For this month Nick, an artist from Nottingham and Leicester based, artist-run and community-owned, gallery and studio Two Queens explore The Notice Boards theme – The Land of the Free? – through a deliberate collaboration. Partly because both ask what a free land might be and partly because they’re trying to manifest them for themselves and others. Their exhibition is called Wild Spaces.
Nick: My recent practice explores our relationship with the ‘wild’: spaces we cannot rationalise and assimilate. This work is one of a series that look at the edges of woods, thresholds to the untamed spaces within, and invite us to enter… The word wild originally meant ‘not under the control of man’. I think spending time in wild spaces allows us to escape the rational and the ordered.
Two Queens: Artist-run projects are a type of land of the free, because they allow people to make and support the culture they want to see in the world, without needing someone else to say ‘Yes’. We are D.I.Y, grassroots, bottom-up and can-do. We are Jack of all trades and always a work in progress.
Nick: I’ve been a member of Two Queens for 5 years now – they are an amazing gallery, studios and community, supporting art and artists in Leicester and beyond. It’s why I’m offering an edition of this print for sale to help.
Two Queens: This year we are fundraising to stay open past March 2025 when our lease ends. We want, as a community, to buy our building so we can make it a better public space for everyone. Meaning the freedom and independence it offers will be protected.
To find out more and support Two Queens visit: www.2queens.com
Nick studied Fine Art Printmaking at Loughborough University and then the Royal College of Art. He lives in Nottingham and teaches at De Montfort University in Leicester. His practice combines photography, digital media and printmaking. www.nickmobbs.co.uk