation, participatory projects and digital experiences, the exhibition centres early-career artists — many exhibiting publicly for the first time.
Co:Lab is both an artistic and activist project: a space where disabled, neurodivergent, racialised, working-class and otherwise marginalised voices are not only visible, but leading.
About Co:Lab
Co-curated by Maddie Tichborne and Bolu Kolawole, Co:Lab emerged from the Creative Opps Membership Programme — a space for young creatives from underrepresented backgrounds to develop their practice while building confidence and community.
The exhibition represents a shared commitment to care-led creative processes, and the belief that access to the arts must be shaped with young people and not for them.
“Co:Lab is about making space — for experimentation, for voices that are often overlooked, and for creative practices that don’t always fit into traditional gallery settings.”
Featured Artists & Projects
Bolu Kolawole
Bolu presents My Digital Twin, a participatory digital installation inviting visitors to create hybrid digital “masks” exploring identity, representation and self-expression. Each contribution becomes part of a growing collective artwork, transforming individual making into shared presence.
Bristol Noise Workshops (Kali George)
Facilitators of cosy, collaborative songwriting spaces, Bristol Noise Workshops present two interactive works: CUT UP YOUR DADA, inviting playful experimentation with chance poetry, and WØRD|CR^MBL, a board-game-based collaborative lyric-writing experience.
Cereal Killers Audio (Eleni Kepelian and Kali George)
Kali & Eleni’s joint project MOD.101 x AltWav presents a multimodal installation combining sound, video and creative captioning. Drawing on abstract sound design, composition and descriptive language, the work explores captions as a central creative element. Music and sound design by Cereal Killers Audio (Kali), created in response to video footage, are paired with captions written by Eleni, inviting visitors to engage with sound through embodied and alternative ways of sensing.
Dan Khanh Nhuyen
Dan’s work explores vulnerability, loneliness and quiet connection. Through gentle, reflective practice, his contribution acknowledges isolation while creating space for empathy and recognition — offering affirmation rather than resolution.
Eleni Kepelian
Eleni presents an interactive, booth-style installation combining sound, projection and tactile engagement. Drawing on writing, listening and participation, the work invites visitors into an intimate creative exchange shaped by curiosity and play, and by the transformative power of loss.
Gabriel ‘NyotaBunny’ Mirembe
A visual artist working in surreal Afrocentric digital collage and illustration. Gabriel’s richly imagined worlds combine mythology, sci-fi, graffiti and symbolism, centring community as a sustaining force. Across dramatic scenes and quieter acts of exchange, the work reflects on collective care, resilience and belonging.
Jacob Charlton
A graphic designer specialising in typography and branding, Jacob presents Shared Voices — a speculative branding project imagining a charity supporting young people from ethnic minority and multicultural backgrounds as they navigate work and career pathways. The project positions design as a tool for care, access and advocacy.
Maddie Tichborne
A London-based multimedia artist working across painting, sculpture, film and installation. Maddie presents a film-based installation built from heavily transformed archival footage from 1960s–70s London. Shown on a vintage TV monitor and accompanied by small sculptural figures made from discarded materials, the work reflects on visibility, memory and the politics of reworking the past.
Memika Bickle
A British-Japanese graphic designer working in interactive and experiential design. Memika’s contribution explores language, participation and process — from interactive publications that invite audience reflection, to visual explorations inspired by Japanese onomatopoeia and the sensory gaps between languages.
Mina Popa
A Bristol-based graphic designer and writer, Mina is creating a collective zine that brings together submissions from Creative Opps and Art Against Knives communities. Printed in Newspaper Club’s Mini format, the zine acts as both artwork and archive — centring collaboration, visibility and shared authorship.
Calls to Action
→ Contribute to the Co:Lab Zine
Creative Opps Member Mina Popa is creating a collective zine for Co:Lab.
We have 30 places for people to submit artwork (illustration, design, etc.), writing, photography, collage or mixed-media pieces that explore belonging, identity, access, creativity and community.
What You Can Submit:
• Artwork or visual pieces
• Short writing or poetry
• Mixed-media or experimental work
No experience needed — just your voice and your perspective.
How to Take Part:
Send your submission to [email protected] & [email protected] with the Subject: Co:Lab Zine Submission and:
• Your name + a short bio
• Your piece
• Any access needs
Deadline: 28th February 2026
Join us in shaping a zine that centres underrepresented voices and celebrates collective creativity.
(The nitty-gritty details: All visual work should be at least 1748 x 2480 pixels, preferably at 300 DPI, and no bigger than 20MB. Written pieces have an 800 world limit. For any questions, reach out to Mina via the email address above.)
→ Support the Exhibition
Co:Lab is supported in part by FundAction, whose funding enables but more support would be greatly appreciated. It would help provide us with:
Artist production and materials
Travel and access provision
Youth training and skills development
Exhibition documentation
Future exhibitions and commissions
→ Attend Co:Lab
RSVP here: https://forms.gle/W4xdLxJk67Dr5Tma8
→ Follow Co:Lab
on Instagram: co_lab.creatives + creative opps
About Creative Opps
Creative Opps CIO (founded 2020) supports young people facing socio-economic disadvantage with user-led programmes spanning mentoring, paid work placements, creative leadership and community-driven opportunities.
Contact: [email protected]
In Partnership with Art Against Knives
Co:Lab is delivered in collaboration with Art Against Knives (AAK), who are hosting the exhibition and supporting young people from their community programmes to gain hands-on experience across curation, installation, production and marketing.
This partnership ensures the exhibition creates meaningful opportunities not only for exhibiting artists, but for young people across the wider AAK community.
AAK creates safe, creative spaces for young people most at risk of violence, abuse and exploitation — providing tailored training and holistic support that empowers young people to shape hopeful futures and influence systems change.