London - UNCLE

Work09.2609.26Eric Emmanuel

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Mesh shorts specialist Eric Emanuel crossed the Atlantic to open his first store in London. The iconic US streetwear brand brought its signature athletic aesthetic straight to the UK.

UNCLE announced the opening to Londoners, delivering a full takeover across the capital with B2s, 4-sheets, B2 blocks and megasites.

Work09.2609.26Troye Sivan: She’s The Best

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Australian pop prince Troye Sivan announced the upcoming release of his fourth studio album, She’s The Best. Set for October 2026, Sivan teased the project by dropping its lead single alongside a dazzling music video featuring Nicole Kidman.

UNCLE heralded the pop superstar’s return across London with 4-sheets accross the capital.

Work08.2608.26Erykah Badu: Witch Doctor

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The neo-soul diva joined forces with hip-hop producer, The Alchemist, to drop their new single, ‘Witch Doctor’. Teasing their ironically titled upcoming project, Sorry, we don’t have an album title yet…, the duo issued an invitation to share one last kiss, hit, dance, and joke before the world blows up.

UNCLE spread the message between Paris and London, deploying a bilingual campaign with 4-sheets and B1 posters carrying playful slogans like ‘one more dance’ and ‘un dernier baiser’.

Work08.2608.26American Vintage

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Born in Marseille, American Vintage brought its effortless style and iconic House of Colours to East London.

Marking its debut in Shoreditch, UNCLE took over the streets with ‘Bonjour London’ B2 blocks and stencils.

Work08.2608.26Phoebe Bridgers: Lost Weekend

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Phoebe Bridgers released Lost Weekend, her first solo album in six years. Packed with emotion and expansive soundscapes, the long-awaited project marked a defining moment as her most ambitious record to date.

UNCLE hit the UK streets, deploying a mix of 4-sheets and B2 blocks to announce the return of the indie icon across the country.

Work08.2608.26Levi’s x M&S

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Two icons came together when US denim giant Levi’s launched its latest collections with british legends Marks & Spencer. Featuring a curated edit of iconic 501s, signature fits and wardrobe essentials, the collaboration brings heritage US denim to the UK & Ireland.

UNCLE brought 4-sheets nationwide, taking over key hotspots across London, Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester.

Work08.2608.26Benny Blanco: Hermoso

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Hit songwriter and producer Benny Blanco released his very first Spanish-language album, Hermoso. Spanning genres in its eight tracks from cumbia to Latin pop, the release features collaborations with Selena Gomez, Becky G and more.

UNCLE  brought Blanco’s exaggerated ‘hermoso’ features to London’s with 4-sheets and paste-ups bringing Blanco’s new era straight to London’s music scene.

Work08.2608.26Umberto Giannini

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Umberto Giannini took over the capital with a bold campaign targeting our worst curly hair crimes.

Displayed on UNCLE’s 8-sheets, questions like “Did your mum brush your hair dry?” and “Do you slick your curls back for work?” were stopping commuters in their tracks.

Curly knows curly.

Work08.2608.26Flo: Therapy at the Club

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British R&B trio FLO returned with their new album, Therapy at the Club. Tracing the emotional arc of a night out – from pre-party anticipation to the morning after – the record explored love, power, and vulnerability.

UNCLE brought the campaign to life, hitting the streets of London, Manchester and Birmingham with B2s.

Work08.2608.26TYLA: A*POP

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Tyla is back, dropping her second album, A*POP. The South African powerhouse shatters boundaries; serving up a fusion of pop, R&B and her signature amapiano rhythms.

UNCLE took over the capital with B2 flyposters. Bold, sharp, and impossible to ignore – just like the record itself.

Work08.2608.26Kelela: New Avatar

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Kelela released her exclusive LP, New Avatar, pressed on Lake Queen vinyl and limited to 1,000 hand-numbered copies. Featuring PinkPantheress, A.K. Paul, and Fousheé, the release came with a clear rule: once sold out, no represses.

UNCLE announced this exclusive drop in London, running 4-sheets across the city to let the fans in on it first.

Work08.2608.26Léon Bridges: Happiness Anytime

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Leon Bridges surprised fans by announcing his upcoming album, Happiness Anytime. Positioned as a major gospel and soul release for the autumn, the first, four-track instalment dropped early to deliver joy and positivity.

UNCLE spread this warmth across the streets of London with 4-sheets—making sure the city caught the vibe long before the full album landed.

Work08.2608.26ADÉLA: PRIMA

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Adéla teased her upcoming album with an international campaign: ‘The baddest b!tches are in…’.
Ahead of her album, PRIMA.

UNCLE brought the teaser to London, putting the announcement directly into fans’ hands and igniting debate across the city.

Work08.2608.26ASTRID & MIYU

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Astrid & Miyu set out to be more than a jewellery brand – they launched a movement to revolutionise the jewellery experience. Built around the concept of stacking and styling, the brand transformed how customers wore and bought jewellery.

UNCLE brought this energy to the streets of London and Manchester with B2s and 4-sheets – but an invitation to stack away !

Features07.2607.26The Last Stand on Street Football, Self-Expression and the Freedom to Play

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“Street football is about expression, and expression is the beginning of progress for the human mind.”

Many who grew up around a football, a cage or a wall with chalk goal drawn on will know exactly what Gundeep Anand means. Before football becomes a sport, it is a game you inherit, invent and endlessly renegotiate.

There is kerby, where the aim is to strike the sweet spot of a kerb and make the ball ping straight back to you. Heads and volleys, known by countless other names, where you’re all on the same team against a revolving goalkeeper. There’s One-bounce, One-touch, and World Cup: an all-versus-all competition played into a single goal, often in pairs and usually making the most of whatever limited space is available.

The rules vary between streets, estates, schools and generations. They are argued over, abandoned and rewritten as required. This is football before it can be licensed by a corporation or governed—often questionably—by a Swiss man with a name like a Bond villain. Its essence is expression: a ball, a few friends or even strangers, and enough daylight to keep playing.

Gundeep’s own memories begin around West London, playing kerby and staying outside until sunset became the only timekeeping that mattered. He later worked as a youth worker and football coach, taking young people from one estate to another and seeing how a game could soften hostility between communities. Before becoming a director and working in advertising, that experience showed him football’s ability to create encounters that might otherwise never happen.

It also laid the foundations for The Last Stand, the street-football tournament he has now run for a decade. Combining competition with filmmaking, design and storytelling, the platform has created pathways into football, modelling, presenting and production. Its latest season took men’s and women’s teams from London to face New York, with equal prize money across both competitions, while milestones along the way include a return to the London court where it all began – under Trellick Tower – to resurface the pitch for the next generation.

For Gundeep, the value of street football cannot be reduced to the professionals or careers it produces. At a time when young people spend much of their lives being instructed where to go, what to do and how to behave, the street offers something increasingly rare: room to improvise, adapt and reveal who they are.

That freedom is visible in the character of the players, the culture surrounding The Last Stand and the imagery, photographed by SUEDE, is now being carried back onto the street through its collaboration with UNCLE.

We spoke with Gundeep about childhood freedom, football as a space for expression, the importance of youth provision, creating opportunities beyond the professional game and the unfinished business between London and New York.

TO BEGIN, CAN YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF IN YOUR OWN WORDS?

Oh, it’s a big ask. I don’t know where to start. I grew up in and around West London, mainly Southall and those sorts of areas. I went to school in Richmond and then to university in Brighton. I was a mechanical engineer before I ended up in advertising, and before that I did a lot of community work.

I decided I wanted to become a director and work with different brands. Then I paired the impact I used to have through sport with my passion for communities and what I could do with a camera. That’s how I ended up with The Last Stand, really.

For anybody encountering it for the first time, how would you introduce The Last Stand in your own words?

The Last Stand is a street-football tournament that unites communities and breaks down social barriers. It has evolved into a culture-led competition and platform combining live events, content and talent pathways.

At its core, it’s a tournament we deploy across cities, powered by culture and storytelling. I’d been running it for ten years, but we brought it back for this new season with London versus New York. It was nuts. I’ve never experienced anything like it.

WHAT ARE YOUR EARLIEST MEMORIES OF PLAYING FOOTBALL? WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE PLACES AND PEOPLE YOU PLAYED WITH?

I remember being young and playing ‘kerby’ with my friends. I also remember the first time Arsenal reached the Champions League final. Me and my friend used to follow the team buses wherever it went; I remember Villarreal coming to Highbury in 2006.

But in terms of playing, it was just being with your friends and playing late at night. I didn’t have a watch, so it was very simple: you played for as long as the sun was out. As soon as the sun went down, you needed to be in the house. They were sick times, man.

BEFORE FOUNDING THE LAST STAND, YOU WORKED AS A YOUTH WORKER AND FOOTBALL COACH. WHAT DID THAT EXPERIENCE SHOW YOU ABOUT THE POWER OF FOOTBALL?

That’s where I started. We used to take kids from one estate to another, at a time when knife crime was a big thing. During those tournaments, you could see the hostility reduce. They were like, “Why am I trying to kill you? I played football with you last week.”

That’s where I first saw the power of the sport and how it can unite people. It doesn’t solve knife crime completely, but it can have an impact for sure.

I did that for a long time in primary schools, nurseries and communities around Shepherd’s Bush, Acton, Hammersmith, Fulham and Ladbroke Grove, mainly teaching futsal and handball. I volunteered a lot with an organisation called Active Planet, and that’s where I picked up many of these things.

AT A TIME WHEN YOUTH CLUBS AND SERVICES ARE CHRONICALLY UNDERFUNDED, WHY IS YOUTH PROVISION SO IMPORTANT—AND WHAT MAKES FOOTBALL SUCH A POWERFUL OUTLET FOR THAT WORK?

Street football is the most accessible form of football. You don’t need to buy anything special. It’s just a ball, and you can play in your trainers, jeans, whatever. That’s important because things are getting very expensive. Football in this country brings people together. It brings joy.

Street football is also about expression. Every day, there are more rules and human expression is slowly being taken away. Young people are constantly being told what to do, from the minute they wake up to the minute they go to sleep. Schools tell them exactly what to do, how to do it and where to do it. When they get home, their parents tell them what to do. There’s no time when they can actually express themselves—and expression is the beginning of progress for the human mind.

Young people need a safe place to express themselves. Youth clubs were those places initially. I remember paying 50p to go in—and sometimes they would let you off. You could play PlayStation, use a recording studio, play basketball, FIFA or pool. You’d think, “This is where I want to be.” Not everyone is trying to be a footballer.

LONDON HAS PRODUCED PLAYERS LIKE JADON SANCHO, EBERECHI EZE, JOE GOMEZ, RAHEEM STERLING AND RIO FERDINAND, WHOSE GAMES WERE SHAPED BY ESTATES, CAGES AND GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL. WHAT DOES THE STREET PUT INTO A PLAYER THAT REMAINS VISIBLE AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL?

Definitely character. It’s very character-building because it isn’t perfect. The conditions you’re playing in aren’t perfect and the environments aren’t perfect, so you have to adapt and mould. It shapes you and makes you something that other environments won’t.

It gives you that little bit of grit and that little edge. When you step into those higher-profile environments, you stand out because of what those tough backgrounds have made you. As they say, pressure makes diamonds.

BECOMING A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALLER CAN’T BE THE ONLY MEASURE OF WHETHER GRASSROOTS FOOTBALL IS WORKING. WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE TO YOU, PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU’RE WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE?

Look, man, I’m not sitting here saying that we’re a charity. What we can do is provide opportunities and share the pathways that come our way.

Some of the young people have modelled for Nike, Puma and Adidas, with their faces all over Oxford Street. Some have signed brand deals or had football trials, even though that isn’t what we aim for. Others have found jobs in front of and behind the camera. One became a producer for Chelsea. Others have worked with Neymar or appeared in UEFA Champions League and Nike campaigns.

I ended up working with the Mayor of London on projects for the Euros. Before that, I worked on FIFA as a story editor, including its story mode. We put one of our presenters into the game as the voice of the streets, so 30 million players were hearing him.

The whole thing is that when you’re together, anything is possible. It isn’t easy, but with unity, many things are possible. Have a clean heart and create something that moves the needle or makes a difference; I think the rest takes care of itself.

You can have big ambitions, but you’re dealing with governments, partners, brands, local authorities, players, people’s emotions, logistics, production, PR and marketing. If you’re ready for it, it’s there for everyone. There’s enough for everyone. But does a normal person want to do all of this? No.

RACE, CLASS AND GENDER CAN ALL INFLUENCE WHO GETS TO PLAY FOOTBALL, WHO FEELS WELCOME AND WHO RECEIVES OPPORTUNITIES. HOW HAS THE LAST STAND TRIED TO CHALLENGE THOSE INEQUALITIES?

For us, the starting point was making everything equal. We launched what we described as the UK’s first women’s street-football tournament in 2021, and at every tournament we’ve done, the prize money has been equal. It isn’t more for the men and less for the women.

It’s also about opportunities and access. We didn’t only take a men’s team to New York; we took a women’s team too, and again the prize money was equal. Those are our first steps. There are many more we can take to create a better platform. We’re trying to improve, learn and partner with people who are better than us in this space.

I always ask: “What’s our contribution?” This is our contribution, and we can definitely contribute more.

COMMUNITY RESPONSIBILITY HAS ALWAYS SEEMED CENTRAL TO THE LAST STAND. WHAT SHOULD A PROJECT LEAVE BEHIND ONCE THE TOURNAMENT, CAMERAS AND SPONSORS HAVE GONE?

I started on that same pitch ten years ago, so to go back ten years later and fix it—to resurface it and make it safe and playable—was something big. It meant leaving something behind.

One of our philosophies is: leave the place better than we found it. For us to be able to do that was something I could only dream of. It literally felt like a street stadium. Now the kids can play there and it’s safe.

WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR A LONDON-VERSUS-NEW YORK TOURNAMENT BEGIN, AND WHY DID NEW YORK FEEL LIKE THE RIGHT CITY FOR LONDON TO MEET?

In terms of New York, it was a no-brainer. The World Cup was happening and this was the first time we were bringing The Last Stand back. The World Cup final was there, and this was like our street World Cup, so we thought it should end where that ended. That’s where London versus New York came from. We also wanted to see what the level in New York was like.

WHAT DID YOU FIND IN NEW YORK—AND WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE TWO CITIES MET ON THE COURT?

An amazing community and amazing people. They loved that we were doing something for them, and the level of talent was amazing. The hospitality too—New York people go above and beyond, man.

We had support from New York’s World Cup Czar (Maya Handa). while EDC (New York City Economic Development Corporation) and the parks team helped us with sites.

Getting a permit two days before the World Cup final was extremely difficult. The mayor had put an embargo or memorandum in place, meaning any permit had to be personally approved by him. Pulling that off speaks volumes about how much the work resonated in the city. Hats off to the whole team.
The New York women won on penalties, while the men’s competition ended in a draw, so it looks like a rematch is on the cards. The men’s result stayed level because everything overran and the timings were strict.

It’s four-a-side: five minutes to win, or first to two goals. The winner stays on, and the team winning the most matches goes through before a semi-final and final. It was so tight. It was mad.

THE LAST STAND’S FILMS, MERCHANDISE AND CAMPAIGNS FEEL ROOTED IN THE PLACES AND PEOPLE INVOLVED. HOW IMPORTANT HAS THAT VISUAL AND CULTURAL LANGUAGE BEEN TO THE PROJECT?

It’s important. A lot of brands create things to grab attention. When you’re only creating to grab attention and views, you miss the cultural nuances. When you genuinely make something that represents people and speaks for them, that’s where the difference in the work shows.
Our insight, experience and relationships make the difference. Everyone, from our communities team to media and production, sees this as more than a job. They really believe in it.

For a lot of people, there’s one deadline after another. They complete one promo and it’s straight onto the next—a conveyor belt. I don’t blame them, because I know what it’s like. I worked with On Running across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and before that on Nike’s Euros campaign. Before that, I worked at Honda. I’ve been in it, so I know how it goes.

FOR THIS COLLABORATION WITH UNCLE, YOU’RE USING THE STREET TO SHARE THE LAST STAND’S MESSAGE. WHAT CAN THAT OFFER THAT A CONVENTIONAL MEDIA PLATFORM CAN’T?

I’ll be honest: I’ve never done it before, so I don’t really know what it will be like. Our thing runs on word of mouth, so this could hopefully give it some elevation.

When people see themselves elevated, it uplifts everyone. If they can see it, they can believe it, and they start to believe in themselves. Hopefully, this elevates the message. I’ll be truly honest: I don’t know what it could look like, so I’m really excited to see how it goes.

Before we finish, is there anything else you’d like to add?

There are a lot of really good people in London and the UK who want to help you. Don’t feel like your dreams or ideas aren’t worth anything. Ask, talk and share. Maybe it won’t be the first person, the second or the third, but it will be someone further down the line. Don’t give up, because this world works because of people’s dreams. That’s what makes it exciting.

When I first started, a lot of people used to say, “It’s been done.” I was like, “Yeah, it’s been done—but not by me.”

You’re unique. It doesn’t matter whether something has been done, because you’re the one doing it. That’s your contribution to society. Don’t be discouraged because it’s been done before. You haven’t done it.

Work07.2608.26Carlsberg

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Carlsberg threw out the playbook with their “Goal Posters” campaign. Instead of focusing on star players and major productios, they turned the city into instant football pitches across London and Manchester. The rules were simple: grab a ball, bring a mate, and take over the street.

Working alongside lead creative agency Fold7 and experiential agency Hyperactive, UNCLE transformed megasites in three key hotspots and encouraged participation beyond the screen.

Work07.2607.26Syd: Beard

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Four years after Broken Hearts Club, Syd returned with a set of love songs about liquor, holsters and borrowed hoodies.

UNCLE brought the launch to London’s streets with B2 posters, and left Syd to take over – roaming the city to draw beards on her own face.

Work07.2607.26Kosas x Space NK

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Kosas officially arrived at Space NK by launching their exclusive collection to the UK streets. Inspired by the art of colour, the Impressionist Multistick brought the news of the collaboration; the seven earthy shades available only at Space NK.

UNCLE took over London and Manchester with 4-sheets, paste-ups, megasites and stencils across London and Manchester.

Work07.2607.26Jordans

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Jordan Brand’s ‘The One’ tournament returned for summer 2026. The global one-on-one competition landed back on the calendar, giving 14 to 18 year-old hoopers around the world another chance to prove who owned the court.

UNCLE took the tournament straight to London’s streets with B2 blocks. Refs couldn’t save you.

Work07.2607.26Justin Bieber: SWAG LIVE FROM COACHELLA (WEEKEND II)

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Justin Bieber immortalised his second ‘Bieberchella’ run with the release of ‘SWAG LIVE FROM COACHELLA (WEEKEND II)’.
This live drop featured Sexyy Red, Honey Dijon, and SZA, coinciding with both of his headlining sets landing in full on YouTube.

UNCLE took the news to the streets of London, deploying 4-sheets across the city to ensure the global release went straight to the fans.

Work07.2607.26Ken Carson : Xperiment

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Ken Carson dropped xperiment in full – a 22-track blockbuster confirming his rise. With 2hollis producing ‘shadeson’, the record also brought in Destroy Lonely and Playboi Carti.

To mark the release, UNCLE hit key locations in London with 4-sheets, taking Carson’s sound straight to the city.

Work07.2607.26Versus x Levi’s

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Levi’s has officially entered the pitch. Teaming up with the FA for its first-ever England collection, the denim giant has crafted a lineup uniting fans ahead of this 2026 Fifa World Cup.
London’s vintage curators 194 starred in a campaign that was a love letter to the city’s youth culture.

UNCLE covered the streets with 4-sheets and paste-ups bringing the Three Lion’s first denim drop to the city.

Work07.2607.26Réalisation Par

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Réalisation Par introduced the season’s staple with the Cora; a softly draped, fluid dress crafted for long summer events.

UNCLE deployed the campaign across London and New York, in B2, 4-sheet and 36″ x 24″ formats. This cross-continental approach ensured the Cora became the definitive look for the sunny days ahead.

Work07.2607.26Jorja Smith: What Are The Odds.

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Jorja Smith previewed her album What Are The Odds with her Wizkid collaboration, “Alive.” The music video follows the singer through a flirty summer night in Paris, capturing an atmosphere of pure romance.

UNCLE brought this energy to the streets with 4-sheets accross the capital. The odds of missing it were zero.

Work07.2607.26Loveholidays

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Loveholidays launched a competition for the British public; ‘Eat crisps, win trips.’ Turning a simple daily snack into a ticket abroad, the campaign came to life through the “Crisps From Abroad” pop-up store. Designed to spark debate over which country has the best snacks, allowing people to relive their favourite holiday memories.

UNCLE brought the challenge directly to the streets of London with quads and 4-sheet blocks.

Work07.2607.26The Global Beatles Day

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Global Beatles Day returned to commemorate the band that redefined music culture. Fans united around a timeless message, ‘All you need is love’. The campaign used bold, nostalgic typography and iconic imagery to remind the public that wherever you are and however you celebrated, ‘it’s easy’.

UNCLE marked the anniversary across London and Liverpool with 4-sheets. They brought the celebration straight to the street, plastering blocks of pure pop heritage.

Work07.2607.26Bottega Veneta

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Under Louise Trotter’s creative direction, Bottega Veneta launched IL MIO – its first portrait series captured by Drew Vickers.
This campaign celebrated the connection between iconic bags and their wearers. It documented ‘what belongs to me’ through an authentic lens, proving that luxury belongs in the wild.

UNCLE brought 4-sheets to London; from Soho to Kensington, Mayfair to Marleybone.

Work06.2606.26Hoodrich

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Hoodrich mark the beginning of a new era. Designed exclusively for online release, the collection introduced elevated fits, upgraded fabrics and a fresh approach to everyday streetwear.

UNCLE delivered a clean, powerful aesthetic with a wave of 4-sheet and B2 blocks. The reinvention staying true to their signature : from nothing to something.

Work06.2607.26Madonna: Confessions II

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Madonna returned after a seven-year hiatus with her fifteenth studio album. Spearheaded by the lead single “I Feel So Free” – a track designed to reignite the dancefloor energy that fuelled, Confessions on a Dance Floor.

UNCLE deployed 4-sheet poster blocks across the UK’s major cities, turning the launch into an event across the streets.

Work06.2606.26Wonderskin

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Wonderskin redefined the ultimate gloss, seamlessly blending cinematic heritage with beauty innovation for its limited-edition SUPERGIRL collaboration. This exclusive collector’s set features a warm coral lip stain and a galactic-shine silver gloss.

UNCLE orchestrated a 4-sheet blocks campaign across key high-traffic hotspots, transforming everyday streets into a celebration of power and style.

Work06.2606.26Charli XCX : Music, Film, Fashion

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Charli XCX marked her next chapter with the new album, Music, Fashion, Film. True to form, the British star’s artwork featured the unexpected – The Velvet Underground founder John Cale, fashion designer Marc Jacobs and director Martin Scorsese.

Taking over London, Birmingham and Manchester, with B2s and megasites, UNCLE brought these iconic figures to the streets.

Work06.2606.26Tank Magazine x Mont Blanc

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Tank Mag launched its Summer Reader Issue in collaboration with Montblanc, providing a day in the life of the iconic pen.

UNCLE deployed 4-sheets across the city’s creative hubs to bring this premium partnership directly to the street.

Work06.2606.26Modest Mouse: an eraser and a maze

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Modest Mouse returned with their new album, An Eraser and a Maze. Their first independent release in nearly 30 years, the Pacific Northwest legends pondered endurance and mortality, abandoning the polish of recent records for a no-filter approach.

UNCLE mirrored this direction across London with bold 4-sheet and B2 formats delivering the psychedelic artwork to the streets.

Work06.2606.26Heinz

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Heinz Mayo transformed London’s food scene with a playful twist. Launching the Heinz Mayo AutoMayoMat, a self-serve sandwich automat in the heart of Soho, they offered fresh creations during a limited two-day pop-up.

UNCLE coated the surrounding streets in B2 posters, feeding tasty visuals to hungry londoners. This sharp campaign started conversations and disrupted the daily lunchtime ritual.

Work06.2606.26Nemiroff

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Nemiroff vodka injected a raw energy into British nightlife. The brand unleashed its signature: rise, toast & roar across city hotspots.

UNCLE orchestrated the campaign, driving the visual takeover straight into London, Manchester and Liverpool with sharp 4-sheets, placing the brand’s message directly into the path of crowds.

Work06.2606.26Hunza G

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British swimwear pioneer Hunza G let the secret out. Born in London, the brand invited its community back to the source to celebrate its largest giveaway to date, sharing exclusive surprises where the story first began.

UNCLE took over East and West London with 4-sheet and 8-sheet poster blocks, taking the message straight to the streets.

Work06.2606.26Ed Sheeran x Martin Garrix : Repeat it

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Martin Garrix and Ed Sheeran just dropped their collaborative track, “Repeat It”. The creators answered a twelve-year wait for their fans, finally locking in this musical partnership and revealing the track to the world.

UNCLE backed the release with 4-sheet campaign plastered accross the city, bringing this musical announcement straight to the fans.

Work06.2606.26Ariana Grande: Hate that I made you love me

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Ariana Grande struck hard with the release of ‘Hate That I Made You Love Me’, the chilling lead single from her new album, Petal. This launch marked a shift in her musical narrative, delivering a haunting experience that resonated immediately.

UNCLE brought this moment to London, deploying hypnotic B2 formats city-wide.

Work06.2607.26Boards of Canada: Inferno

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Months after teasing their return, Boards of Canada plunge straight into the blaze.

Rolled out in three phases, the campaign first introduced enigmatic faces, gradually brought them to light within an escalating disco vibe, and finally landed the launch of Inferno — immersing audiences in an optimistic universe.

Arriving at the peak of the UK’s apocalyptic heatwave, the release delivered a sonic mirror to a world on the brink and stepped forward as an urgent interrogation of contemporary society.

UNCLE drove this home across Manchester and London through 4-sheets, B2 blocks and paste-ups, turning the streets into a stark manifestation of the future.

Work05.2605.26Minor Figures

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Minor Figures highlighted its signature Regenerative Barista Oat milk, a staple crafted in harmony with nature. They reinforced their commitment to sustainable farming, with their ‘Higher States of Harmony’ campaign reminding coffee lovers across London of their favourite plant-based choice.

With UNCLE, their 4-sheet posters brought the iconic milk straight into streets, directing everyday commuters to their next mindful morning brew.

Work05.2605.26Clean Up Westminster

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Clean Up Westminster delivered another disruptive message, driven by an uncompromising directive: ‘take big money out of politics’. They carried their campaign straight to the heart of government to ensure it could not be ignored.

UNCLE deployed clean graffiti – temporary street statements that cut through the city noise, sparking vital conversations among commuters while keeping the streets perfectly clean.

Work05.2605.26The Hoxton Hotel

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The Hoxton Shepherd’s Bush welcomed a vibrant addition to its culinary line-up. Chet’s cleverly blends the fragrant, smoky flavours of Thailand with the nostalgic comfort of a classic American diner, immediately capturing the neighbourhood’s attention.

UNCLE launched a 4-sheet campaign to announce the opening, with custom window clings guiding food-lovers straight towards the borough’s newest destination.

Work05.2605.26Mike D: Switch up

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Beastie Boys’ founding member, Mike D, finally dropped “Switch up”, his first-ever solo single. Coming fourteen years after the group’s last album, “Hot Sauce Committee Part Two”, this legendary return rewarded fans after over a decade of anticipation.

UNCLE ignited this comeback across London with punchy B2 formats. The campaign splashed a wave of good vibes over the blocks, driven by the single objective of bringing absolute happiness to everyone.

Work05.2605.26GIVEON : BELOVED – ACT II

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R&B star Giveon just dropped his new album, “Beloved – Act II” and this deluxe edition unveiled five exclusive bonus tracks. The release offered a deeper look into the artist’s introspective lyrics and captivating baritone voice.

UNCLE made this launch unmissable by flooding the London streets with an eye-catching B2 formats, bringing this musical masterpiece straight to the people amplifying Giveon’s soul-stirring energy.

Work05.2605.26The Hoxton Hotel

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The Hoxton Hotel celebrated, its famous Southwark restaurant, Seabird, with stand-out seafood and breathtaking panoramic London views. It was the perfect time to experience their infamous lobsters and glamorous vibe.

UNCLE launched an appetite-inducing 4-sheet flyposting campaign to highlight this culinary hotspot. By splashing the streets with mouth-watering visuals, UNCLE brought the venue’s unique appeal to life, inviting food lovers to discover London’s ultimate rooftop dining experience.

Features05.2605.26Choose Love turns far-right hate into love

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New global crises seemingly emerge every week. From Ukraine to Gaza, Lebanon to Sudan – the headlines are dominated with the desperate need for emergency aid and the millions of people in urgent need of safety. All in a shifting political landscape, where polarisation is becoming the norm.

The rise of the far-right across Europe is a disturbing trend. Partly in response to the visibility of refugees, the mainstreaming of far-right ideology has created a divisive rhetoric where the humanity of people in need has become a controversial subject. Marches against entire religions and boarder control are becoming commonplace. In May 2026, the planned ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march in London was set to spread further racism and division.

Over more than a decade, Choose Love have done more than fundraise, they have formed a movement. Born from frustration and a one-off attempt to improve the atrocious conditions in Calais’ ‘Jungle’ refugee camp, one of the first social media charities quickly gained momentum. Aided by the entertainment industry – from t-shirts worn by Oprah Winfrey and Julia Roberts, to fundraising gigs at the Royal Albert Hall – a community has come together.

With Tommy Chooses Love, the charity is taking a direct approach. To counteract the far-right’s march through London, the campaign converts every step into a sponsored walk; supporting the very people the protest attempts to derogate – raising money for refugees, displaced people and anti-racism movements in the UK. As they say, ‘Tommy Robinson is raising money for refugees. He just doesn’t know it yet’.

During this growth of political division, London has remained a multicultural oasis. More than 40% of London’s population were born outside the UK, accounting for its cultural and economic vibrancy. But with the first London council seat won to a far-right party in 2026, city is not immune to the debate. London is a demonstration of the positives of multiculturalism – but also as a place for resistance, fighting anti-migrant messaging.

In this interview, we speak to Choose Love about the growth from grassroots action, cultural influence and finding hope.

CHOOSE LOVE HAS BECOME A REAL MOVEMENT – CAN YOU TELL US HOW IT ALL STARTED?

We’re a movement of people trying to create a world that treats everyone with love, and where displaced communities have what they need to thrive. It started as a conversation with a group of friends in 2015, when headlines of mass displacement from Syria and mistreatment of refugees was hitting the public consciousness alongside the tragedy of the three-year-old Syrian boy, Alan Kurdi’s body being found washed up on a beach after he drowned trying to reach safety.

That moment was a wake-up call, and they set up a fundraiser to help buy supplies for people arriving in Calais. Very quickly, they found that it really struck a chord – people were looking for a way to help. Now, almost 11 years later, we’ve supported over 9 million people with basic essentials, emergency support, and rebuilding their lives after being forcibly displaced.

FROM A ONE-OFF ACTION TO A GLOBAL NETWORK – DID YOU EVER EXPECT IT TO REACH THIS SCALE, AND WHAT’S SURPRISED YOU MOST?

I don’t think anyone did! I’m always surprised and delighted by how Choose Love time and time again proves that, as humans, we always have more in common than that which divides us. We might all have different life experiences, and different challenges and joys, but ultimately, we all need similar things. Every single person should be able to live in safety, freedom and dignity – and that’s the world Choose Love is trying to create.

FROM A QUICK RESPONSE TO A CRISIS, IT HAS REALLY GROWN INTO SOMETHING MORE. WHY DID IT RESONATE SO WIDELY?

For me, I think it’s about people wanting to feel connected to one another, and to be able to do something. With so many crises happening around the world, and huge overwhelming statistics, it can be hard to remember that our actions make a difference. But change always starts small and gets bigger, and we are actually making real and significant change all the time.

IT’S BEEN DESCRIBED AS A MOVEMENT, NOT JUST A CHARITY – WHAT DOES ‘CHOOSING LOVE’ MEAN IN PRACTICE?

Choosing Love is about leading your actions and your decision making through a lens of love; treating people with kindness and compassion, and working together towards solutions that benefit everyone.

FROM THE SUPPORT OF MUSICIANS, GRASSROOTS GIGS AND EVEN THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL – WHAT ROLE DOES MUSIC AND CULTURE PLAY IN DRIVING REAL IMPACT?

Artists, musicians, actors and cultural figures show us what it means to be human through their work, so culture will always be a core part of any humanitarian movement. We are so grateful to work with incredible people who will use their voice to stand up for fundamental human rights for everyone.

COMMUNITY IS AT THE HEART OF WHAT YOU DO – HOW HAS THAT COMMUNITY EVOLVED OVER THE PAST DECADE?

We’re so incredibly lucky to have the community that we have – of all our amazing partners, of all the amazing people who work with us and support us and volunteer with us. It really does show how much we can do when we come together. For us, community is about working together, respecting and appreciating everyone who is part of it, valuing their different perspectives and learning from each other.

YOU’VE BEEN DESCRIBED AS ONE OF THE FIRST SOCIAL MEDIA CHARITIES, HOW HAS THIS IMPACTED CHOOSE LOVE’S AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS?

Social media was built into the start of our journey when we started as a simple hashtag for a fundraiser. From that moment we saw the power it had to bring people together, and we are so in awe of this amazing movement that we’ve cultivated and their ability and power to make change. Already we’ve raised over £187k for refugees and anti-racist work here in the UK, in just a couple of weeks – that’s incredible and is going to make a huge difference to people’s lives.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACING DISPLACED COMMUNITIES – AND ORGANISATIONS LIKE YOURS – RIGHT NOW?

As more people are losing their homes, their communities and seeking refuge in new places, here in the UK an anti-refugee rhetoric is taking hold. Refugees make up less than 1% of the population in the UK. They are not the reason that people can’t get a job, or proper housing or an appointment at the GP. All of these problems are very real in the UK right now and urgently need addressing, but they are problems created by years of austerity, cuts, economic impacts from the COVID pandemic and more. These problems lie with the UK Government to solve, and we need to be really careful not to fall into scapegoating vulnerable groups for problems they had absolutely nothing to do with.

TELL US ABOUT THIS CAMPAIGN – WHAT’S THE URGENCY, AND WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO DO AFTER HEARING ABOUT IT?

We’re horrified that the march is going ahead on Saturday. It does not represent what the majority of people in the UK feel, which is why we had to do something and make love louder than hate. So, we’re turning Tommy’s march on Saturday into a sponsored walk, raising money for refugees and anti-racism here in the UK. We want people to get involved and pledge as little as 1p per metre marched, so that every step marched translates into real, tangible support for people who need it.

As division is taking hold, we want to send a clear message that refugees are welcome.

Work05.2605.26Levi’s

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Sun’s up, phones down, buns out. Levi’s officially claimed the season. This collection marked the definition of the ultimate British summer vibe.

A powerful move, driven by the pulse of the street. UNCLE blanketed the UK with raw UA Quads, B2 blocks, and 8 sheets. These visuals dominated; announcing that the denim short remained the essential seasonal staple.

It’s a Levi’s® Summer.

Uncategorised Work05.2605.26Huda Beauty

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Huda Beauty and UNCLE disrupted the London streets once more. The brand commanded total attention for the launch of its latest obsession: Easy Bake Intense.

UNCLE saturated the city with a high-impact campaign, blending 4-sheets, B2 blocks, and tactile paste-ups. These visuals transformed the streets into a pink-hued gallery. It delivered a true sensory takeover—leaving a signature trail of wild cherries and vanilla bourbon.

Work05.2605.26Bebe Rexha : New Religion

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After years of navigating the industry in silence, Rexha proved that betting on herself was the ultimate power move.

Her independent debut, “New Religion” featuring Faithless, served as a sharp opening statement for her upcoming album, Dirty Blonde.

Without a major label’s PR machine, Bebe Rexha and UNCLE ignited London’s streets, plastering the city with raw 4-Sheet and B2 flyposters. The message was loud, local, and impossible to ignore.

Work05.2605.26Tilly Sveaas

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It all began in South Kensington back in 2018, now the iconic T-Bar necklace has truly reclaimed its crown. To celebrate the bestseller that started it all, Tilly Sveaas teamed up with UNCLE to bring it back to the streets it came from.

Bold B2 posters papered the walls, from Chelsea to the Kings Road. It was raw, it was refined, and it was gloriously “wild”. Turns out, even the chicest corners of SW3 couldn’t resist a touch of street-side sparkle.

Features05.2605.26Maureen Onwunali is the Poet Who Wants Better Politicians

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“I didn’t sign up to be a content creator. I’m a poet.”

Those are the words of Maureen Onwunali, the Dublin-born Nigerian poet whose work is resonating with in-person audiences at a growing number of poetry events, while also travelling online, as culture increasingly has for much of her 23 years. “June Jordan, Audre Lorde or James Baldwin never had to post three reels a month to be picked up by the algorithm,” she says, listing both her influences and stating her disillusionment with today’s media landscape at the same time.

On the other side of that coin, though, is her gratitude that her words have reached places she has not. Her poems have found people in small towns across Australia, the Americas and beyond, carrying observations on masculinity, migration, care, nightlife and the people society forgets to notice. In Puffer Jacket Poetry, she writes of Black masculinity and the men who are rarely given permission to be soft. Put simply: ‘the mandem don’t cry enough.’ In another poem, she asks God to save, not the King, but “the people we forget to notice.” Those sending money back home. Line cooks working from a mother’s muscle memory. Voluntary litter pickers saving the world, one crushed Red Bull can at a time.’

A long-time resident of Milton Keynes, Onwunali is also interested in place as something you can shape, rather than just somewhere you happen to live. Born to Nigerian parents in Ireland, she says her family “built Nigeria in our living room,” carrying culture and tradition across borders. Ireland and Nigeria, to her, are connected by their histories of colonisation, by the same “Babylon” showing its face in different parts of the world. Milton Keynes, meanwhile, is younger and greener and still becoming itself. While Camden regularly calls with her residency at the iconic Roundhouse, MK is a place that she’s excited to have a tangible impact on.

Her own route into poetry was mostly self-taught, shaped less by the poems she was handed at school than by rap, cyphers and performance. Instead, she would sit in front of the TV while eating, watching poetry slams and studying how people used language. Poetry, as she understands it, is less a fixed document than “a living, breathing thing.”

That makes her UNCLE collaboration, created ahead of the local elections, feel especially fitting. Inspired by Zoe Leonard’s I Want a President, Onwunali’s poem asks what kind of candidate people actually want, and what might happen if we raised our standards. It is poetry off the phone screen, off the stage and into the street.

WHAT FIRST DREW YOU INTO POETRY, AND AT WHAT POINT DID IT SHIFT FROM SOMETHING PERSONAL INTO SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO SHARE PUBLICLY?

I was never really fixed on poetry to start off with. It was more storytelling. I grew up with MTV playing in the background, and I was obsessed with rap, with cyphers, with wordplay — how people could build whole worlds with such limited space through language.

At one point I wanted to be a rapper, but I could never catch the beat — I just had too much to say. So I went back to just the words, and from there my relationship with writing really grew.

I started writing when I was about eleven. At the time it felt quite uncool, so it stayed personal — more like documentation. But as I got older, I realised I was writing about political realities around me, growing up in an immigrant household, and I started to feel like it was too important to keep to myself. If I really believed in what I was saying, it couldn’t just live and die with me.

The turning point was a workshop with the poet Joelle Taylor. I brought a folder with everything I’d ever written, read some of it out, and she invited me to perform in London. It was just me, my mum, and half my English department on a train, and I remember getting on stage and thinking, this is it.

From there it kind of snowballed — I did a poetry slam at the Roundhouse after sixth form, ended up winning it, and then eventually came back on a residency. I’ve been freelancing for the last couple of years now, which still feels a bit mad.

A LOT OF YOUR WORK PULLS MEANING OUT OF REALLY EVERYDAY MOMENTS — SMALL GESTURES, GIVING UP YOUR SEAT ON THE TUBE — WHAT DRAWS YOU TO THOSE KINDS OF DETAILS?

I think it comes from that idea that everything is poetry. You just have to take a moment to see it. It’s the art of noticing.

I always describe it as grabbing a moment and holding it up to the light. Even something like giving up your seat — most people have done it and don’t think anything of it, but when you actually look at it, it becomes this really beautiful, compassionate act.

I think I’m trying to remind people how similar we are. We spend so much time thinking what we’re going through is completely unique, but really we’re all living very similar lives. Everyone wants to feel part of something bigger, and sometimes you just need reminding that you already are.

DO YOU SEE YOUR WORK AS DOCUMENTING BEHAVIOUR, OR QUIETLY CHALLENGING IT?

I’d say it’s a bit of both, but probably more the latter.

A lot of the time, I’m writing from a place of urgency — like, everyone stop what you’re doing and listen. Let’s acknowledge what’s actually happening.

I’m not really interested in sitting with something for ages and perfecting it in a traditional sense. Sometimes it just feels like the sky is on fire, and I want people to hear what I have to say right now.

Of course, people might look back on it later as a reflection of the time, but for me it’s about the present — bearing witness to what’s happening and making people aware of it.

YOU’VE ASKED A REALLY INTERESTING QUESTION IN ANOTHER INTERVIEW — “WHY DO WE NEED OTHER PEOPLE TO TELL US WHAT WE’RE FEELING?” — DO YOU THINK POETRY SHOULD BE SOMETHING EVERYONE DOES, RATHER THAN SOMETHING A FEW PEOPLE PURSUE PROFESSIONALLY?

I still hold that belief. I think we often see it as the doers and the feelers, as if there’s a special group of people responsible for capturing all of the world’s feelings and turning them into something we can consume, whether that’s music, poetry, painting, or whatever else.

But I don’t think that should be the case. Poetry is for everyone, and it’s one of the few times in life where you don’t have to ask for permission to say things or think things. You don’t have to wait for anyone to tell you that you’re allowed to feel something, or allowed to question something.

You can just grab the closest pen and write. Even if you don’t write it down, you’re still speaking to yourself. You’re bearing witness to something and saying, this deserves to be archived, remembered or reflected on.

People say nothing in life is free, but the thought, the noticing, that is free. Even though I call myself a poet, I don’t think that separates me from “non-poets”. I don’t really think there are non-poets. It’s not a title or a role as much as it’s an act. I wouldn’t want someone to think, “Well, she’s the poet, so I’ll just listen.” We’re all constantly doing the act.

So yes, I think we need to stop relying on other people for our feelings and take control of that ourselves.

POETRY CAN SOMETIMES FEEL QUITE CLOSED OFF OR ACADEMIC TO PEOPLE, BUT YOUR WORK FEELS VERY ACCESSIBLE — IS THAT SOMETHING YOU’RE CONSCIOUS OF WHEN YOU’RE WRITING?

Yeah, definitely. I have a line in one of my poems that’s something like, “Who’s to say the revolution will be spoken in your jargon tongue anyway?”

For me, the function of poetry is to reach as many people as possible. Why would I want to put limitations on that just to show off my vocabulary, or prove I can use certain language techniques? It’s not a way of showing how educated I think I am. My priority is trying to connect to as many people as possible.

I think that happens through those everyday moments we look past. Those are the moments where people can say, “Actually, I do see myself in that.”

Our first introduction to poetry is often through school, and the GCSE anthology has given poetry a terrible reputation. People hold a grudge against it for years. They still shudder when they hear the word poetry.

I think we need to undo that. I’m trying to save poetry’s reputation a bit. In school, poetry can feel like this fixed document, like it’s written in stone and you can’t really do much to it. But really, it’s more like a Google document. It’s a live thing being edited as we speak. It’s breathable, it’s moving constantly, it has its own heartbeat. It’s alive, and it’s not written in stone. It’s supposed to be fluid.

YOU MENTIONED WORKING IN SCHOOLS — HOW IMPORTANT IS IT THAT YOUNG PEOPLE ARE GIVEN ACCESS TO POETRY BEYOND THE TRADITIONAL CANON, ESPECIALLY POETRY THAT SPEAKS FROM DECOLONIAL PERSPECTIVES?

It’s so important. I actually have a poem I performed at a GCSE conference, and I started it with: “William Wordsworth ain’t worth my words if the kids don’t know what their words are worth.”

Then it goes on from there, and the students go crazy because they understand what it’s saying. It’s in slang, but it’s still poetry.

I do think everything is a political act: what we see, what we don’t see, the voices that are platformed and the voices that are silenced. The poetry we’re shown is so often overrepresented by old white men talking about duchesses and colonial expansion. The writing might be beautiful, but if the kids can’t see themselves in it, they’re not going to connect. There are no stakes in it for them.

Poetry has been around since people learned how to communicate with each other. In collective cultures, in the global south, oral storytelling and oral history is poetry. It has always been there and always will be there.

When people talk about Wordsworth, I always think the real poets, in every generation, are the people in town centres on soapboxes being called crazy, saying, “Listen to what I have to say. This is what’s going on with the world.”

I’d call myself a soapbox poet. I want to be the town’s crazy person yelling into the sky, beating my chest at the world, saying: this is what’s happening.

The curriculum has introduced some reforms and more modern poetry, so there is work being done, but I still think there’s a lot more to do.

CAN YOU TELL ME A BIT ABOUT THE PIECE YOU’VE CREATED FOR UNCLE AND WHAT YOU WANTED IT TO SAY?

The poem is after Zoe Leonard’s I Want a President. It’s built around that idea of, “I want a candidate who…” and then it goes from there.

I live in Milton Keynes, in quite a diverse neighbourhood, and I had a Reform candidate knock on my door. I just thought, this is hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

It made me think that we need to raise our standards. With anything else, whether it’s doctors, electricians or engineers, we want the best because we know quality matters. But when it comes to politicians, we settle for so much. We concede so much. We need to want better for ourselves and our communities.

So the poem essentially lists the type of candidate I want to see. There are lines like, “I want a gold tooth smile for a candidate,” or “I want a grieving mother for a candidate,” or “I want a candidate who knows how costly their words are,” and “a candidate who has felt the cold of concrete.”

I want someone I can relate to. Whether or not that’s realistic doesn’t really matter. I’m not concerned with realism. I’m concerned with getting people to question the type of candidate they want to see, and whether that is actually reflected in what’s on the ballot.

I’m keen to see how people react to it, and hopefully it starts a conversation about what we ask for as electorates.

WITH THE LOCAL ELECTIONS IN MIND, DO YOU THINK THERE’S SOMETHING POWERFUL ABOUT FOCUSING ON WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND YOU — IN YOUR IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENT — RATHER THAN ALWAYS THINKING NATIONALLY OR GLOBALLY?

One hundred percent. I don’t necessarily believe the current electoral system is going to bring about some kind of utopia, but local elections are about tangible, everyday, material changes that really affect people.

I think it’s important to have a say in the things you can actually reach your hand out and touch and feel. Some people might argue that it’s even more important than a wider national election, because you will very much feel the impact of how you vote. It’s closer to home.

YOU’RE NIGERIAN, BORN IN IRELAND, AND HAVE LIVED IN MILTON KEYNES. HOW DOES EACH PLACE INFLUENCE OR INSPIRE YOUR WORK?

Being born to Nigerian parents has influenced not only my work, but my sense of self. I think the first and probably last time I was in Nigeria, I was less than one year old, so I don’t have any real memories of it. But my parents did their best to pack as much culture and tradition as they could into this 25kg luggage and bring it to Ireland with them.

They built Nigeria in our living room, so I’ve always had a close connection to the culture and my roots. I don’t feel like a stranger in that part of my identity.

Then being born and raised in Dublin was my formative years. It’s my friends, my family, and even my accent. I’ve been in the UK for eleven years now and you can still hear bits of it.

Politically, I think my Irish and Nigerian identities work hand in hand. Ireland has often tried to stand up against injustice because of its own history, and Nigeria has also experienced British Empire. That same Babylon reared its ugly face in both parts of the world, so those identities feel very similar to me in that sense.

With Milton Keynes, people always ask, why Milton Keynes? And honestly, my mum chose here. But I really like it. It’s so fresh and new. It’s only about sixty years old, and you can tell it was so intentional. Even when you look at the map, with the grids, it feels a bit like Barbie’s dollhouse sometimes, because everything is so planned.

But I think it’s beautiful. It’s very green, it’s malleable, and now it’s a city. I feel oddly patriotic about it. Londoners think anything outside London is just farmland, but I’ll defend Milton Keynes to the end.

I see myself in it, honestly. It’s still growing and I’m still growing. I’ve worked a lot with the council there, and I’m trying to do my part in moulding Milton Keynes into the city I want to see. That’s such a cool thing, because who can say they’re actually helping to mould their city?

LOOKING AHEAD, WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE OF — EITHER IN YOUR OWN WORK, OR IN THE WIDER POETRY SPACE?

I think it’s already on its way, in terms of poetry becoming more mainstream. I recently performed at the Roundhouse, and we claimed it was the largest poetry event in the world. It was 1,500 people in the audience, so maybe it was — I need to check that.

I love that poetry is on big stages, but I don’t want it to become a one-sided conversation. Poetry should be an equal exchange. I don’t want to be put on a pedestal, or on a platform, and just talk down to people.

I’d love more people to engage with it, not just as audience members, but as mutual givers and receivers. I want people to really give it a try, and share more. I want poetry to feel as normal as singing in the shower — something everyday. Like, of course I’ll write a poem on my way to work.

For my own work, I think I’m already doing a lot of what I wanted to do, so everything else is kind of a bonus. Being freelance means I don’t really answer to anyone, and there aren’t the same limitations on what I can say. I get to use my politics degree in the purest form, rather than going down the traditional route into the civil service or something like that.

I think I’ll probably get more political, and I’d like poetry to become more mainstream in that way too. I want it to feel normal to have these conversations over dinner, or in the classroom.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE PEOPLE TAKE AWAY FROM THIS WORK — WHETHER THAT’S THE POEM ITSELF OR THE WIDER COLLABORATION?

I’d just emphasise dreaming bigger. Don’t be confined to the terrible standards we’ve given ourselves.

You can actually aspire for a better candidate, a better world, and better communities.

And obviously, go out and vote.

Work05.2605.26Massive Attack x Tom Waits: Boots on the Ground

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When the world tilted, Bristol’s iconic duo refused to watch from the sidelines; they mobilised. Massive Attack released “Boots on the Ground” a sharp single featuring the unmistakable, gravelly tones of Tom Waits. The track served as a direct critique of Western militarism and a growing sense of global disillusionment.

To drive the point home, UNCLE took to the streets of Bristol, Manchester and London, through a bold 4-sheet poster campaign. Massive Attack saw the political climate and pasted their protest across the nation’s walls.

Work04.2604.26Fred Perry

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From the grass of Wimbledon to the pulse of Berlin, Fred Perry has evolved into the definitive bridge between two worlds. This campaign marks the total fusion of sportswear and streetwear, tailored for those who trade the court for the city streets with effortless precision.

UNCLE has now stamped this transition across the capital, using city banners and A1 posters to claim the space. The TENNIS BOMBER and the TRACK JACKET lead the way, proving that the shift from sportswear to streetwear isn’t a trend – it’s a takeover. It is sharp, British, and perfectly at home in the Berlin streets.

Work04.2604.26Morphe

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Morphe, the beauty brand created for creators, redefined the horizon. They captured a Los Angeles sunset to mark the debut of Cheek Thrills Bronze & Tone Duos, dragging that warmth across the Atlantic.

UNCLE mirrored this glow through the streets of London and Manchester. Strategic 4-sheet campaigns turned grey streets into a sun-soaked world, bringing West Coast heat into the British cities.

Work04.2604.26Antler

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Antler didn’t just open a door on Regent Street. Before the flagship store’s ribbon was cut, a new monogram claimed the city.

UNCLE executed a flyposting campaign across London, saturating the streets with 4-sheets, megasites and B1 blocks.

The interlocking geometry signalled a pivot from traditional luggage maker to curator. By the time the doors opened, the silhouette felt like part of the architecture.

Antler didn’t ask for space; through the streets, they simply took it.

Work04.2604.26Sofa Club

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Give your lounge the runway it deserves.

Since 2012, Sofa Club has redefined furniture. Sharp silhouettes, fashion-first, and accessible high-end style. Beyond furnishing spaces; they dresse them.

For their latest London takeover with UNCLE, city walls were too small. From Soho to Shoreditch, megasites, 4-sheets and raw flyposting literally “opened up”; spilling fully-styled lounges onto the concrete.
By shattering the fourth wall via B2s and paste ups, they created a hyper-real moment that forced Londoners to stop, stare and realise that the street offered a luxury their commute never could.

Work04.2604.26Boards of Canada

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The radio silence from Boards of Canada just took a high-voltage hit. This wasn’t about digital leaks; it was a coordinated, physical takeover. Across London and Manchester, the walls began bleeding codes that only the initiated could decode.

With Warp Records fuelling the hype and UNCLE executing, the streets became a haunting playground. The campaign deployed 3,000 B2 posters, surgical 4-sheet strikes, and massive paste-up blocks. Reddit melted down as the evidence mounted: the Sandison brothers didn’t just return—they reclaimed the frequency. The cult is officially back.

Work04.2604.26FARMER J

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Forget the grey; Farmer J just dropped a neon-soaked dose of vitamins onto the streets. To celebrate their new lineup of speciality iced drinks, they took the field to the city. From the creamy hit of Mango + Coconut Matcha to the sharp kick of Matcha + Yuzu Fizz, the new menu is a total liquid takeover.

UNCLE saturated East London with a high-energy campaign, deploying 4-sheets and 4-sheet blocks. It was a surge of pure colour injected directly into the street.

East London never tasted so fresh.

Work04.2604.26Yeet x Hoka

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London didn’t just run; it took over. Yeet and Hoka collided in the heart of Shoreditch to prep the city for the marathon grind.

This wasn’t about a casual warm-up, it was about high-octane performance meeting East London’s relentless edge. 4 Chance St became the ultimate hub for those ready to outrun the noise.

To signal the takeover, UNCLE hit the streets with high-impact 4-sheet and 4-sheet blocks, ensuring the “Get Race Ready” call was impossible to miss.

No fluff, no excuses – just pure momentum for the chase.

Work04.2604.26Tink: F**k, Marry, Kill

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Forget the playground rules. Tink returned, turning “F**k, Marry, Kill” nostalgia into a reality check.

Her latest drop wasn’t just music; it was a masterclass in modern R&B storytelling. Tink dissected how we recklessly sort our lovers like school games – messy, blurred boundaries, and usually fuelled by a stiff drink. It was sharp, provocative, and unapologetically raw.

To match that energy, UNCLE took over the London streets, plastering the city with high-impact B2 blocks. Tink didn’t just play the game; she broke it.

Work04.2604.26Myley Cyrus: Younger You

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To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus delivered a fearless love letter to her roots. With “Younger You”, she isn’t just remembering; she’s reclaiming. It’s a visceral stripping of the pop veneer, traded for disarming authenticity.

Across London, UNCLE turned the streets into a raw scrapbook. No glossy campaigns here, just B2 posters acting as gritty, street-level echoes for the fans who grew up with her. This isn’t just a track; it’s a defiant reconciliation.

Work04.2604.26Stubble & Co

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Stubble & Co dropped the new Motion Backpack 20L: the new model delivering comfort, breathability, and versatility for every journey. It was engineered to move with you, built to kill the bounce while you owned the streets.

The Motion 20L was hammered onto the grit of Soho via raw paste-ups and anchored to the B2 blocks of Battersea. From Borough to the 4-sheets of the West End, the bag was plastered across every street corner, claiming the urban sprawl as its own territory.

Work04.2604.26The Rolling Stones: The Cockroaches

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London was infested, and for once, no one complained. Neon pink posters bled into the city’s cracks, screaming one name: The Cockroaches.

UNCLE flooded the streets with B1 formats, sparking a viral fever dream. While the Stones often say “you can’t always get what you want,” eagle-eyed fans knew the game. A QR code warped commuters into a gritty 70s bedroom where a clock ticked toward April 11, 2026. With Ronnie Wood already hinting at a new release, the mystery turned into a global roar.
The Stones reclaimed their territory, and London was officially hooked.

Work04.2604.26REFY

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REFY, the experts in simplifying beauty, marked a major milestone with their first physical launch at the iconic Space NK. To announce their arrival across the UK and Ireland, UNCLE staged a total takeover.

UNCLE transformed the streets of London, flooding the capital with a striking minimalist aesthetic that landed like a shock to the system. Raw B2 blocks and 4-sheet takeovers dominated the urban landscape, scaling REFY’s “less is more” manifesto across the entire city.

The first move was made. London belonged to REFY.

Work04.2604.26Charley Crockett: Age of the Ram

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Charley Crockett is no stranger to the shadows. With Age of the Ram, the Texan drifter rides into London to close out his legendary Sagebrush Trilogy. It’s a record for the loners, the outlaws, and the ones making a dollar a day just outside the law.

UNCLE backed the release with a flyposting takeover, plastering the album’s outlaw spirit across East and West London. No polished billboards—just raw paper on walls, mirroring the soul of the record.
The trilogy is complete.
The Age of the Ram is now.

Work04.2604.26REPRESENT

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REPRESENT remained the undisputed heavyweight of British luxury streetwear, a brand forged in the relentless hustle of the UK underground.

For the launch of PRE-SS26, they partnered with UNCLE to reclaim the streets with a 4-sheet guerrilla blitz across the walls of Manchester and the concrete arteries of London. It was a hostile takeover – pairing bold silhouettes with the unapologetic energy of outdoor flyposting.
Just proper British grit, pasted where it mattered most.

Work04.2604.26VARLEY

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March landed – the city moved differently. VARLEY’s “For Every Step” hit the streets. Retro runners, sharp court silhouettes – built for motion, made to be seen. Precision design met effortless defiance. Every pair was tuned for the everyday, without compromise.

A total street takeover. Across the city, massive UNCLE B1 flyposting blocks stood bold. UNCLE gave it to the streets.

Work04.2604.26PAUL MCCARTNEY: THE BOYS OF DUNGEON LANE

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Five years of silence – over. Paul turned the lens inward, unlocking formative memories and untold stories that built his legacy. The Boys of Dungeon Lane lands May 29: raw, intimate, and alive with newly sparked love songs.

In a massive street-level tribute, UNCLE seized control of Liverpool and London, flooding the streets with an intensive 4-sheet takeover. Even before Paul’s first mention—IYKYK—the landscape had transformed. From the docks to the West End, every wall stood as a silent testament to his most personal story yet.

Work04.2604.26K18

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The rules of haircare weren’t being rewritten in a lab—they were being plastered across the concrete. Partnering with UNCLE for a heavy-duty tactical strike, K18 seized control of London and Manchester with a high-impact flyposting blitz.

Commanding the streetscape with 4-sheet citywide and block formats, every wall was hijacked to announce something BIG: a chance for a radical, long-lasting blonde transformation. UNCLE brought the grit; K18 brought the science. Both cities were officially saturated.

Work03.2603.26Eggslut

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Forget Regency decorum.
Eggslut hijacks the language of forbidden desire. ‘Egg Yearning’ flips classic romance on its head—swapping breathless longing for an unapologetic obsession with breakfast. Corsets out, brioche in.

Inspired by the internet’s obsession with raw intensity, the brand hit up London streets with UNCLE, plastering B2 flyposting blocks across the city—turning street grit into a gallery of pure craving. No restraint. Just subversive indulgence.

Work03.2603.26D.S. & DURGA

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Same song. Different mix. For NYC Fragrance Week, D.S. & DURGA took their 2015 cult classic out of the bottle and onto the streets.

Debaser in Bloom turns up the volume—“hot, humid, sexy” fig collides with white gardenia and the metallic bite of cassette nostalgia. No boutiques, no restraint. With UNCLE, the launch hit the streets in a surge of XL flyposting and B2 blocks, flooding New York in full force.

Work03.2603.26NAPAPIJRI

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Eight trailblazers, eight reimagined colours, one defiant question: who are you? Rainforest Next powers the Spring/Summer ’26 collection, cutting through the noise to explore identity in motion—where values aren’t spoken, but worn.

This March, Napapijri took that manifesto to the streets with UNCLE, taking over West London with B1 and 4-sheet flyposting to spotlight fashion disrupter Julia Sarr-Jamois and the legendary Vinnie Jones.

No polish, just pure cultural grit.

Work03.2604.26Niall Horan: Dinner Party

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When a song changes the trajectory of a life, you don’t just release it – you plaster it across the capital. To announce Niall Horan’s latest single, Dinner Party, UNCLE made an impact with a 4-sheet flyposting campaign.

UNCLE celebrates this meeting between Niall and Amelia right in the heart of London’s streets. We used the raw power of physical posters to make the March 20th drop impossible to miss.

Work03.2603.26Lila Moss x Adanola: Spring 2026

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Spring ‘26 collection just dropped.
While Lila Moss brought the refined, tonal minimalism, UNCLE brought the noise.
We took Adanola’s effortless
movement and hit the pavement.

We invaded London’s most influential territories with high-impact flyposting. From the creative East to the high-end West, we brought a raw, gritty aesthetic
to the streets. UNCLE made sure Adanola’s understated elegance didn’t just ‘launch’.
It took over the streets.

Work03.2603.26INORA

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The Anti-Burnout Takeover

As INORA launched its new solution to modern stress during London Fashion Week, UNCLE took the antidote straight to the source of the chaos. Engineered for the high-performance rituals of the women who run the city, this liquid energy was injected into the daily flow of workout classes, iced coffees, and business lunches.

Through high-impact 4-sheet flyposting and storefront takeovers, we cut through the London noise. From the high-pressure grid of the City to the creative hubs of the East, we turned weathered, graffiti-strewn walls into a direct portal to the INORA universe.

Features02.2602.26Irish designer Robyn Lynch walks her wardrobe into the streets for AW26

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“Real culture and real clothes, inspired by real people.”

That is how Irish fashion designer Robyn Lynch describes her eponymous brand. From Malahide to Dublin and now, London, Lynch is unafraid to wear her Irishness on her own sleeve, whilst weaving in memories of her upbringing into the sleeves of all her collections.

Since graduating in 2019 from the University of Westminster, Robyn has carved out a space in contemporary menswear that feels personal, yet universal. Clothes that are lived in, purposeful and full of identity.

With recent milestones including designing uniforms for the Guinness Storehouse, a collaboration with footwear brand Geox, and her first out-of-home campaign, courtesy of UNCLE, the Robyn Lynch brand continues to evolve – with a focus on continuity rather than reinvention.

For London Fashion Week, UNCLE spoke to Robyn about memories of Malahide, communities within London (including where to find the best pint of Guinness), and why building a people’s wardrobe will always matter more than chasing spectacle.

TO START, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN YOUR OWN WORDS – BOTH PERSONALLY AND AS A DESIGNER?

Personally, I’m quite pragmatic and observant. I’m interested in how people actually live, what they wear day to day, how clothes function in real environments, and the small details that make something feel right.

As a designer, I focus on utility, authenticity and storytelling. I’m interested in clothes that feel lived in, purposeful and connected to identity.

YOU GREW UP IN THE COASTAL TOWN OF MALAHIDE, STUDIED TEXTILES IN DUBLIN, AND THEN MOVED TO LONDON TO CONTINUE YOUR EDUCATION. HOW HAS YOUR HOMETOWN ENVIRONMENT SHAPED YOUR WORK?

I think the people I grew up with shaped my work more than the place itself. Malahide is beautiful, but it’s my friends and the memories that feed into each collection.

A lot of the work comes from nostalgia. Funny stories, the brands we used to wear, how we styled things together. Those memories often shape the direction of a collection and even the dream collaborations I want to pursue.

FROM MALAHIDE TO DUBLIN TO LONDON, IS THERE ANYTHING YOU MISS ABOUT THE IRISH DESIGN ECOSYSTEM?

I miss the ease of community and the willingness to help. When you grow up somewhere, you naturally have a network around you.

Starting out in London meant building all of those relationships from scratch, which is challenging. But it’s also a necessary part of growing independently.

CAN YOU REMEMBER THE MOMENT YOU FIRST DECIDED YOU WANTED TO WORK IN FASHION? WERE THERE ANY OTHER CAREER PATHS YOU CONSIDERED?

It felt quite instinctive. Each stage of education naturally led into the next, and the brand grew from that process.
When I graduated in 2019, I had the opportunity to continue developing the work and focus on championing an Irish voice within contemporary menswear. At the time, there wasn’t really anyone operating in that space, so it felt like a clear point of difference.

YOU’VE SPOKEN ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF IRISHNESS IN YOUR WORK – WHETHER THROUGH CULTURAL REFERENCES, MUSIC, OR HUMOUR. HOW DO YOU NAVIGATE THE LINE BETWEEN RESPECTFUL HOMAGE AND CLICHÉ WHEN WORKING WITH THOSE CULTURAL SYMBOLS?

It’s a very fine line, and it’s something I question at every stage of the process. Colour, fabric, graphics, casting, photography and music are all considered through that lens, often quite instinctively.
I want the brand to celebrate Irish culture without becoming pigeonholed. The aim is that people from different backgrounds can connect with the shapes and the feeling, and find their own sense of nostalgia, even if they’re not Irish.

WHAT DOES THE PROCESS BEHIND A ROBYN LYNCH PIECE LOOK LIKE? WHERE DOES IT BEGIN, AND HOW DOES IT EVOLVE?

It often begins with vintage. I spend hours on eBay and visit archives and vintage stores whenever I travel.

From there, it moves into product development with my factories. I usually start with colour direction, then yarn sourcing and fabric development. It’s very product led.

The story and world come later. The core themes don’t change dramatically from season to season. I’m more interested in building continuity and developing people’s wardrobes over time rather than constantly changing direction.

YOU RECENTLY REDESIGNED THE UNIFORMS FOR THE GUINNESS STOREHOUSE – A PROJECT THAT FELT LIKE A NATURAL FIT. HOW DO YOU BALANCE INSTITUTIONAL REQUIREMENTS WITH YOUR OWN DESIGN INSTINCTS?

It was a big challenge and something we’re still learning from. The key difference is the point of use. You’re designing for a wide range of people and roles, so it’s about finding a middle ground while still holding onto the brand codes.

I also wanted to bring as much of my existing production network into the project as possible. The uniforms are made in the same factories as my mainline, which I hope gives the wearer a sense of pride. I want people to feel like they’re wearing something considered and special.

SPEAKING OF, WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LONDON PUB FOR A PINT OF GUINNESS?

The Auld Shillelagh in Stoke Newington.

COLLABORATION FEELS CENTRAL TO THE ROBYN LYNCH BRAND. IS THERE A DISCIPLINE OUTSIDE OF FASHION YOU’D MOST LIKE TO COLLABORATE WITH, AND WHAT MIGHT THAT LOOK LIKE?

Furniture is something I’ve become really interested in recently. Maybe that comes with getting older.

I’ve started approaching it the same way I approach clothing, through vintage sourcing and a lot of time spent on eBay. I’m drawn to pieces with strong materials and proportions. The idea of applying that same eye for material, function and longevity from clothing into furniture feels really exciting.

YOU’VE QUESTIONED THE VALUE OF RUNWAY SHOWS VERSUS MORE DIRECT FORMS OF ENGAGEMENT. HOW DO YOU ENVISION THE FUTURE OF FASHION PRESENTATION FOR INDEPENDENT DESIGNERS?

As an independent brand, you have to be realistic about resources. A runway show is a big investment for something that lasts a few minutes.

I think the future is about more considered and targeted ways of showing the work. Showrooms, press appointments, installations or campaigns, such as the support with UNCLE – that live in the real world – feel more effective. It allows the product to be seen properly and helps build stronger relationships with the people who actually support the brand.

HOW HAS BEING LONDON-BASED SHAPED YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON IRISH CULTURE? AND CONVERSELY, HOW DOES YOUR IRISHNESS INFLUENCE YOUR EXPERIENCE OF LONDON’S CREATIVE SCENE?

When I first moved, it definitely heightened my sense of Irish identity, as I think it does with a lot of people who move away from home.

Practically, the Irish community in London has become a huge source of support. Living away from home brings people together. There is a shared energy and willingness to help.

Finding those pockets of people within the London creative scene has been really important for the brand’s growth and survival.

WHAT DOES COMMUNITY MEAN TO YOU — BOTH AS A CREATOR AND AS THE LEADER OF YOUR OWN LABEL?

It’s become a buzzword, but for a small brand, it’s genuinely critical. Early on, the focus was on validation through big stores, wholesale growth and major press. But long-term sustainability actually comes from your direct community.

We realised our audience was growing online, but the product wasn’t always accessible to them. In 2024, we restructured our pricing and introduced a core collection. Since then, we’ve seen that support translate from social engagement into actual sales.

FINALLY, WHAT DO YOU HAVE PLANNED FOR FASHION WEEK AND FOR THE REST OF 2026?

The Geox collaboration was a major milestone. It’s the first footwear product we’ve been able to offer directly to our community, which has been a great experience.

We presented it in Paris showrooms during Men’s Fashion Week alongside press appointments. With this partnership with UNCLE we have also been able to launch our first out-of-home campaign, which has been a great way to test a more everyday form of visibility and meet people in their daily environment.

Work02.2604.26GORILLAZ

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A quarter-century since their debut, Gorillaz are still moving faster than the culture. To celebrate their new album The Mountain – a vibrant, Indian-inspired ode to life – UNCLE brought Hewlett and Albarn’s latest vision to the streets.

UNCLE flooded the streets of London and Manchester, cutting through the noise with a heavy-duty spread of B2s and 4-sheets.

Twenty-five years on, and the Gorillaz fire is still prolific. This wasn’t just a campaign; it was a homecoming for the legends.

Work02.2604.26I-D : 376

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While the digital world choked on its own algorithms, i-D hit the streets for real for the Spring 2026 launch of The Lore Issue.

To celebrate Issue 376, UNCLE injected a shot of pure adrenaline into London’s arteries with a radical flyposting offensive.

From monumental UA Quads to raw B2 blocks, we saturated the city, spreading the anti-algorithmic culture. This was more than a drop; it was a visual insurrection. In an age of fleeting pixels, we left a heavy mark on the concrete.

Features12.2512.25THIS IS A LOVE PROTEST

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“Not many people have ever died of love. But multitudes have perished, and are perishing every hour, for the lack of it.”¹

Is it getting more embarrassing to be a human being? What’s another year taught us? Unspeakable cruelty isn’t the sole province of any one race, creed or ideology. Tick!

No doubt, it has always been this way, but today there’s just no escaping reports of conflict, abuses of power, mendacity or simply plain indifference to other peoples’ plight. And yet, there are sparks of resistance — those among us who seek to bring the world together with compassion and ethical concern. Courage, thoughtfulness and care — in other words, LOVE — is the only antidote to the bleak era we’re living through.

Inspired by the passionate few who face up to great adversity, injustice, and fear — and those who simply offer everyday support and encouragement — UNCLE has partnered with BUILDHOLLYWOOD to close out the year with THIS IS A LOVE PROTEST: a UK-wide street gallery running from 15 December to the end of January in support of War Child. The showcase features work from 21 artists, each responding to the righteous, brave, and liberatory power of LOVE, with original pieces spanning illustration, painting, photography, textiles, graphic design, mixed media, and text-based art.

For more than three decades, War Child has been driven by a single goal — ensuring a safe future for every child living through war. Please consider making a charity donation here — every penny goes straight to War Child.

We are deeply grateful to the hugely talented artists who have responded to this call — you can explore all their works using the index below. Each artwork is accompanied by the artist’s quote reflecting on the project theme and the piece they have created. Wishing all our friends, collaborators, and clients heartfelt season’s greetings.

“Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind.”²

1 James Baldwin fr. Giovanni’s Room (1956)
2 James Baldwin fr. If Beale Street Could Talk (1974)

DONATE TO WAR CHILD

ADÉBAYO BOLAJI

“Ultimately, seasons are not conditional; you can typically rely on them. This kind of love is the hardest — the one we can rely on.

I have a poem that says:

And so, what is left?

For us to fly into Space

And claim ownership of stars?

And yet the Sun is screaming

‘I love both the good and the bad’

So, for me part of this painting speaks to that to the most epic and dangerous kind of love which is unconditional.

All beings in the painting are being present in the moment, enjoying the immediacy and fluency of nature itself.”

www.bolaji.studio

ALISA OLEVA

“I believe that by thinking about our connection to places and people we love, and creating portals to connect across times, obstacles, silences, absences, and distances, we can practice the future we dream of, and start walking towards it.”

alisaoleva.com

ANNIE FROST NICHOLSON

“F*ck fascism. We, the people, are a force to be reckoned with, and the strength of our communities is testament that love always, always trumps hate and fear.”

www.anniefrostnicholson.com

ANTHONY BURRILL

“Two short words joined by an ampersand. Simple, direct, human. A message stripped back to its most honest form — the connection between me and you.

In my work, I use the language of the street: chunky letterforms, bold contrasts, clear layouts, and a voice that feels like it’s talking straight to you. My posters don’t decorate; they communicate. Whether I paint them onto a wall, paste them on a hoarding, or stretch them across a billboard, You & Me becomes both a personal reminder and a public statement — a quiet kind of protest made through warmth and optimism.

This is my love protest: using positive messages to push back against cynicism, division, and noise. When you see You & Me out in the world, I hope it feels like a moment of calm in the chaos — an invitation to slow down, look up, and remember that kindness is something we share. In a time when messages often divide, I want my words to bring us back together. Because change doesn’t always start with anger — sometimes, it begins with love.”

anthonyburrill.com

BABAK GANJEI

“It feels like the world at large would benefit from teaching its younger inhabitants compassion at an early age as opposed to the fear that ultimately divides us.”

www.babakganjeiworks.com

BEVAN AGYEMANG

“Love remembers the stories, sacrifices, that form our foundation. To love across generations is to understand that time does not separate it connects. It’s the omnipresent thread binding past, present, and future.”

www.instagram.com/bevan_agyemang

CORBIN SHAW

“I’m in love in this country is a twist on the idea of finding love in a hopeless place. I wanted people to misread it as they passed by, as if it said, ‘I’m in love with this country’. I liked the idea that viewers could interpret it in their own way.”

www.corbinshaw.com

ELIJAH

“Loving the space and time you exist in is finding the right music to soundtrack it with, so collecting, curating, and finding ways to share that joy with others is an intangible form of optimism that is needed in these crazy times.”

www.instagram.com/eli1ah

GAURAB THAKALI

“The portrait of the man at the piano is Bill Evans, and the artwork is inspired by his song Peace Piece. It’s a beautiful, timeless piece of music with a meditative, reflective feel.

The other artwork is dedicated to Gil Scott-Heron — musician, author, and spoken-word performer. It’s inspired by his lyrics and the themes he often explored: social and racial injustice, hope, disillusionment, and the human condition.”

www.gaurabthakali.com

JEREMY DELLER

www.jeremydeller.org

JOE CRUZ

“Kissing is great — celebrate kissing whoever you love x.”

jcruz.co.uk

MAGDA ARCHER

“Ugh! I’m just so sick of all the hate out there. You know what they say: ‘If you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.’  So, more love for 2026, please.”

www.instagram.com/magdaarcher

MARK TITCHNER

“Raoul Vaneigem writes in The Revolution of Everyday Life  that those who speak of revolution and class struggle ‘without understanding what is subversive about love’ do so with ‘a corpse in their mouth’. Love resists constraints, demands sacrifice, and is selfless. It suggests something that counters much contemporary logic, namely that we individuals, we ‘me’s’, are not in fact the centre of the universe.

Advertising media, in its many forms, informs us that ‘you want’ and that ‘you need’, reminding us of our duty to eternal consumption in the service of self-betterment. In this work, It Is You I Love the Most, I simply wanted to shift this logic. By addressing ‘you’ directly I aimed not to emphasise what it is you lack, but instead to offer a gift — that thing that we all may choose to offer: love.”

marktitchner.com

MOLLY HANKINSON

“I created  Sisterhood  in 2020, and it was part of  Your Space Or Mine  in Glasgow during lockdown. It’s been great to revisit and reflect on its themes of togetherness, solidarity, and coalition-building. It still feels as — if not more — poignant and essential to amplify this message today.”

www.mollyhankinson.com

MORAG MYERSCOUGH

“True Love as protest is about more than personal relationships; it embodies a commitment to collective wellbeing.

True Love embraces empathy, understanding, and compassion. True Love ignites hope, transforms landscapes and inspires us to envision a world that is united by compassion and understanding. In celebrating love, we challenge discrimination and indifference, paving the way for a brighter, more inclusive future.”

www.moragmyerscough.com

REBECCA ZEPHYR THOMAS

“I chose this portrait of activist and photographer Misan Harriman because he is relentless in his work to spread justice and love into the world. His voice is calm, empathic, and informed, and he touches people around the world via his art and activism. The image was shot at a protest for Palestine in London in July 2024, Misan is a light that the world needs in these current times, always advocating for our shared humanity.”

www.rebeccazephyrthomas.com

ROBERT MONTGOMERY

“I’m really happy to be part of this project raising funds for War Child. These posters are an extension of my new poem in the plaza at Centrepoint on Charing Cross Road in London. The words celebrate everyday acts of kindness. Showing kindness to the most vulnerable people in our world is more important now than ever before. Kindness is our highest power.”

www.robertmontgomery.org

SGÀIRE WOOD

“The World is Still Your Toy is dedicated to children, especially those who are victims of conflict, violence and genocide. The heraldic ermine motif represents the abstraction of violence and the anonymisation of those experiencing it but also a call to stand united in our varied experiences against fascism and oppression worldwide. All children should know that the world and all the potential it holds continue to belong to all of us. Free Palestine.”

www.instagram.com/sgairewood

SUEDE

“In a country obsessed with headlines about fear, these two write their own front page: kids of immigrants choosing kindness as their legacy — a reminder that love isn’t soft; it’s resistance!”

www.instagram.com/suede_baby

TRACKIE MCLEOD

“Love itself is an act of protest. It’s time to rise against governments that fuel war, spread hate, and chase profit over humanity. The power they’ve stolen will return to the people, if we speak out and stand together.”

trackiemcleod.com

YINKA ILORI

“This artwork was originally conceived as an allegory for maternal figures. It stands as an emblem of unconditional love, balance, deep care, and benevolence. A force that mirrors what has been freely given. It represents the quiet strength that nurtures and holds communities together, especially in times of division.”

yinkailori.com

Features10.2512.25Project Rock ‘n’ Roll Stars with Oasis and CIRCA

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When Oasis made their long-awaited return to stages around the world, they came back with more than just the live shows. They came back with a mission. In partnership with CIRCA, they launched Project Rock ‘n’ Roll Stars – a limited edition fine art print campaign, repurposing Oasis’ very own creative legacy, to help put music back into UK state schools. Handwritten lyrics and images from their seven-night takeover at Wembley are all fuel for the future of music.

This isn’t just merch, it’s activism through art. Music education in UK state schools is under pressure. Project Rock ‘n’ Roll Stars is a direct response to this real crisis. When asked to help bring the iniative to the streets of London, UNCLE were more than happy to help. Appearing across London in bold, type-lead flyposters, the partnership called out the crisis for what it is. A visual protest, plastered in the city where Oasis first made noise.

Features10.2510.25Adam Jones is holding on to yesterday, one beer towel at a time.

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His eponymous brand has become something of a cult classic in recent years. For Adam, it has always been about celebrating working-class nostalgia and the culture of great British boozers. In an age of overconsumption, where design is getting more detached from everyday life, his work remains grounded in the tactile, the ordinary, and the unmistakably British.

It’s not just boozers that whet the creative whistle of Adam’s work. Rooted in a childhood spent at Welsh car-boot sales, he’s guided by the instinct to make something from nothing. Materials that would otherwise be dismissed as kitsch or mundane – tea towels, lace curtains, your grandma’s doilies – Adam sees as potential.

“It brings me a thrill to share my memories through clothing and then dress people up in these memories.”

Each piece carries a sense of lived history. It’s about storytelling. His garments can recall the smell of the local, the texture of a loved one’s home, or the grit of London’s pavements. Equal parts sentimental and subversive, Jones’s work leans into this tension – unpicking then restitching British ideologies into something wearable.

For this partnership, UNCLE brings Adam’s work back to the streets that shaped it – transforming his handmade, working-class romanticism into a flyposting campaign that celebrates British culture in all its rough-edged glory. We spoke to Adam about nostalgia, pubs, and the process of making something beautiful from what’s been overlooked.

TO START, HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF AND YOUR PRACTICE TO SOMEONE ENCOUNTERING YOUR WORK FOR THE FIRST TIME?

I am a fashion designer and, importantly, the maker of all my products. Everything is made by me in my studio in South London. Garments are predominantly upcycled from found materials that evoke memories of my upbringing in rural Wales; anything a bit 70s, kitsch, punk and ultimately full of nostalgia for simpler times in Britain, all patchworked together into contemporary looks for today. I love to revive these old materials and make people want to wear them now.

YOU GREW UP IN WALES BEFORE RELOCATING TO LONDON. HOW DID YOUR CHILDHOOD ENVIRONMENT – RURAL, SMALL-TOWN WALES – SHAPE WHAT YOU DO? IS THIS ALSO WHERE IT ALL BEGAN FOR YOU?

My upbringing has entirely shaped what I do today. I didn’t think Wales was cool growing up, and I couldn’t wait to get out and study in Manchester and then get to London, which was the epicentre of fashion for me. Now, my view and experience of Wales is my point of difference, my total inspiration that I was silly to try and deny at the time. I fully embrace where I come from now, and it drives everything I do.

My childhood was very ‘make do and mend’. I pretty much grew up on car boot sales. Buying and selling with my parents, grandparents and friends. I looked forward all week to a Saturday spent on a muddy field rifling through people’s ‘junk’. I took joy, and still do, in the simpler things; appreciating old objects, collecting, making things from things I had found, and this remains my ethos today, so I think it was shaped at a very early age.

WERE THERE EARLY MEMORIES OF MAKING THINGS, DRESSING UP, OR NOTICING FABRICS THAT YOU NOW SEE AS FORMATIVE? WHAT ARE THEY?

Growing up, I was always making things out of nothing. My playing was drawing or making things. I was quite a shy child, so I wasn’t really out playing with other kids. I loved being alone, making things with my hands. My grandma really encouraged my creativity; she is an artist and would sit and draw with me, tell me stories and show me her old clothes. She has always been very stylish, and I loved being around her, dressing up in her old clothes, dressing my cousins up and putting on shows. I guess the fabrics in her home, alongside these clothes, have remained important in my mind. I seek out tablecloths, tea towels or anything that reminds me of her home, and I love the challenge of making things out of them that people will like.

YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WORK AS ‘IDIOSYNCRATICALLY BRITISH’, REIMAGINING VINTAGE PUB TOWELS, TABLECLOTHS, BLANKETS AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON. WHAT DREW YOU TO WORK WITH THESE ‘UNCONVENTIONAL’ MATERIALS IN THE FIRST PLACE?

It was during university that I found it frustrating and uninspiring to go to fabric shops. Everyone would pick similar materials, and I just wasn’t excited by making beautiful things out of beautiful fabrics; it felt too easy. I have always wanted to be different and sought out other ways of making things, as I did in my childhood, looking for materials that others were overlooking. So, I really lent into my background and my childhood and embraced the way I used to play with fabrics as a kid. I just began collecting things that meant something to me or looked like they could have been in my grandma’s house, or something that I would see in the local pub or find while walking around the countryside. I realised there was so much to draw upon and that I could use to make clothes out of.

HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT SOURCING YOUR MATERIAL? DO YOU GO KNOCKING DOWN PUB DOORS? FACEBOOK MARKETPLACE? CAR-BOOT SALES? HAS THIS PROCESS CHANGED AT ALL SINCE YOU FIRST STARTED?

I used to spend a lot of time at boot sales, markets, etcetera. That was pretty much the whole design process. I then began sourcing on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Etsy, Vinted, which sped up the process and helped me find quantities of these materials. As I get busier, this is pretty much the process now. If I travel, I make sure to hit up the markets and charity shops – and it’s my favourite part of the job. I am trying to make sure I remember how integral the shopping is to the job and not feel guilty for not being at the studio. Research is work, as is fabric shopping.

SPEAKING OF PUBS, WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVOURITE LOCALS? ARE YOU CONSTANTLY LOOKING AT TEXTILES WHILE YOU’RE THERE, OR ARE YOU ABLE TO SWITCH OFF?

I love pubs. I would say the top three are Blue Posts on Berwick St, Coach & Horses, which is also in Soho, and The Ship in Fitzrovia. You can’t beat a central London pub. The pub is where I get all my ideas. I love going for a pint alone, taking in my surroundings, observing characters. The ideas just come to me.

DOES THE MATERIAL DICTATE THE DESIGN, OR DOES THE DESIGN DICTATE THE MATERIAL?

I say the material dictates the design, totally, but I obviously have a taste in materials that I have honed over the years, so I look out for specific things. But yes, ultimately, the dimensions of the material dictate what I can make out of it. I can never really sit down and sketch, as I used to, and then find the material. The choice of fabric, which is usually vibrant and perhaps garish, does mean I make simpler classic garments, which allows the fabrication to speak for itself.

IS THERE A MATERIAL OR AN OBJECT YOU DREAM OF WORKING WITH ONE DAY?

I am always trying to work with sheepskin, which is the most Welsh of materials. I just feel like I should, so it’s just about trying to fit it into my world and figure out how I could use it.

HAVE YOUR OWN VIEWS ON GENDER NORMS OR MASCULINITY CHANGED SINCE YOU LAUNCHED YOUR BRAND?

100%. It’s always changing and developing; I find it so exciting to see my clothes on different people. It can surprise me, and it definitely excites me. It also informs the way I design and especially casting models. I find it most thrilling to dress traditionally ‘male’ bodies in more feminine shapes or styles, and I like to make ‘female’ bodies more masculine. It’s about challenging the gender norms. Especially in fashion, I think it’s important we do it.

WHAT’S IT LIKE SEEING YOUR WORK PASTED IN THE STREETS?

It is very exciting to see clothes I have made by hand, shot and then shown in the streets. The posters bring fresh eyes to my work, and I love the punk nature of flyposting. I think it fits perfectly with my ethos. I love the physicality of a poster on the street in this increasingly digital age. I can’t wait to see the wear and tear, the torn edges, or have them graffitied over.

WHEN YOU SEE PEOPLE WEARING YOUR PIECES, ESPECIALLY THOSE BUILT FROM SUCH LOCAL MATERIALS, HOW DOES THAT MAKE YOU FEEL? DOES THE MEANING OF THE MATERIAL CHANGE ONCE IT’S OUT IN THE WORLD?

I feel immense pride seeing people wearing something I have made. The fact that someone would be happy to part with their hard-earned cash to buy one of my pieces, especially today, means the world to me. It’s also fun to see people out wearing something that maybe I have found the material for just around the corner at a market stall, but now it’s wrapped around someone’s body and has a new life to live.

AND FINALLY, WHAT IS NEXT FOR ADAM JONES?

I am looking forward to collaborating with others, hopefully introducing some more categories into my collections. I would love to do denim, shoes and bags, and continue to pay my rent and have a few pints from selling clothes I have made. Nothing makes me happier.

Features09.2510.25Sinéad O’Dwyer’s work is a love-letter to the human body

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Her practice starts with the model, not the garment.

It is a method that Sinéad O’Dwyer developed during her time at London’s Royal College of Art, where her exploration into detoxifying the industry began. Since graduating, her eponymous work has remained a love-letter to the human body that has continued to challenge the dysmorphia that parallels the fashion industry. Going against the traditional ‘sample-size-orientated logic’, O’Dwyer opts for diverse bodies that remain central to the entire design process.

“It creates better design. It opens the mind to a more expanded vision of beauty, it breaks down the patriarchy.”

Her work explores moulding, stretch and innovative pattern-making as technologies to accommodate women and gender non-conforming femmes who have historically been precluded from access to luxury garments. Sinéad’s work is an aesthetic dialogue between delicate and dominant.

For London Fashion Week, UNCLE partnered with Sinéad O’Dwyer to bring her principles and methodology out of the workroom and into the streets. The posters showcased her SS/PF25 campaign and championed the kaleidoscopic spectrum of feminine expression, with no better time to do so than during London Fashion Week.

CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHO YOU ARE, WITHIN YOUR OWN WORDS?

I’m an Irish womenswear designer living in London. I would say I’m quite a countryside girl still, growing up in Durrow which is outside of the town of Tullamore, Co. Offaly.

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT GROWING UP IN SMALL TOWN IRELAND WAS LIKE FOR YOU?

I loved being outside all the time, the freedom of being able to roam as I liked as a kid, exploring and building things. I was also lucky to go to Gaelscoil though so I grew up speaking Irish. The school was so new, though there was at first just a handful of students in two terraced houses with the walls knocked down in between, I think it was special to be part of a new school that was so focused on Irish learning and music and poetry and stories.

YOU PREVIOUSLY SAID THAT YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH FASHION AT AGE 12 AFTER VISITING AN EXHIBITION IN DUBLIN. WERE YOU MAKING THINGS BEFORE THIS EXPERIENCE? IF SO, HOW DID THINGS CHANGE AFTER?

I was always making things, my Nanny (grandmother) taught me to sew and knit from a very early age and I was always cooking too. Dad is a silversmith and artist so I also was tinkering around in his workshop here and there, I was always making something. However, going to the Philip Treacy/Isabella Blow exhibit was my first taste of fashion. Seeing the ship hat on Naomi Campbell on the runway (in the exhibit) awoke something in me that connected the body and human/emotions with craft.

YOU GRADUATED FROM LONDON’S RCA IN 2018, AND IT WAS HERE THAT YOUR ATTITUDES TOWARDS BODY ACCEPTANCE OCCURRED. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THESE TRANSFORMATIVE YEARS FOR YOU? WHAT WAS IT LIKE?

I went there searching for meaning, after working briefly in fashion, and feeling disillusioned about the industry very quickly after seeing the wastefulness and extreme thinness at shows, it sort of freaked me out. I have always been searching to connect with what I do and so I heard about Zowie Broach and wanted to meet her. When I was accepted, I started my course, and in those two years, I finally identified that I had an eating disorder and started thinking about where it came from and that’s truly the beginning of my journey. Understanding the impact that the design of the patterns and who is chosen as the fit model as being the basis for so much misery was a powerful realisation that I wanted to communicate to the world, especially those I love, my sister and mother and myself too. It’s been utterly transformative, I have gone from being singularly obsessed with my size to genuinely not caring, in a way that I thought was impossible for me. I would not know myself if younger Sinéad could see me now.

YOU SAY THAT INCLUSIVE DESIGN GIVES YOUR WORK ITS MEANING. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY TODAY, TO USE A DIVERSITY OF BODY SHAPES AND SIZES?

It creates better design. It opens the mind to a more expanded vision of beauty, it breaks down the patriarchy. It is just more interesting, it is more sustainable, it is kinder, it is radical. To question why you think something is beautiful and who told you to think that and try and figure out what you see as attractive, is a process of unlearning and so meaningful. I feel that I actually started learning a lot about that through watching photographers, seeing Sharna Osborne on set in one of my very first projects shooting Agusta Yr in 2018 really opened my mind. I really saw the tender connection between model and photographer was so necessary to create a good image, as the work is so much about the moment, the connection and trust between photographer and model is so palpable. Observing Sharna and Agusta together, I really saw what it was to see beauty and capture it through your own gaze.

WHAT IS YOUR PROCESS FOR MAKING A COLLECTION? WHERE DOES IT ALL BEGIN FOR YOU?

Usually a memory, a desire to connect emotion and narrative. I am also always inspired by craft so combining techniques across disciplines I find exciting.

IN THIS PARTNERSHIP WITH UNCLE, YOU HAVE USED IMAGERY FROM YOUR SS/PF25 COLLECTION. WHAT INSPIRED IT THIS COLLECTION? WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

Ottilie Landmark shot my SS25/PF25 campaign. It features artists Davia Spain and D.D. Lyonne and that work was about a memory of falling in love for the first time, a year I spent in NC and driving around and fresh water and stifling heat and our first kiss.

HOW IMPORTANT IS LONDON FASHION WEEK FOR UP-AND-COMING DESIGNERS AND THOSE ALREADY ESTABLISHED?

It’s a really vital platform to show our world to potential buyers and customers, so they can understand the story before viewing the collection and all its details at showroom.

IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIAL SINÉAD O’DWYER HAS PLANNED FOR LONDON FASHION WEEK?

Not this season, but I am doing a new performance work at the Barbican in November.

HOW DOES THE CITY OF LONDON SHAPE THE WORK YOU DO? AND ARE THERE STILL SOME ASPECTS OF SMALL-TOWN IRELAND THAT COME THROUGH IN YOUR WORK?

A lot of my collections are based on my formative memories in Ireland, but the city of London shapes me through community and collaborators. I could never make my work without the help, support and commitment of so many friends, designers, journalists, artisans, etc. in London. I love working here; I am very lucky.

Features08.2508.25Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley and CIRCA won’t let trans voices be silenced

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As rights are rolled back, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s art archives, amplifies, and protests for trans lives

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to exclude trans women from the definition of “woman”, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley created TRANS & CONDITIONS with CIRCA, a collaborative archive of trans voices that sits at the intersection of art and activism. What started as a series of posters for a protest fast evolved into a digital platform, offering trans people the opportunity to ‘act in safety’ and document their lived experiences. Now, in collaboration with UNCLE and CIRCA, these testimonies are taking over London as a flyposter campaign.

For Danielle, the audience is her medium. Her art is designed to sparks a reaction or, better yet, an action. In contrast to the cultural tendency to aestheticise and sanitise, she calls for ‘art that isn’t pretty, isn’t kind to the audience, and that is hard to sit through,’ provoking discomfort in order to inspire necessary change.

At its essence, her practice refuses erasure: ‘I archive black and trans existence’ Danielle tells UNCLE. In these hostile times, she warns that ‘the loss of [trans] rights is a trail of the removal of the rights of others.’ Her work exemplifies how, in the face of increasing censorship, we must continue to speak up: ‘It’s time to take all the risks, to mess up and not get it right because there may be a time where that chance no longer exists.’

What is abundantly clear from her work and from our interview: the urgent need to do more and to act now.

FIRST OFF, CAN YOU TELL US WHO YOU ARE IN YOUR OWN WORDS?

I am a reactionary artist. I take in what’s happening around me at the time and create work that allows the audience to take action or react in some way. I’ve said it often, but it’s worth saying again, the audience is the medium I work with and my aim is to give them choices which could stay with them.

COULD YOU SHARE HOW THE IDEA FOR TRANS AND CONDITIONS FIRST CAME TO YOU AND HOW YOU BROUGHT IT TO LIFE?

The idea first came actually after the UK’s ruling that excluded trans women from being categorised as women. It started as a series of posters made for the protest against this ruling and then began to morph into a wider piece when we wanted to give people a platform to discuss exactly how they felt. We needed a way to react, a place to come together, a way in which our voices were not just a footnote.

THE WORK FEELS LIKE A BOLD ACT OF DEFIANCE AGAINST THE ERASURE OF TRANS LIVES AND VOICES. HOW CENTRAL ARE THE CONCEPTS OF PRESENCE, VISIBILITY AND SPEAKING OUT TO YOUR PRACTICE AS AN ARTIST?

I would say my work is about giving people a choice. Through that process often we are speaking to people whose choices are limited. Their thoughts, feelings and words form the foundation of the work we made. Archiving voices that are often ignored means nothing if it’s just used as content. So the voices we archive become the foundation for larger choices within the work.

MUCH OF YOUR WORK CENTRES UPON BLACK AND TRANS EXPERIENCE. HOW DO YOU PROTECT YOURSELF AND YOUR ENERGIES AS BOTH AN ARTIST, ACTIVIST AND BLACK TRANS WOMAN WORKING IN THESE TURBULENT TIMES?

That is and is not a correct statement. My community is black and trans. My family is black and trans. They form the foundation. It centres their voices through the way they think, references and aesthetics. But often it’s the focus on the words “black” and “trans” that is used as a sounding board for tokenism and othering. I archive black and trans existence. But the experience you have through the work will archive who you are and where you find yourself standing. The choices you made or did not make will be your reflection in this instance.

My foundation is black and trans so naturally all those references go in but the work is all about commenting on the current state of the world.

Your experience will be your own. You will learn primarily about yourself, how you think, how you feel, where your effort goes.

WE’RE SEEING INCREASING ATTEMPTS AT CENSORSHIP IN THE UK AND GERMANY TOO. IN YOUR OPINION, HOW CAN ARTISTS PUSH BACK AGAINST THIS AND WHAT ROLE DOES ART PLAY IN PROTECTING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION?

Art can play both roles in censorship and freedom. It’s not fair to only see it as something that protects freedom. It can be used for both aspects. This is why when we see a rise in censorship we see a rise in the presentations of certain kinds of art and the fall in others. Each artist and piece has its role to play.

When you are showing as an artist, your role is not only defined by what you show but whose place you took. Whose voice you amplified and what subjects you broached.

I think artists should do their own thing but I would love to see art that isn’t pretty, isn’t kind to the audience, and that is hard to sit through. That makes us stand in front of ourselves and face what choice we have made to get there.

We shouldn’t stop taking the risks in the work because of new laws. It’s time to take all the risks, to mess up and not get it right because there may be a time where that chance no longer exists.

Lastly I also think collaboration and doing things for other causes is a great way to get involved with a movement rather than to just stay within an art practice. All this I am also telling myself.

ON TOP OF THIS, YOUR WORK INVITES THE PUBLIC TO GET INVOLVED. WHY IS IMMERSION AND PARTICIPATION IMPORTANT TO YOUR PRACTICE?

Because we have to act now…if we don’t we won’t be able to. I want to offer chances to act in safety. An arena to practice. A method to ease that transition from reacting in safety to standing up for a cause you care about.

I AM INTERESTED IN THE ROLE THAT THE CITY (IN THIS CASE, LONDON) PLAYS IN TRANS AND CONDITIONS AS WELL AS IN YOUR WIDER WORK. HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO RECLAIM SPACE IN THE CITY? WHAT HAS THE REACTION BEEN FROM THE PUBLIC?

I don’t have a reaction. I need to do more. Hopefully I can. We don’t collect data on the public so it’s hard for me to say. All I can say is I am thankful for all those who wrote letters and hope to provide better ways in which we can do this again in the future.

DESPITE MOUNTING HOSTILITY IN SOCIETY, THIS YEAR’S LONDON TRANS PRIDE PARADE WAS THE LARGEST EVER, A POWERFUL SHOW OF SOLIDARITY. DO YOU BELIEVE LONDON CAN BE A PLACE OF RESISTANCE AND COMMUNITY? HOW DOES IT COMPARE TO BERLIN?

Trans rights shouldn’t be confined to a single place or court case. Trans people are human and deserve protections. We don’t have that anymore. And we are losing more and more of these.

I don’t want to lose any more trans people than we already have. London is a place of resistance, and that resistance has now been met with fierce crackdowns and censorship by both the labour and conservative government. It’s not just about trans rights. The loss of our rights is a trail of the removal of the rights of others.

Features08.2508.25Twos Mag covers the highs of London, then flips it entirely

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Live in London long enough and you’ll soon learn to know one thing: it can charm you and chew you up in the same night.

It’s this truth, that Morgan Allan has stitched straight into Twos, the “janus-faced” magazine that spins on its own axis between devotion and disdain. Twos was born after one of those rolling nights out in London until sunrise, following by the grim reality of having to sell off his Stone Island to pay council tax. The push-pull was too good to ignore.

“The emotional floor and ceiling of this place are so far apart”.

Now three issues deep, the South London art director and editor has built a publication that refuses to smooth over the city’s contradictions. The design of Twos mirrors the mood swings of the city. Flipped one way, it is an ode to the romance of living there. Flipped the other, it’s an unfiltered airing of grievances. Twos is record of a city that inspires as much as it exhausts, and of those who know you can love and hate a place in the same breath, and still come back for more.

In the interview that follows, we chat with Morgan about how that duality shapes the magazine’s identity and why Twos will never pick just one side.

CAN YOU TELL US IN YOUR OWN WORDS, WHO YOU ARE?

My name is Morgan Allan. I’m an art director and magazine editor based in South London.

TWOS IS UNIQUE IN THAT IT IS ROTATABLE AND “JANUSFACED” – A DOUBLESIDED GUIDE THAT EMBRACES BOTH LOVE AND HATE FOR LONDON. CAN YOU WALK US THROUGH HOW THIS DUALITY SHAPED THE MAGAZINE’S IDENTITY FROM THE OUTSET?

It’s an unusual way to format a magazine but once I’d settled on it as a framework, it was a useful way to discern if ideas were right for this issue. If they didn’t fit into either category, they weren’t going in. It also made the project seem more achievable. The proposition of filling 100 pages is pretty daunting. Breaking it down into two 50-page magazines that happen to be attached to each other helped me get moving.

WAS THERE A SINGULARITY – A NIGHT OUT, A CONVERSATION, AN EXPERIENCE, A FRUSTRATION – THAT MADE YOU THINK “I NEED TO MAKE A MAGAZINE ABOUT THIS CITY”?

I had had one of those exhilarating, rolling London nights out – jumping from place to place until the early hours – woke up and realised I had to sell all my Stone Island to pay council tax. I just thought “the emotional floor and ceiling of this place are so far apart”. The love/hate push-pull is inherent to existing in London – you just have to speak to anyone that’s lived here. I was looking for ways to push the format of the new issue of Twos and a double-sided mag centered around this theme felt like an exciting way to do it.

THE “LOVE” SIDE HIGHLIGHTS THE LIKES OF LIME BIKES, THE DLR (A PERSONAL FAVOURITE OF MYSELF, TOO), VENUE M.O.T., WHILE THE “HATE” SIDE CRITIQUES BREWDOG, AND HAVING TO LOCATE PUBLIC TOILETS IN CENTRAL LONDON. HOW DO YOU CURATE THIS EMOTIONAL PULL, WHILE ENSURING BOTH AFFECTION AND CRITIQUE FEELS EQUALLY HONEST AND ESSENTIAL?

I think it’s just that: being honest. You couldn’t make a magazine like this from your bedroom. I’m severely outside in this city so I feel like I can speak authentically about it: both positively and negatively. A lot of the ideas featured in Twos Three start with experience: the DLR is fun to ride, BrewDogs are shit to drink in. Once you have that initial emotion, it’s just about finding the right format.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE EARLIEST REFERENCES OR INSPIRATIONS THAT SHAPED TWOS FIRST ISSUE? PUBLICATIONS, ZINES, NEWSPAPERS OR PERSONAL OBSESSIONS?

My first job in the industry was at MUNDIAL Magazine, where Alex Mertekis took me on as a junior even though I didn’t know how to use inDesign. I’ll always be grateful for that and for everything the team taught me there. John Joseph Holt’s LAW magazines are foundational texts for me, both in content and form. And then London: being surrounded by people putting so much time into insane projects in a hostile economic climate inspires me to do the same.

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE FIRST ISSUE? HOW DIY WAS IT? WERE YOU WRITING, EDITING, DESIGNING, AND DISTRIBUTING ALL YOURSELF?

The first issue was my final project at LCC. Me and my mates would sit about in the pub, looking at the people being featured in traditional youth culture publications and think “these guys aren’t any better than us or people we know. They’ve just got good PR”. Those magazines had stopped rewarding talent and were prioritising Instagram followers. It felt backwards. So I thought “I’ll just make a magazine and put all of us and the cool people we know in it.” I wrote, designed, edited the original Twos and collaborated with a bunch of my friends on the content. I printed 100 and spent a lot of time at the post office.

WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND BEFORE TWOS? HAVE YOU ALWAYS WORKED IN EDITORIAL AND DESIGN? OR WERE YOU DOING SOMETHING ENTIRELY DIFFERENT?

My year at MUNDIAL really birthed a love of editorial design. I was studying Graphic Branding at the time, kind of hated it, then managed to get work experience there and my eyes were opened to this new world. I was born in 1999, so I didn’t read loads of print magazines growing up. I think my love for print is a reaction to how digital my life is. Everything moves so fast, feels so fluid, that it feels good to make something permanent by putting something down on paper. Each magazine is a record of how I wrote, how I designed, how I felt at a particular time.

THE PHYSICAL DESIGN OF TWOS INTENTIONALLY DISRUPTS THE READING FLOW: FLIPPING IT UPSIDE-DOWN REVEALS A NEW ANTITHETIC PERSPECTIVE. WHAT CREATIVE CHALLENGES CAME WITH BUILDING A MAGAZINE THAT DEMANDS A PHYSICAL FLIP TO FULLY EXPERIENCE IT?

I really treated them like two separate magazines during the production process. Of course, they informed each other in aesthetic but it was only right at the end that I joined them together.

TWOS DRAWS ON LONDON’S VISUAL LANGUAGE TOO – FROM HAND SCANNED TEXTURES, TO TUBE SIGNAGE AND TYPOGRAPHY. HOW DO THESE VISUAL ELEMENTS INFLUENCE THE AESTHETIC DECISIONS?

I wanted the reader to feel London when they sat down with the magazine. One of the ways I did that was to incorporate textures I had scanned throughout the city into the graphics. A couple years ago I bought a hand-held document scanner and have been using it to build a texture library that I use to make my designs feel more alive. Now, the signs, walls and windows of the city live on every page.

I also drew a lot from the city’s most obvious existing visual language: the TfL network. The headline type on the cover is P22 Underground – a font based on Johnston’s iconic 1913 design. The Twos logo, redesigned for this issue, is an adaptation of an arrow taken from Tube signage. Even the colour palette is inspired by old TfL tickets (pink and blue for ‘Love’, the inverse green and gold for ‘Hate’).

I treated the two halves of the mag as two distinct publications. There are two covers, two editors’ letters, two contribs’ pages. The cover feature runs twice – once on each side – with different imagery and design in Love & Hate. This division helped when crafting the flow of the mag, ensuring that each section held its rhythm.

THE MAGAZINE FEELS DEEPLY ROOTED IN THE LONDON CREATIVE SCENE. HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT FINDING THE WRITERS, PHOTOGRAPHERS, AND ILLUSTRATORS WHO CONTRIBUTE TO EACH ISSUE?

Like I said, I’m outside a lot. Part of the joy of that is meeting interesting people. I also love discovering new names on Instagram. Building a network there is really gratifying.

WHAT EMOTIONAL OR AESTHETIC “CRACKS” IN LONDON LIFE ARE YOU LOOKING TO EXPLORE NEXT, AND HOW MIGHT TWOS PUSH ITS FORMAT EVEN FURTHER?

We’ll have to see. The next one won’t just be a print publication. I want to make the magazine part of a wider project. What form that takes I don’t know right now.

IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU HOPE TWOS SPARKS CONVERSATION?

I think it would be helpful if we could acknowledge that it’s possible to hold contrasting ideas simultaneously. I love London and I hate London. You can do both. If we understand each other as complex and messy, I think things get easier.

Work08.2508.25Astrid & Miyu

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To launch its new ‘Stack Curator‘, inviting people to curate their dream arrangement of ear piercing jewellery, Astrid & Miyu collaborated with UNCLE on a punchy flyposting campaign across London and Manchester. Known for its innovative and personalised approach to jewellery, Astrid & Miyu was founded in 2012 by Connie Nam who was tired of stale jewellery brands. With a set of B2s, 4 Sheet and megasites, the striking campaign featured a magnified ear decorated with an array of beautiful jewellery pieces that invited passersby by to get close and imagine what their ear stack could look like, sparking intrigue for this new tool.

Work08.2508.25MAC x Beauty Papers

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MAC Cosmetics, known for serving face, made a bold entrance with their new glossy liner, Lipglazer, teaming up with Beauty Papers and UNCLE on a wildposting campaign in London and New York. The striking creative features a suggestive, part-open mouth being painted in Velvet Teddy, a pinkish mauve shade. Plastered across walls in both beauty capitals, the seductive full lip and luscious colour popped against the urban backdrop and beckoned passersby in for a kiss.

Work08.2508.25Sabrina Carpenter: Man’s Best Friend

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After the provocative artwork for Man’s Best Friend dropped, Sabrina Carpenter got everyone talking. In classic Sabrina style, her response flipped the narrative: a tongue-in-cheek London-wide flyposter campaign with UNCLE that sees her pose alongside a Golden Retriever puppy as a jokey reference to the original cover for ‘man’s best friend.’ We pasted B2s and 4 Sheets all across London, turning heads, sparking chatter online and creating buzz for the album.

Features07.2508.25Babak Ganjei petitions for a hard reset on the world

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Babak Ganjei doesn’t care if you think he’s joking. His work – part confessional, part protest, part deadpan – will make you laugh before you realise you’re a little broken.

Over the years, Babak has built a world of handwritten posters, sardonic petitions, and quietly chaotic one-liners that hit harder the longer you sit with them. There’s an uncomfortable comfort to his work, a feeling that we can all relate to.

Now, with UNCLE, Babak is revisiting his petition series with a new poster demanding we unplug the world for a second before plugging it back in. It’s a solution that (somehow) works for all things technology, so surely it’ll do some good for us, right? Within days of the first posters going up, passersby began interacting with the petition. If this has taught us anything, it’s that we’re all human and that we could all do with a little restart. Also, who still carries a pen with them?.

In the interview that follows, UNCLE spoke with Babak to talk about his early inspirations, life within his own sitcom and how the city of London shapes his art.

CAN YOU DESCRIBE, IN YOUR OWN WORDS, WHO BABAK GANJEI IS?

He’s a bit of a stranger, I don’t really know him.

YOU GREW UP IN A VERY ART-ORIENTATED FAMILY. YOUR MOTHER WAS A PAINTER, AND YOUR FATHER WAS AN ARCHITECT. CAN YOU SHARE SOME INSIGHT INTO LIFE GROWING UP FOR YOU?

It was just very natural to be making marks everywhere. It was very normal for everybody to be making things all the time so I don’t know any different. Still when it came to Art School I think my parents would rather I fell into a more secure future but I had no back up plan whatsoever.

WHETHER THEY BE ARTISTS OR NOT, WHO WERE YOUR INSPIRATIONS GROWING UP?

I was 13 when Nevermind came out and Nirvana kind of set me off on a path where I could see what being an artist could do. As a kid I hung on Kurt Cobain’s every word and through Nirvana I was introduced to Sonic Youth and through Sonic Youth an entire underground scene of art, music and film. This is pre-internet so discovering these underground worlds felt incredibly rewarding. And liberating. The world didn’t end at Bournemouth town center anymore. In later years Charlie Kaufman’s scripts and Andy Kaufman’s comedy were a massive influence to my work. Both share a surname and a tendency to break the fourth wall. Charlie Kaufman with the films he wrote and Andy Kaufman in pushing his comedy from beyond the stage blurring the lines between reality and fiction.

DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE AN ARTIST? WERE THERE ANY OTHER CAREER PATHS YOU THOUGHT ABOUT GOING DOWN BEFORE LANDING ON THIS ONE?

The only back up I had thought of was to become a writer. When I was seven, I thought I was going to be a screen writer. I’d already decided at that age I didn’t have the guts to tell people what to do so I couldn’t be a director. I’d have to get it on the page first in silence.

YOU’VE MENTIONED BEFORE THAT, SINCE GRADUATING, YOU’VE BEEN LIVING IN A REAL-LIFE SITCOM. CAN YOU EXPAND ON THIS AND HOW THIS DICTATES YOUR CREATIVE OUTPUT?

I try and look at things in a movie like narrative, I guess. This isn’t intentional. It might just come from growing up as quite a silent kid in front of the TV. I like to link events and people and the way a day unfolds. I think I do it unconsciously, it’s now how I’ve trained my brain. I guess maybe it makes it’s a less scary world if I can connect things together.

YOUR ART FEELS DEEPLY CONFESSIONAL, DRAWING ON YOUR INNER MONOLOGUE. CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH YOUR PROCESS WHEN STARTING A NEW PIECE?

I’d say the entire process comes from walking and I guess the inner monologue is running the whole time. I find sitting at a desk and thinking very difficult, so the process is to stay moving. Wander the streets at a slow steady pace, so you can still notice things around you.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POP CULTURE AND POLITICS WITHIN YOUR ART?

I was born in Britain my parents are Iranian so there is an element of that experience that is inherent in my work without me making an intentional decision to talk about it. It makes you feel like you are in a way not really from any one place and I think that is quite a liberating space to be in as an artist. Not feeling comfortable coming from one place, the desire to find connections and common ground is a bit stronger. Or at least that is my understanding of it. Pop culture, politics it’s all tribes and groups everyone is trying to find a place to fit.

CAN YOU TALK IS THROUGH THE ARTWORK YOU HAVE CHOSEN FOR THIS PARTNERSHIP WITH UNCLE?

I had been making all these fanciful petition posters for things like “Make my cat like me more”, “Bring Prince back to life” but in recent years it feels like the world is on fire and there is so much rolling news we don’t have a chance to process anything that is happening. There was something nice about making a sort of old school street campaign to turn off the internet. The idea that somebody would pass it by and stop and feel compelled to sign it makes me feel like somehow that’s a success.

WE’VE ALREADY STARTED SEEING THE PUBLIC INTERACT WITH THESE POSTERS IN THE STREETS AND SIGNING THEIR NAMES TO THE PETITION. IS THIS WHAT YOU HAD IN MIND WHEN YOU STARTED CREATING THE PETITION PIECES, OR WERE THEY MEANT TO BE RHETORICAL?

It’s always a bit nerve wracking putting something out there that invites interaction. I think when I first made the “Please bring Prince back to life” petition I imagined it to be rhetorical but it was a large installation at a festival which instantly got signed and it does say “Please sign” on it so I don’t know what I was thinking. I just don’t presume people carry pens around anymore.

HOW DOES THE CITY OF LONDON COME THROUGH IN YOUR ART AND YOUR PROCESS?

Well in this instance hopefully by putting pen to paper, but in general my work is born from wandering London streets. This work is basically a tribute to that. It’s the kind of thing I would like to stumble upon

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM COMMISSION?

T-shirt for the band Pavement.

www.babakganjeiworks.com
www.instagram.com/babakganjei

Work07.2507.25Zara Home x Collagerie

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To launch the innovative partnership between Zara Home and Collagerie, UNCLE ran a London flyposting campaign that showcased the vibrant designs of their new homewares collection on the streets. The collection sees the contemporary elegance of Zara Home merge with the craftsmanship of Collagerie. To celebrate, we pasted the city walls in sumptuous prints that turned heads and brightened the days of passersby.

Features07.2507.25Creating space for all in Peckham with RINSED

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“Salons, to me, are all about community and self care and I realised there was no where we could all go to be in that together, so I made somewhere.”

Brad is no stranger to the streets of SE15. Having grown up in southeast London, there has always been a tie between him and Peckham.

“I love how much culture there is in Peckham, not the Timeout ‘hidden gems’ but the market stalls, the aunties braiding, the Colombian bakery, the Irish butchers and the jerk drums on the road, they’re all the signs of how many communities are still here within one community despite all the change.”

It makes sense then that when it came time to open his own salon, that Peckham would be the place for it. Enter RINSED. A texture and gender-neutral salon, as Brad describes. After a stint within Holdron’s Arcade, RINSED moved a few roller-doors-down to the iconic Bussey building in Peckham – where it has continued to cater to those underrepresented.

“Us being texture and gender-neutral means that we can be an inclusive space for everyone. Salon services have always been very gendered with you having to fit into the box of a women’s or men’s cut, this excludes people that don’t conform to gender binaries and as a queer person it was important to me that we were a safe space.”

Their latest partnership with UNCLE challenges the concept of ‘basic’ hairdressing, asking the streets of Peckham, through flyposting, to be a bit more expressive up top.

In the interview that follows, UNCLE spoke with Brad to talk early influences, life in southeast London and the importance of community and safe spaces alike.

CAN YOU TELL US WHO YOU ARE, IN YOUR WORDS?

I’m a southeast London born and bred hairstylist and creative. I am the founder of RINSED, a space I built for all the people who feel underrepresented and not catered for in typical salon spaces. I’m queer, so barber shops have never been a place I’ve not felt comfortable in, and most of my friends have textured hair which, until recently, wasn’t even taught in UK hairdressing. I realised there was no where we could all go and have our hair done together, so I made somewhere.

HOW DID YOU GET INTO BEING A HAIR STYLIST? IS SOMETHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO GET INTO WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER?

I was always interested in hair, makeup, anything girly growing up; braiding hair on lunch breaks at school and doing girls makeup for prom, but I never really thought about being a hairdresser. I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up, an artist, a backup dancer for Destiny’s Child. I even thought I’d be a mechanic for about ten minutes. My sister was a hairdresser, and I started to clock on that it was basically a job you got paid to be creative and yap people’s ears off, so I thought I’d give it a go. My sister introduced me to her friend Nathan who trained me in salon and session work, and it started from there really.

WHAT WAS GROWING UP IN SOUTHEAST LONDON LIKE?

Growing up in southeast London was fun! It was tough at times, but it was fun. Gentrification hadn’t really taken off, so the sense of community was much tighter, it felt like everyone knew everyone or at least knew your face (that wasn’t always a good thing, haha).

RINSED PRIDES ITSELF ON ITS UNIQUE TEXTURE-AND-GENDER-NEUTRAL SERVICE. CAN YOU EXPAND ON WHAT THIS MEANS? AND THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING A SPACE THAT OFFERS THIS SERVICE?

Us being texture and gender-neutral means that we can be an inclusive space for everyone. Salon services have always been very gendered with you having to fit into the box of a women’s or men’s cut, this excludes people that don’t conform to gender binaries and as a queer person it was important to me that we were a safe space. For me being texture neutral was massively important as my friends have a massive range of hair textures that aren’t catered for in Eurocentric salons. Salons, to me, are all about community and self care and I realised there was no where we could all go to be in that together, so I made somewhere.

THE FIRST ITERATION OF RINSED STUDIO WAS AT HOLDRONS ARCADE, BUT JUST OVER A YEAR AGO YOU MADE THE MOVE INTO THE STUDIO’S NEW LOCATION; WITHIN PECKHAM’S ICONIC BUSSEY BUILDING. WHAT DOES THE COMMUNITY OF PECKHAM MEAN TO YOU AND TO THE STUDIO?

The community of Peckham is massively important to me. I’ve spent so much of my life in Peckham, so it’s a bit like being in EastEnders now where there’s no two characters that don’t interact. I love how much culture there is in Peckham, not the Timeout ‘hidden gems’ but the market stalls, the aunties braiding, the Colombian bakery, the Irish butchers and the jerk drums on the road, they’re all the signs of how many communities are still here within one community despite all the change.

WITH OVER A DECADE EXPERIENCE WORKING ON FASHION AND MUSIC SHOOTS, HOW DIFFERENT IS THE EXPERIENCE OF EDITORIAL WORK AND THE WORK WITHIN YOUR STUDIO?

Editorial work and working in the studio are completely different, while I love them both I love them for different reasons. Editorial can be quite high pressure and stressful, but you get to be much more creative with your process as you’re often doing stuff that’s not everyday wear. Salon is a much more of a personal vibe. It’s familiar, often with regular clients and there’s more connection involved. I always bring a bit of editorial into the studio with little backstage styling hacks and a big range of styling services.

THE ARTWORK FOR THIS PARTNERSHIP WITH UNCLE IS VERY BEAUTIFUL AND REFINED. WHAT WAS THE PROCESS BEHIND THE SHOOT?

I’ve built the salon aesthetic on youth culture with a lot of emphasis on music and fashion, so for the shoot I wanted to reference my favourite point in youth culture which was Gen X in the 90s. I’ve always loved collecting magazines from the 90s and 00s and my favourite ads in them were always for the original CK One. I love how simple they were but still a bit anarchic and provocative with a lot of play on sexuality and gender – casting androgynous models like Jenny Shimizu. I felt that advert perfectly captured RINSED’s aesthetic and the white vests and denim lent themselves perfectly to showcasing the hair. So, I played homage and gave it a little 2025 RINSED spin.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO SEE THE POSTERS UP IN THE STREETS OF PECKHAM?

Peckham has been the backdrop to so much of my life it was a real pinch me moment to see something that was once an idea in my head be all over the streets.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE OF RINSED LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?

The future of RINSED looks bright! We want to become a beauty brand that stands up in the fashion industry, bringing a lot of backstage work into our salon spaces(s). We want to collaborate with other brands outside of beauty in the fashion and lifestyle scene to widen how we show up in our community of clientele.

www.instagram.com/rinsedpeckham/

Work07.2507.25Blank Street Coffee

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Known for surprising customers with innovative drinks, Blank Street Coffee worked with UNCLE on a playful UK flyposting campaign to launch their new Salted Pistachio Matcha. The campaign certainly caught the attention of people in Manchester and London, with bold green set against sleek portrait photography, solidifying their reputation as the trendsetters when it comes to café culture.

Features07.2507.25Conditions Studio

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There’s something quietly radical happening in Croydon. Conditions Studio. Founded by artist and educator Matthew Noel-Tod, Conditions is challenging the concept of art education. Instead, it offers something more grounded and intimate than the traditional art school machine. It’s a space to grow, to question, and to make.

“It is run by artists for artists and that is important to us.”

The structure is simple, and it plays to that. Artists are offered individual studio spaces alongside regular group critiques, public exhibitions and tutor sessions. Dialogue is just as important as output at Conditions, and the art coming out of the Croydon studio reinforces this. One of those public exhibitions, supported by UNCLE, is HARDCORE / LOVE. It’s a bold double bill of Mark Leckey’s classic Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore and Arthur Jafa’s devastating Love is the Message, The Message is Death. It’s a dialogue between the two artists and their iconic work.

“The exhibition is a powerful presentation, there are no frills, it is just the works in a dark room, facing each other.”

As they geared up to open HARDCORE / LOVE, we caught up with Matthew to talk about his early inspirations, the studio’s beginnings, and what it means to make art outside the centre of London.

FIRSTLY, CAN YOU TELL US WHAT CONDITIONS IS ALL ABOUT?

Conditions is an independent ‘art school’. We call it a ‘studio-programme’ and it is conceived in the tradition of studio schools and artist-run spaces. It is run by artists for artists and that is important to us. What we offer is ‘low-cost’ in relation to going to university or art school and we have a DIY ethos. This doesn’t mean we are not serious about art, but it does mean that we like to do things quickly and responsively, which larger organisations often can’t do. We are trying to offer an alternative to the rising costs of both studio space and education for artists in London.

BY DEFINITION, CONDITIONS REFERS TO THE PHYSICAL SITUATION THAT SOMEONE OR SOMETHING IS IN AND AFFECTED BY. WHAT DOES THE WORD MEAN TO YOU AND THE STUDIO?

I think this is the enduring quality of the name. Yes, it does mean physical situations, but it is also relevant to social, emotional and political situations, and these are all the factors that influence the making and viewing of art. Our name is about the conditions of being an artist, the conditions of the life and the world you are in at this moment.

YOU’RE AN ARTIST AND AN EDUCATOR, WHAT IS YOUR HISTORY? WERE YOU ALWAYS AROUND ART? DID YOU STUDY IT?

To go way back, I was expelled from high-school aged 15, which at the time felt like a disaster, but the solitude of that experience connected me intensely with art, photography, film and music and my way forward was to go to art school. I went to art school in the last year of free higher education in the UK and that always stays with me. The freedom that afforded you – including the freedom to not do what you were tasked with doing. I studied at what was then called Norwich School of Art & Design and as a student I was very lucky to start working for Lynda Morris, the curator of Norwich Gallery and EAST International. When I left Norwich, Lynda joked that working for her was my real art education, and she was probably right. Her programming was incredibly ambitious, and I loved the fact that it was a small regional art school gallery with some of the best artists in the world showing in it. I know that this logic influenced me in being confident on how you could bring something with very serious art ambitions to a non-descript location in Croydon.

ALBEIT VERY REWARDING, RUNNING AN INDEPENDENT ALTERNATIVE TO TRADITIONAL ART STUDIOS MUST HAVE SOME CHALLENGES. WHAT KEEPS YOU MOTIVATED?

It can be exhausting, and you must be prepared to be the caretaker when doing a project like Conditions. I also think it is important to do this work. Art is not always magical at every step of the way, there is a lot of pushing stuff around, mentally and physically. On the programmes at Conditions, I get to work with great artists in an environment which is free from many of value judgement you get elsewhere: the focus is on the work and the conversation around the work.

THE STUDIO PROGRAMME COMBINES INDIVIDUAL SPACES WITH GROUP CRITIQUES AND PUBLIC EVENTS, SUCH AS HARDCORE / LOVE. HOW DOES THIS STRUCTURE SUPPORT BOTH PERSONAL AND COLLECTIVE ARTISTIC GROWTH?

The main thing I would say, is confidence building. The sociality of a group can really give people permission to make things they would have hesitated to do before. It is also important to exhibit that work, made by artists in the studios, which we regularly do. Involving Conditions in other projects, such as what we have done with ICA, NTS radio, Ormside Projects and now with the HARDCORE / LOVE exhibition allows people to be connected to the wider field of culture in what is hopefully a very meaningful way.

CONDITIONS ALSO RUN AN ONLINE MENTOR-LED PROGRAMME. HOW DOES THAT WORK ALONGSIDE THE IN-PERSON EXPERIENCE, PARTICULARLY FOR THOSE OUTSIDE LONDON?

This was something that we originally did under the circumstances of COVID, to keep people connected when studio work was hard. I eventually realised that there are many artists who don’t always need a studio space, or they need to fit it in around other parts of their lives, and that the dialogue that Conditions offers was as important as the physical space. It’s also another part of the ‘low-cost’ offer: some people could not afford a studio space but would want the conversation around their work and this was something we could provide. In the first year it was amazing how international the online group was and that again is a part of the broader sociality of something like Conditions. We once had a Zoom party during lockdown that went on until 5am, that always stuck with me as meaning that people were happy to connect online.

THIS PARTNERSHIP WITH UNCLE IS FOR THE EXHIBITION HARDCORE / LOVE WITH ARTISTS ARTHUR JAFA AND MARK LECKEY. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THIS EXHIBITION?

It’s an amazing exhibition and the route to it happening was quite unusual as we are not a traditional gallery space. Gavin Brown, the New York based gallerist who grew up in Croydon, had heard about Conditions and got in touch with us. We were talking with him about doing something in Croydon and these two works Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore (1999) by Mark Leckey and Love is the Message, The Message is Death (2016) by Arthur Jafa came up. Gavin had such an important role in bringing these works to an audience originally. Our idea was the dialogue between the two works, a ‘call and response’ loop, and this was compounded by the friendship and respect that Mark and Arthur have for each other. So, the exhibition is a powerful presentation, there are no frills, it is just the works in a dark room, facing each other. To stage it in a half-empty shopping centre in Croydon seems very appropriate to the content of the videos, in that it is a space that is there to be interpreted. They are both videos whose meanings are authored by society as much as the artists and I think that they play with a lot more power outside of a museum context. The project with Gavin is also about fundraising for Conditions’ long-term future, raising awareness and gathering supporters.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR WHEN IT COMES TO DECIDING WHAT ARTWORKS TO SHOWCASE AT CONDITIONS AND WHICH ARTIST TO WORK WITH?

Our focus is mainly on platforming the work of the artists on the studio programme. We have done other projects and exhibitions as a way of raising the profile of Conditions and of showing art that we think is good.

AS A CROYDON-BASED STUDIO, HOW DOES CONDITIONS FIT INTO THE LARGER ART ECOSYSTEM OF LONDON?

It cuts across a few of the London art eco-systems and I’m happy with it being a bit free-floating. Some people access Conditions more because they like the studios, others access it more because they want an experience of art education which they have not had. I find it interesting to work on a relatively small scale and occasionally do bigger events. It keeps things exciting.

CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE ARTWORK ON THIS FLYPOSTING CAMPAIGN?

I thought long and hard about designing these posters. There was an open brief, which was nice, but with such well-known artworks it was important to me to make an identity that conveyed our whole exhibition concept, not just two well-known images. The idea was to link the global and the local, or provincial. In Love is the Message, The Message is Death there is recurring images of the sun, but also this line “the building is on fire” which seems like the tension between the heat and intensity of the sun, of violence and the sun as a life-giver and that dynamic frames a lot of the video: there is life and there is death. With Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore the rave images are very widely circulated, but it starts with a landscape and clouds and loops back to this cold and romantic vista of a figure in a landscape with what looks like a pirate radio mast. It’s a romantic painting and it’s blue and cold, the opposite colour temperature to the sun. It was also a peripheral image – that the post-rave pirate radio mast landscape could feasibly be a place like Croydon and the figure was spiritually lost. With the font and the text, I wanted to suggest rave posters that you see on lampposts and hoardings. They often state a place, but no specific address, so you have to find it yourself. I gave the text to two of the artists who are at Conditions, Cameron Harris and Bobby Ingham, and they came up with the layout and font. We did a lot of testing to see how it would actually work in the street, and I think it was very successful.

WITH APPLICATIONS OPENING SOON, WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR EMERGING ARTISTS HOPING TO JOIN CONDITIONS STUDIO?

Be real about the work and don’t think it’s not relevant to you. It’s more important to us to connect an interesting group of people, than to look at everyone’s CVs. Also do it if it is the right time for you. That’s important to listen to how you feel. i.e. what your capacity is, instead of feeling that you might be missing out on something.

https://conditions.studio

Features06.2506.25JEALOUS Gallery: Summer Show 2025

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There’s always a palpable buzz visiting JEALOUS. It’s down to the art on display, of course, the gallery’s succession of often surprising, always engaging shows. The gallery staff are professional, very welcoming, happy to chat and share their knowledge about whatever current exhibition is on. But a third element contributes to the dynamic atmosphere when you realise there’s two floors of busy studios above the Shoreditch site producing a stream of prints by so many artists and super-talented printmakers. It’s a powerhouse.

“I’m at a point in my life where I’m more scared of not doing things, than doing things.”

Co-founded by Dario Illari with Jacquie Ryle, the gallery wasn’t always as it is today. From the Italian parachute regiment through to selling terracotta amphora clay pots at Camden Market, Dario’s path to JEALOUS is anything but ordinary.

Ahead of their hotly anticipated Jealous Summer Show, we caught up with gallery co-founder Dario Illari to discuss early influences, his unconventional route into the art world, working with artists, promoting the gallery, the joys of printmaking and more…

“I say to artists if you start judging the success of a print because it sold a lot, and if it doesn’t sell then it’s a bad print, if that’s your attitude then you are fucked.”

AS A CHILD GROWING UP, WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL ARTS AND WHAT ARTISTS’ WORKS PARTICULARLY CAUGHT YOUR EYE AND/OR FIRED YOUR IMAGINATION? WAS THERE SOMEONE IN YOUR FAMILY OR AT SCHOOL WHO INSPIRED YOU?

Okay, I grew up round the corner from the gallery/studio, in Worship Street, mum and dad had a café there. So, I went to school in Spitalfields, a small Catholic school run by nuns when Spitalfields was still a fruit and veg. market. There were two big influences.

One Saturday we went on a trip to Tate Britain, and I saw a sculpture – I didn’t know it was a sculpture – it was Andy Warhol’s Brillo Box. And my mum and dad used Brillo pads in the café, they would buy them in exactly the same type boxes I saw at the Tate. It was my first time in a big museum, the other kids were moving on and I was stood there staring at it. And the teacher said, why are you looking at this, do you like it? And I said, this is just a box! My mum and dad use the same Brillo pads in the café. She said, it’s not a box because you can’t open it, you can’t get into it. I stared and stared, walked around it, and then I had this moment, and I said, it’s a sculpture! And she looked at me and she said, yes, it’s a sculpture. And that was a moment, I still get goosebumps thinking about it, that really opened my eyes.

Another time, we went to The National Gallery. Again, it was a Saturday with the school, they showed us around, stopping and talking about the paintings. And they spoke about this Canaletto, a view of Venice, regattas and all the people in masks. She explained what the masks meant, that it was Mardi Gras, the carnival before Lent, and these masked figures, this anonymity, the fact that you didn’t know who these people were, upset a usually rigidly fixed class system. And Canaletto’s father, his surname was Canale – which funnily enough is the Italian word for canal – now his father was a set designer. Canaletto would help him out with the sets, and sets for the theatre had these extreme perspectives, that’s why his perspectives are so captivating. And I know people say, oh Canaletto, he’s not cool. But that’s just stupid. Warhol and Canaletto, they’re the two influences that really shaped my interest in art.

YOU MAKE ART YOURSELF AS WELL AS BEING JEALOUS GALLERY CO-FOUNDER/DIRECTOR. DID YOU STUDY ART, IF SO, WHAT AND WHERE? WHAT INSPIRES YOUR OWN PRACTICE? HOW WOULD YOU SAY IT HAS EVOLVED OVER THE YEARS?

Yes, I do make my own art. I didn’t go to art school. I didn’t go to university. The truth is I loved art but having Italian immigrant parents, they came over here and they want better for their children. I worked in the café but they wanted me to have an office job. For them, being a doctor, working in a bank, being a solicitor, having those kind of jobs – not even to show off to the family – they wanted to see their children had achieved ‘status’. I was never going to do that. But because of [their attitude] I couldn’t carry on studying art.

So, I left and went to live in Italy. I went to the States for a bit and worked in Philadelphia with Urban Outfitters when they first started, doing some design for them. I fell into these things, in the 80s it seemed you were freer to experiment. Then I came back and worked with Benetton, doing window designs for them. I did many odd jobs but I was always drawing, making art because that’s what I loved. And then we had a small film company, before digital, we started a company called Badly Made Films. Short films we’d screen at The Portobello Film Festival. Art, be it sculpture, film, painting, drawing, etc., I ‘played’ a lot, all of it intrigued me.

HOW DID YOU JOURNEY FROM TRAINING TO BE PART OF THE ITALIAN PARACHUTE REGIMENT’S CONTRIBUTION TO US NATO PEACE KEEPING MISSIONS TO GO ON TO CO-FOUNDING JEALOUS IN 2008?

I went to Italy because it wasn’t great here. I had my A-Levels. And I had a place at university in the UK which was to do Social Anthropology and Social Administration. I wanted to make the world a better place! But as I said, with my dad, you were hit a bit too much, so I went over to Italy. I lost contact with my family for two years and I did National Service over there, I had dual nationality, I still do. I went to the police to register because that’s what you had to do. They said, where would you like to go? I said, what pays the most? They said, the Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie. I said, okay, I’ll do that for a year. But they said I couldn’t as I hadn’t been schooled in Italy. I said, what’s the next best paid? They went, parachute regiment! I ended up training in Livorno, Tuscany, part of the base was NATO. We did all the training to serve with NATO as a peacekeeping force in Lebanon. I was nineteen! In retrospect I can’t even remember who I was as a person. But we were being paid three thousand dollars a month so, after a year, you were coming out and you’d made good money. You didn’t think about the implications of serving in the military, everyone was just expected to do their National Service. Even now you get so many very young people joining the army, so they’re shaped, influenced and made to do things without questioning…

THAT’S WHERE THE WORD INFANTRY COMES FROM. A FIGHTING FORCE OF INFANTS, YOUTHS WHO COULD BE MANIPULATED!

Yes, I don’t think it had a lasting impact on me, but yeah, I did that.

AND WHAT MOTIVATED YOU TO SET UP A GALLERY AND PRINT STUDIO? WAS THERE A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, GALLERY OR EXHIBITION THAT MADE YOU THINK, ‘I CAN DO THIS!’?

Right, okay, well I’ve always loved where art meets craft. The first company I started, I’d drive to Italy and all Roman countries have these money pots. Little, terracotta, amphora shaped clay pots where you saved up your money ‘til they were full, you smashed them open, made a wish and spent the money on good things. So, I used to get them from Italy, they’re all handmade, dried in the sun, I’d come back, paint them and sell them in Camden Market in the summer. Bring back a hundred, I paid twenty or thirty pence each and I’d sell them for four or five pounds, they’d pay for my holiday.

INTERWEAVING OF AN INTEREST IN ART AND CRAFT BUT ALSO ENTREPRENEURIALISM…?

Absolutely. And the latter I did take from my parents. And then I met Jacquie [who went on to become JEALOUS co-founder] and she said, these do really well, where do you sell them? I said, Camden Market. And she goes, what, all the time? And I said, no, just the summer, then I go back to my ordinary job. She said, I think this could work [on a much larger scale], she had a business degree. So, at one point we all bought over a thousand, painted them and sold them at all the markets: Spitalfields, Covent Garden, Camden, Greenwich, Saturday and Sunday. My brother was running one stall, Jacquie was running another, her sister was running one, I was running one and we did really, really well. We rented a lock up, eventually we had enough money to buy a building in Tottenham, which we still have. We called the company Terra Mundi, we employed local people I’d grown up with. And we started selling four or five thousand a week, wholesale as well as retail. They went to all the big garden centres. Then we started to sell in America, Canada, Japan, France… It was a great time, teaching people how to make up designs, all hand painted, it was a really nice, innocent times.

Then there was the global financial crisis, the collapse of subprime mortgage lending, the whole gift world changed! So, I kind of thought, what could I do? I used to go the Working Men’s College in Camden, and I learnt how to do screen-printing. Obviously that links back to an interest in Andy Warhol. Then I started a small studio in Crouch End where I’d moved to. I was also in a shit band called Mario’s Café, because it was the Britpop scene and everything and that’s where we’d all hang out. So, I opened up the studio and it was tough because all the money that was coming in from Terra Mundi I put into the studio, and it grew, and it grew, until we got this big job and didn’t have enough space to operate effectively. But then, this building that we’re in here now, it’s got four floors, it belonged to my mum and dad. When they passed away, they left it to my brother and myself, I eventually ended up renting my brother’s two floors and that’s how we get to where we are today.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR WHEN DECIDING WHAT ARTWORKS TO SHOWCASE AT JEALOUS AND WHICH ARTISTS TO WORK WITH AND SUPPORT LONG TERM?

Right, well we don’t represent artists. We work with artists one project at a time. And one thing I’ve learned is to know the difference between artistic integrity and financial viability. What I mean by that, we did a show once and I made a series of prints just because I thought they would sell. They were okay, but they didn’t sell and all I was left with was a reflection of my own fucking greed. And I looked at them and I thought, yeah, I just did that for the money and it didn’t work. Now when people come here, I show them round the prints, you know they open a drawer, they’ll say, oh that’s a really nice print! I agree, that’s a lovely print. They’ll say, did it do well? And I say, no, I sold two. They’ll say, that’s a shame. I say, yeah, but that doesn’t stop it from being a great print.

I say to artists if you start judging the success of a print because it sold a lot, and if it doesn’t sell then it’s a bad print, if that’s your attitude then you are fucked. You have to change the way you look at things. I’ll go back and look at prints we have in the drawers and think, you’re beautiful. And if they sell that’s, not a bonus because we need to sell, but a sale is not the measure of a great print.

I’ll only work with artists that I get on with, you have to buy the person. When people come to us to make prints, individual artists, big galleries or museums, they’re not buying my skills as a printmaker. They know what JEALOUS can do. They’re thinking, can I work with this person? Yeah, he’s alright. And I do the same, when I work with artists, I’m there to guide them, put them together with the right printers. And I always say, you must tell us if you’re not happy. If the artist isn’t happy then no one is happy.

And that’s what’s special about having the screen-printing studio as well as a gallery. Ordinarily people want to put artists into boxes: Anthony Burrill, he’s a graphic designer; Ben Eine, he’s a street artist; Michael Craig-Martin, he’s a fine artist. It’s he’s this, she’s that, an illustrator or whatever. In the studio what’s nice is these labels fade away. We’d have eighty-four-year-old Sir Michael Craig-Martin RA in the studio at the same time as, say, a street artist and they’re on a level, one artist talking to another, the beauty of the screen-print studio is that it’s a safe ground.

A gallery’s relation to an artist is different. There’s a frisson. A gallery will come in, big budget, saying Dario can we do this print? Yes, of course, but I’d always want to make sure everyone involved is fully on board, make sure the artist is happy. And the gallery might say, oh, but they’re always complaining. Oh, you’re not showing my new work. Oh, can I be in this or that show? Then you speak to the artists and they’re saying, I’m making new work and they [the gallery] want me to churn out the old stuff… So, there’s always a frisson. In the studio, everyone’s working to make the very best prints possible. And people like the way they’re treated here.

YOU DO A LOT OF EVENTS AND FAIRS OUTSIDE THE GALLERY, WHY, HOW AND IN WHAT WAYS ARE THESE IMPORTANT TO THE ONGOING SUCCESS OF JEALOUS?

We do JEALOUS shows. We do online releases. We do art fairs and events. The art fairs, you know I do them mostly for the benefit of the artists. They like to have their work exhibited at a fair, a notable event. Yes, it’s fine to be shown at JEALOUS but it’s extra special to show at the London Original Print Fair at Somerset House, the Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair which is really good. And I try to launch new works at these events. Yes, they can raise awareness about the gallery, studio, the website and everything but we do them mainly for the artists’ benefit. Expensive, but they serve a purpose. There’s some I don’t do because I don’t like their ethos but there’s many we’ve developed a long-term relation with and they’re good. We also go into schools, not as much as we did to be honest, since we moved from Crouch End. Still, we show kids round, talk about what art is, just to explore and open up conversations about art.

YOUR HOTLY ANTICIPATED SUMMER SHOW – 14^TH & 15^TH JUNE – IS SET TO TAKE PLACE AT ST. MICHAEL’S (A DECONSECRATED CHURCH ON LEANORD STREET, LONDON EC2A 4QX) WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO CHOOSE THIS LOCATION? AND WHAT ARE SOME OF THE CHALLENGES INVOLVED AND STAGING THE SHOW THERE? SEEING THE SCALE MODEL YOU’VE MADE EARLIER, IT LOOKS LIKE A HUGE UNDERTAKING.

I’m at a point in my life where I’m more scared of not doing things, than doing things. Because I think, you know, success and failure, those two imposters, the Rudyard Kipling poem. The important thing is doing it. Another quote is a by mate of mine, Aftab, he always says, a man who makes no mistakes makes nothing. You can fuck up enough just by sitting at home and watching TV! I’m excited still by doing things.

Regarding the location, as I’ve said, I grew up in this area. I’ve known that church for years because it used to be Lassco’s Architectural Salvage, so I’d always go in there, it was full of treasures. Again, that was like going to a museum, I collected so much stuff. Then it closed down and became a bit lost, I think it was used as a yard to store building materials. Then one day I went past, and I saw it was being advertised as a site for events. I got talking to them and it seems Gavin Turk did a small event there. Coldplay released an album there. Patrick Hughes had an event there. And I said, how much would it cost, a two-day event, three-day get in? That was coming up near to twenty grand so once I’d committed to that I thought I’m just going to get all the artists I know, people who’ve worked with me for years and invite them to take part. I said I’m doing this show, I’d love you to be in it, I’m putting shit loads of money into this, the walls are another twenty thousand! But I want it to be really good, I want it to be fun, I want people to get excited again. So that’s the ethos of it. And people said, you’ve got to charge entrance, and I hate charging for things, but you’ve got to charge something as it commits people to going. And if you can’t or don’t want to pay, we work a lot with The Big Issue and the Tottenham Food Bank, so if you bring a food donation to the Summer Show you can get in free. And that kind of makes my soul feet better.

What’s nice is that every single artist I’ve spoken to, no one’s said no they don’t want to be involved. And do you know what? That’s not about me, it’s a testament to JEALOUS. The line-up is tremendous. It’s great. And we’ve funded all the work for the artists, we’ll go in there and make sure everybody’s happy. As I said, I’m more scared of not doing this. It’s a great idea. And if it doesn’t break even, I’m not going to think I wish I hadn’t done it. Because if I hadn’t done it, I’d wished I had. So we’re doing it.

IT LOOKS TO BE A GREAT LINE-UP OF ARTISTS INVOLVED. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WORKS AND ACTIVITIES YOU ARE PARTICULARLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING AND TAKING PART IN?

Well, as I said, there’s an emphasis on fun, on celebration. Our security are hopefully going to be drag artists. That’ll help set the mood for the show. And as you go in, we’ll have a wheel of fortune rattling away. So, everyone will win something. We’ll have a JEALOUS stand with live screen-printing. You won’t believe what Dave Buonaguidi’s made. I won’t spoil the surprise, suffice to say it’s eight and a half feet tall, very hairy and wearing a snug denim jacket. But importantly along with the carnivalesque atmosphere this will be a museum quality show for the artists. I want people to walk away thinking that was incredible.

I’M DUTY-BOUND TO MENTION YOUR COLLABORATION WITH UNCLE, THEY’RE HELPING OUT WITH THE STREET POSTER SIDE OF THINGS. PLUS, YOU’RE SELLING SMALLER VERSIONS OF THE POSTERS AS A FUNDRAISER?

Working with UNCLE and everyone there, they’ve just been so lovely. You said right at the start, just explain what you’d like to do, and they’ll help make it happen. So, we’ve got the street displays and there’s going to be videography, etc. And I offered to pay for the smaller posters, the ones we’re selling to raise money, and they said no, give it all to the charities you support. They’ve done so much for us, really, they couldn’t have been more helpful. It’s been great.

Features05.2505.25Saba Sams: Gunk

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“It feels both gorgeous and scary” is an intersection that only certain things can be classified under. Childbirth is probably what comes to mind for most. For Saba Sams, it’s the publication of her debut novel, which touches on the former through experiences of her own journey into motherhood. Two years ago, Sams was selected for Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists following the release of her award-winning short story collection Send Nudes. Now comes Gunk.

Written between child one and two, Gunk explores the concept of a nuclear family. Or rather, it flips the very convention on its head. Set in her hometown of Brighton, the story revolves around Jules, her ex-husband Leon and the nineteen-year-old Nim who has just started working at Gunk, a student night club they own. With a fried egg for the cover, a playful nod to tender themes of fertility and motherhood, UNCLE partnered with Saba Sams to launch Gunk into the streets of London.

Ahead of the campaign, we interview Saba – who just recently celebrated the birth of baby number three – to get an insight on Gunk, Send Nudes and life in London and Brighton.

FIRSTLY, CONGRATULATIONS ON GUNK. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO HAVE YOUR DEBUT NOVEL IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE?

It feels both gorgeous and scary. Gunk is no longer a document on my laptop that I can edit any time, but a real book that other people can spend time with. I love that, but also surrendering control is never easy.

YOUR FIRST RELEASE, SEND NUDES, IS A SHORT STORY COMPILATION ABOUT THE WORLD OF GIRLHOOD AND ITS COMPLEXITIES. HOW MANY OF THESE STORIES REFLECTED YOUR OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCES?

I guess everything I write is both me and not me, true and not true, but then the world of the story takes over and I forget which is which.

SEND NUDES WENT ON TO WIN MULTIPLE ACCOLADES AND AWARDS, INCLUDING SUNDAY TIMES BEST PAPERBACK AND A GRANTA BEST OF YOUNG BRITISH NOVELIST, HOW REAFFIRMING WAS IT TO GET SUCH RECOGNITION FOR YOUR WORK?

It was unexpected and special, but nothing feels as good to me as the actual writing. Awards and accolades are useful because they attract readers, and if I have readers I get to write more.

GUNK IS SET IN YOUR HOMETOWN OF BRIGHTON; CAN YOU TELL US WHAT GROWING UP HERE WAS LIKE?

Brighton feels very intense to me, maybe because it’s quite a small city with a specific vibe, or maybe because I was a child there and children feel things more intensely. The seasons especially feel unignorable in Brighton, and that’s a big reason why I set Gunk there. Seasons are markers of time, and I had this novel about a pregnancy, where the body becomes a ticking clock.

YOU NOW LIVE IN LONDON WITH YOUR PARTNER AND THREE KIDS, HOW DIFFERENT IS IT TO BRIGHTON, AND HOW HAS THAT SHAPED HOW YOU WRITE?

I’d like to set my next book in Bethnal Green, where I live now. The chaos of it feels like it might suit the kinds of stories I’m attracted to writing. The other day some homeless people had gathered some furniture and set up a whole living room under the bridge by the station. They had houseplants and everything. Two people were playing cards. I thought it felt like a short story.

WHERE DO YOU FIND YOUR TIME TO WRITE WHILE BEING A MOTHER OF THREE?

I don’t really. I haven’t written since Gunk, and I finished that before my third was born. I don’t need much to write, but I do need time, and time is childcare, which is expensive. It’s not inspiring, but it’s true.

GUNK WAS WRITTEN WHILE YOUR FIRST CHILD WAS A TODDLER AND SECOND WAS ON THE WAY. HOW DID IT FEEL TO WRITE DURING THIS TIME AND HOW HAS MOTHERHOOD CHANGED WHAT YOU WRITE ABOUT?

The birth scene at the end of Gunk was the first thing I wrote for the book, and my dreaminess about alternative family set-ups grew out of my own experience of having young kids. So I wouldn’t or couldn’t have written Gunk unless I was a mother. In that very concrete way it’s changed the work that I do. But the experience of writing while looking after children is hard. There’s a lot of guilt, a lot of pressure, and never ever enough time.

FOR YOUNGER WOMEN WANTING TO WRITE ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE THEM?

That no experience or thought process is too small to write about. Pay attention. Nothing is inconsequential, and everything matters.

CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH THE ARTWORK OF GUNK?

It was made by Greg Heinimann, the in-house cover designer at Bloomsbury. I wanted a fried egg because the characters like to eat fried egg sandwiches, and also because eggs relate to bodies and pregnancy and share that gross gunkiness so crucial to the book. Greg fried the egg on the cover himself, which is a detail I love.

WHAT IS NEXT FOR YOU AFTER GUNK?

Like I say, I haven’t been writing recently. I complained about this the other day to a friend, and she said I’m writing all the time, even when I’m not getting any words down. It’s true that I have some ideas surfacing. So let’s see.

Features04.2506.25High, Soft & Open: Rita Conry on Reclaiming Women’s Health Through Documentary Film

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“If we really want control of our own bodies, we have to fight for it.” A quote taken directly from the 1970 seminal feminist manual, Our Bodies, Ourselves. Although half a century on from its original publishing, the book is still being used to challenge medical dogma, energise the reproductive rights movement and, for documentary filmmaker Rita Conry, as reference to how far (or little) we have come. To celebrate the release of her latest documentary; High, Soft & Open, UNCLE partnered with Rita to deliver the film and its message of conversation deep into the streets through flyposting.

Infuriated by the ignorance between medical professionals and patients, Rita’s films have always had a focus on women’s mental health. High, Soft & Open is a hybrid documentary that delves into the often-overlooked mental health side effects of hormonal birth control. The film weaves together a tapestry of eighteen anonymous women whose shared, yet often silent, struggles, are reconstructed for the screen through actors within London environments. The film holds up an ornate mirror to the audience and is a poignant reminder on the importance of peer-to-peer knowledge sharing among women.

In the interview below, we asked the documentary filmmaker, Rita Conry, to take us through her intentions with High, Soft & Open and her other films, and to share her perspective on London and how the city has shaped her career. Through opening up with us, Rita hopes the same of those who see her work.

WHAT IS THE REASONING BEHIND THE FOCUS ON WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH?

Growing up, me and my friends were pretty tuned into our mental health, especially to the negative effects that taking hormonal contraception could have on it. Despite having never been told this by any medical professionals, it was widely accepted that the contraceptive pill could negatively affect your mental health. When I read that a Danish study had found a link between teenagers taking the pill and also taking antidepressants, I wasn’t at all surprised. But it did make me question this gap in knowledge between medical professionals and patients. Why weren’t we being informed of this major side effect when prescribed the pill? It was infuriating.

WHAT GOT YOU INTO DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING? HAVE YOUR FILMS ALWAYS HAD A FOCUS ON WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH?

I think I’ve always been interested in real life and real people’s stories, so documentaries made sense for me to focus on when coming out of film school. In the final weeks before graduation we went to Sheffield Doc Fest. You basically sit all day every day for a week watching documentaries. I loved that you could come out of the screening with a totally new perspective about anything from the drag queen Divine to the Hadron Collider in Cern.

Although the catch with making documentaries is you have to find something interesting to make them about! Which isn’t easy. With documentary filmmaking you end up with filmmakers and non-filmmakers working together out of pure passion for the topic. At Doc Fest I’d sometimes come across a Q&A after the film where the director would say they aren’t actually a filmmaker, but they had just been compelled to tell this particular story, so I knew I would have to wait for the right thing to come to me.

So that’s kind of how I ended up making two films about women’s health. My first doc was The UTI Documentary. I’d been struggling with a chronic UTI for almost 13 years and a friend was writing an article about the lack of understanding around UTIs and suggested making a film.

YOUR FILM SHEDS LIGHT ON THE EXPERIENCES OF 18 DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS WITHIN YOUR FILM, WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH OR HORMONAL BIRTH CONTROL?

As with the UTI documentary, I have my own link with the subject matter. I’ve always found taking hormonal birth control has come with more negative side effects than positive, whether that’s the pill or the mirena coil, but luckily nothing as severe as some of the people I interviewed.

OUTSIDE OF THE FRIENDS, FAMILIES, AND COLLEAGUES YOU INTERVIEWED, HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT FINDING THE OTHER WOMEN WHO ARE FEATURED IN YOUR FILM?

I tried really hard to reach out to different groups and strangers but it can be quite hard to get people to open up about their mental health when they don’t know you. Some of the women I interviewed in the film came about completely organically to my search for participants, which made our interviews more natural I think. I made friends with one of the participants through volunteering and she then introduced me to a group of quilters, which is why there is always a hum of a sewing machine in the background of their scenes!

DO YOU FEEL LIKE THERE IS STILL A TABOO-CULTURE TO DO WITH WOMEN’S MENTAL HEALTH?

I started making the film in 2016 and I think conversations were really starting to kick-off around mental health in general. Now that I’ve finished the film a lot of attitudes have changed and I think a lot of care has gone into normalising and prioritising your mental health, especially at work. But I think it was always easier for women to discuss their mental health; it’s the men’s mental health which seems to have had a huge change in attitude towards it.

WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE HOME FROM HIGH, SOFT & OPEN?

I think I’d like people to feel like they’re not alone if they’ve been suffering with these negative side effects from hormonal birth control. I’d also like it to be a way for people to understand the issues better. Hopefully people can show this to their partners so they can better understand what they’re going through.

I think the other big message of the film is how important leaning on one another is, and how much we learn from each other when we’re just hanging out at the pool or pub, or when we’re at work. It’s like a never-ending exchange of information and I’d like to celebrate that a bit with this film.

HIGH, SOFT & OPEN ISN’T THE FIRST DOCUMENTARY YOU’VE CREATED, CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE UTI DOCUMENTARY, AND ANY OTHER FILMS YOU’VE BEEN INVOLVED IN?

The UTI documentary came about through a project called Healthy Scepticism, which is a Wellcome Trust funded, interdisciplinary project focusing on sustainability and reform in health care. UTIs are really misunderstood and mistreated, and as someone who has suffered with them for my whole adult life, I thought I’d be a good person to try and shine a light on these gaps in awareness. It was sort of a blueprint for High, Soft & Open, as the themes were so similar: repeatedly going to the doctor with a problem, doctor saying nothing is wrong, leaving feeling deflated and stuck, etc…

HIGH, SOFT & OPEN IS VISUALLY VERY BEAUTIFUL AND GROUNDED IN ITS VISUALS, HOW HAS YOUR TIME IN LONDON SHAPED THE FILMS STORYTELLING AND VISUALS, AND HOW HAS THE CITY SHAPED YOUR EXPERIENCE AS A FILMMAKER?

I was born and raised in London and still love living here. I love massive, over-crowded cities, I find them weirdly comforting and couldn’t live anywhere else. I love how every type of person exists here and are all just getting on with whatever we need to do.

All the interviews in the film happened with Londoners, so it was important to reflect this with the visuals. I also needed to convey the various environments and situations that these conversations around mental health and birth control can take place. Which turns out, is basically anywhere. I wanted the audience to feel like they were weaving in and out of these environments and capturing snippets of conversations all around London.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO SEE YOUR WORK IN THE STREETS AS A PHYSICAL FORMAT?

It’s such a personal project that to see it out in the wild among the public is so surreal and exciting! I’m telling all my friends to keep their eyes peeled!

WHERE CAN PEOPLE WATCH HIGH, SOFT & OPEN?

You can watch the film through the Girls in Film website or through my website and vimeo.
www.girlsinfilm.net/videos/high-soft-open-film
www.ritamariaconry.co.uk

Features04.2506.25jasmine.4.t

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A voice for resilience and revolution.

Jasmine is a fearless artist whose music is as unflinching as it is tender. Emerging from Manchester’s DIY underground, she has carved out a sound that is both raw and meticulously honed – a balance fully realized in her debut album, ‘You Are The Morning’. A deeply personal manifesto of identity, love, and survival, the record pulses with spirit and the defiant energy of queer resilience. To celebrate its release, UNCLE partnered with Jasmine to amplify its message in Manchester and London through flyposting, ensuring its themes of visibility, solidarity, and defiance resonate far beyond the underground.

At its core, ‘You Are The Morning’ is a testament to resilience. The album brims with raw emotion, weaving together intimate songwriting and expansive production, bolstered by contributions from indie-rock luminaries like boygenius. But beyond the sonics, the record is a rallying cry – a declaration of presence in a world that often seeks to erase. It’s about survival, about finding and holding onto the people who make life worth living. It’s a love letter to the queer community, to trans joy, to the underground scenes that build something beautiful out of struggle. It’s not just music; it’s a movement.

In the interview that follows, we dive deep into the heart of the record. From the songwriting process to the weight of representation, from Manchester’s impact to the transformative power of live performance, nothing is off-limits. This is an artist who isn’t afraid to speak her truth – who, in fact, sees it as a responsibility.

‘You Are The Morning’ is such a personal and emotionally rich album. How does it feel now that it’s out in the world?

I feel honoured that it is out and reaching people in the way that it is. Queer people around the world are telling me it has resonated with them in a way they haven’t experienced before, and I’ve had older trans women tell me that they wish they had someone like me to look up to when they were transitioning, which means the world to me.

What message do you hope listeners take away from it?

The importance of solidarity. Queer friendship, mutual aid and international solidarity quite literally saved my life and got me to where I am today. And to those in need, a message of hope: things can and will get better. You will find your people.

You’ve spoken about your songwriting process starting with voice memos and stream-of-consciousness writing. How do you know when a song is “finished”?

I don’t think a song is ever finished. I don’t feel comfortable playing a song the same way twice, it feels gross to me. The songs on the album have already changed.

How Did The Presence Of Boygenius (Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers And Lucy Dacus) Shape The Sound And Energy Of The Record?

In so many ways. I think it sounds very boygenius in a lot of ways. Julien’s guitar tone, Lucy’s editing and sequencing skills, and Phoebe’s knowledge of the studio and leadership in arrangement were vital aspects. All of their voices really carry the record.

Many of your songs explore love and identity in a deeply personal way. Do you think music has helped you find and express your truest self?

Fully. In the words of Avril, I’m a rock chick. But seriously, expressing myself through music and writing has really helped me through my darkest times and helped me process and heal.

Diy magazine called you a “testament to the importance of trans representation”; do you feel a responsibility as an artist to represent trans voices in music?

Yeah, a massive responsibility. It’s an honour to step into the spotlight as some random Manchester doll and be a voice for trans liberation. The world is so cruel to trans people, especially trans children, trans people of colour, transfeminine people and disabled trans people. It’s honestly terrifying leaving the house in our most deadly year on record, let alone touring internationally as a group of trans women. Those in power stoke more and more hatred towards us as a distraction from the real evils of capitalism, and the consequence is that trans people are being killed in the street more than ever. We are losing our jobs more than ever. We are homeless more than ever. There have been so many direct attacks on trans people in legislation around the world already this year, including Wes Streeting’s ban on trans children accessing puberty blockers (non-trans children are still prescribed them freely). As a consequence, we have seen a huge spike in trans children killing themselves. Edinburgh women’s shelter has started denying trans women escaping abusive partners. Trans women are being raped and murdered in men’s prisons around the world, including here in the UK. These are the real trans issues that should be in the media. We are victims, but instead, we are painted as predators, aggressors and perpetrators. I want to do my bit to change the mainstream conversation.

You’ve been vocal about your work with trans mutual aid manchester. How do you see the intersection between your music and activism?

When your very existence is politicised, you don’t really get much of a choice!

How has Manchester shaped you as an artist?

Coming here I met my community and fell in love with trans people for the first time, which is what the record is about. So, entirely!

Favourite spots in the city?

The Peer Hat is a fave of mine — my website is based on that pub.

You’re embarking on a full UK tour this year. How are you feeling about taking ‘You Are The Morning’ on the road?

So excited to meet more of my community, mainly! I love playing live, I love my bandmates, and I love the impact that our shows have had. Trans people have told me they’ve found their chosen families at my shows, others have told me that seeing me has allowed them to accept their own trans identities, others have reached out to say that seeing us out here as a group of trans women has given them hope for their own futures. You can’t make an omelette without cracking some eggs!

The album title represents new beginnings. What’s next for you after this release and tour?

There are loads more shows and festivals to be announced. I’m so excited for this year. I’m also hoping to start being able to make a living from music and so have more time to spend with my incredible partners and my chosen family. And of course, I’m constantly writing — really hoping to share more music imminently!

Features03.2504.25To My Titas

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Style, Storytelling, and the Power of Representation.

Style isn’t just about clothes – it’s about presence, attitude, and the stories woven into every fabric choice, accessory, and perfectly curated look. To My Titas is a bold, fashion-forward tribute to the Filipino aunties who have been serving effortless elegance long before social media made it a trend. In partnership with UNCLE, this photobook isn’t just a celebration of their impeccable style – it’s a love letter to the culture, resilience, and quiet power of a generation of women who’ve always understood the art of showing up and showing out.

But this project goes deeper than just aesthetics. To My Titas merges editorial fashion photography with raw, personal storytelling, highlighting the lives these women have built far from home while carrying their heritage with them in every detail. From church hall gatherings to house parties fuelled by karaoke, the book captures the energy, tradition, and community that shape Filipino identity in the diaspora. It’s an intimate yet strikingly stylish look at how fashion and culture intertwine, proving that heritage is never out of style.

In this interview, we sit down with the creative force behind To My Titas Nicole Alonzo, to talk about the vision, the process, and the beautiful chaos of working with a group of legendary, Facebook-loving aunties. From deep cultural connections to high-fashion influences, this conversation is about more than just a book – it’s about the power of representation and why these stories need to be seen. Let’s get into it.

What inspired you to create to my titas? Was there a particular moment or experience that sparked the idea?

I remember having a conversation with my girlies, who come from different ethnic backgrounds to me, and we got to talking about how fashionable and stylish our aunties are. Down from the jewellery, to the designer bags, the extravagant cultural attire they like to wear to church, or how well they hold themselves when wearing their sunday’s best. I chose to do a photobook because i go to photobook stores to get inspired or feel some type of relatability through visual storytelling and realised there were no photobooks about my filipino heritage. I felt a need to put my country on the map.

Tell us about some themes in the book. How did you decide on the visual and narrative elements to achieve this?

I have a love for fashion imagery and clothing since i was a young kid. I currently study a fashion communication course at ual and i know that visual storytelling through fashion editorial style is how i best express myself. However, besides the fashion imagery and clothing aspect of my photobook, i understood the importance of interviewing these amazing women and collecting cultural artifacts that they brought to the motherland, to represent their stories properly. I really wanted to celebrate their lives that they’ve made in england and their relationships with each other. These themes include our love for karaoke. Every time i go to a filipino house party, there’s karaoke.

What was the process like for selecting the titas featured in the book? Did you face any challenges in capturing their stories?

In terms of process, i grew up in a strong filipino community in nottingham. My father is the chairman of the nottingham filipino community and so the titas in my photobook are women who have seen me grow into a woman. In my culture, you call everyone auntie or “tita” even if they aren’t by blood, but by culture and community, they are. The biggest challenge for me was getting all my aunties in one place lmao, they’re very busy women. I had to do a lot of facebook messaging and physically going to their houses to interview them. I am currently based in london, so i had to go back and forth to where i am originally from, which is nottingham, just to talk to my titas. They love their facebook.

How do you hope to my titas will impact perceptions of filipino womanhood?

I hope it will help people realise that no matter what culture or community you’re from, we’re all the same. We all have at least one auntie who is always dressed to impress. I also just wanted to celebrate my culture by looking at traditional perspectives and contemporary perspectives that a young filipino person would be able to look at and feel seen. I guess i just want people to know how proud and strong our women are.

Can you share any standout stories or moments from working on this project that resonated with you in particular?

For me, my most standout moments were being in a shoot with all my aunties. They bring such vibrant energies and this sense of ‘diva’-ness to a room that i just adore.

How has your own background influenced your creative practice?

My own background has influenced nearly everything i do in my creative practice. I think i was so excited to get out into the world and step into the fashion industry and then quickly realised that most high-end fashion spaces made me feel like i wasn’t allowed there unless i was known. Of course, this is slowly changing but the exclusion is definitely still there. Due to this, it forced me to look within and really understand what niche communities speak out to me and accept me as a creative. In turn, this project is a rebellious act to the fashion industry. One, mature women and people deserve to be in the fashion limelight as much as young people because they love fashion too, and two, my culture is equally as fashionable and elegant through our clothing.

If you could describe to my titas in three words, what would they be?

Strength, adaption, and style.

If younger filipino artists want to explore their heritage through storytelling, what advice would you give them?

Look at the people around you, create work with the communities you already have. There is so much beauty in it that you may not notice because it isn’t on a campaign ad. Obviously, dream big but don’t forget your roots or who you are along the way. Bring those attributes with you to the industry; it will set you apart from the others.

Talk us through the artwork of the campaign?

One of the artworks for the campaign is the front cover of my photobook, which showcases all my aunties in one photo wearing their best-dressed clothing, all in different colours and designs that best describe their individual personalities. I wanted the location to scream britain, but the poses, style, designer bags, and jewellery to scream fashion! My auntie on the left took her shoes off mid-shoot because they annoyed her and decided to take a photo because she can, on her facebook, and i knew that capturing that moment would best describe these women and our culture from a contemporary perspective. The rest of the artworks were taken in my local church while wearing our cultural attire to showcase our local church hall in nottingham. A lot of events hosted by the nottingham filipino community have happened in that church hall, so it’s a very sentimental space for my aunties and me. Our cultural attire is equally as sentimental to us as filipinos away from home, so i knew to capture both of these important elements together to best describe our culture to london.

How has london informed the project?

London is a very multicultural city, filled with such beautiful heritages living together in one place. Living here forced me to look at my heritage and how my community has shaped me as a creative growing up in the midlands.

What parts of the city inspire you?

I currently live in whitechapel, and the bengali community there is strong. However, even though we have cultural differences, the themes of family, community, and styling (down to their traditional clothing shops, which i always adore every time i walk past them) are all the same. In such a big city, a niche community is what makes you feel connected, and it made me think of mine back at home in nottingham.

What’s next for you as an artist? Any upcoming projects we should look forward to?

As an artist, i am currently working on my next project, which is creating a physical exhibition curated by bame women who live in the midlands, who love fashion and also take inspiration from their cultural heritage. I am planning to have this exhibited in nottingham because nothing creative happens there. Not because there isn’t creative talent, but because there’s no funding that goes to those regions as they’re all being pumped into london. Therefore, i am planning to create this exhibition to showcase the amazing bame women creatives in nottingham.

Features02.25Off Licence Magazine cutting through the noise with Issue Fourteen

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Off License Magazine has built its name by championing independent music, underground culture, and the creatives pushing boundaries. With Issue Fourteen, the mag turns its focus to something inescapable – the internet. From the rise of social media to the dominance of streaming platforms, the digital world has reshaped how artists create, connect, and survive. This issue isn’t just about the online age – it’s about navigating it. The highs, the lows, and everything in between.

To take the conversation beyond the page, Off License has teamed up with UNCLE for a flyposting campaign, bringing the cover art and standout quotes from the issue to Brighton, Bristol, London, and Manchester – making sure the dialogue lands where it matters most.

At its core, Off License has always been about giving independent voices the space they deserve. Whether it’s through carefully selected cover stars or the stories inside, the magazine stays committed to quality over clickbait. In a landscape where digital noise often drowns out authenticity, Off License keeps its focus sharp – real voices, real stories, and an unfiltered look at the culture that matters.

To understand how Issue Fourteen came together and why the internet was an inevitable theme, we spoke to Editor-in-Chief Greg Stanley about the magazine’s evolving vision, the challenges of the digital age, and what the future holds.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO FOCUS ON ‘THE INTERNET’ AS THE THEME FOR ISSUE FOURTEEN?

It’s hard to pinpoint one specific thing that inspired us to focus on The Internet as the theme for Issue 14. It had been sitting on our Google Doc of good ideas for a while, and I think, to some extent, it grew out of frustration—at least for me as editor-in-chief. While we always encourage everyone involved in the magazine to interpret the theme in their own way, my perspective on it was probably shaped by a sense of social media burnout.

In the six years we’ve been running Offie Mag, the social media landscape has changed drastically. The shift in what kind of content performs well directly impacts us—not just in terms of reach, but in how many people see the magazine and the artists we’re trying to platform. We built a lot of our audience and sales through still imagery, particularly film photography, which used to be a really effective way to grow. But as things moved toward short-form video, adapting to that shift became a challenge. So, in some ways, the decision to focus on The Internet was driven by a mix of inspiration and frustration—often a great motivator for writing.

That being said, the issue isn’t just about the negatives. We wanted to explore both sides. If it weren’t for the internet, Offie Mag wouldn’t exist, nor would the community of readers we’ve built. Many of the musicians and artists we’ve featured in this issue share that same dual perspective—the internet has brought opportunities but also new struggles.

I also have a background in journalism, and while a lot of what I studied still holds relevance, some of it already feels outdated. When I was at university, we weren’t preparing for this ultra-short-form video era we’re in now. The media landscape has shifted so rapidly that traditional teachings struggle to keep up.

Ultimately, The Internet felt like the right theme at the right time because it reflects so much of what we, and the artists we platform, are experiencing—both the highs and the lows. Like most things, the online world mirrors the offline one, bringing all of its evils and all of its good. The theme came together as an amalgamation—or maybe more fittingly, an algorithm—of all of the above.

CAN YOU SHARE THE STORY BEHIND SELECTING THE COVER ARTISTS FOR THIS ISSUE?

The way we pick cover stars is pretty simple—we think about artists we love, track down a contact, and hope they’re up for it.

Liv.e was someone I’d wanted to interview for years, but we used to do all our shoots in the UK, so I was waiting for the right time. Then I listened to Past Futur.e and thought, nah, let’s just go for it. She had a small show in Paris, we had good connections there, and Lucy Cullingworth was available to shoot—so it all lined up. Given her independent approach to music, she fit The Internet theme perfectly.

With Zack Fox, my partner Fez actually suggested him after we kept watching his DJ sets on YouTube. At first, I was like, yeah, right, because he’s been on some huge magazine covers. But he really fucked with the ethos of Offie Mag, and The Internet theme felt like a good excuse to aim for an artist with a bigger platform than we usually go for. Plus, I just think his music is really interesting—his Wood Tip EP is way more introspective than the chaotic energy of his DJ sets.

What ties them both together is that they’re genuinely hilarious online—whether it’s memes, captions, or actual directed content—but in their music, they can be really sincere. That contrast feels like the perfect way to express both sides of the internet.

HOW DOES ‘THE INTERNET’ THEME INFLUENCE THE CONTENT AND DESIGN ELEMENTS THROUGHOUT THE MAGAZINE?

Our themes can be really specific—like the New York issue, which focused entirely on artists and stories from the city. But The Internet is broader. Since it’s inescapable, every artist we spoke to had something relevant to say.

Content-wise, we covered topics like the pressure on artists to create social media content, our addiction to phones, and the exploitation of independent musicians by streaming services. There’s also a lot of nostalgia in this issue—DaMetal Messiah put together a list of tracks with LimeWire energy, which taps into that early 2000s thrill of discovering music online. Meanwhile, younger artists featured in the mag have never known a music industry without the internet, so we’ve got a really broad perspective.

For design, we didn’t go overboard on Y2K aesthetics, but Daniel Lovrinov created an incredible title page and merch design using ones, dots, and punctuation to spell out “The Internet” and “Offie Mag”—a nod to digital code. We’ve also got Elsa Monteith exploring whether short-form content is killing music videos, which ties the theme together in both the content and visual direction.

WHEN CURATING EACH ISSUE, DO YOU BEGIN WITH A THEME AND WORK FROM THERE, OR DO YOU FIND COMMON GROUND AMONGST CONTRIBUTORS? WHAT IS YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?

We used to do it the other way around—starting with artists we really wanted to feature and then finding a common thread between them. That’s how Issue 10 got its Renaissance theme—Pink Siifu and Fly Anakin said underground rap was going through a renaissance, and it just clicked. We were also in Paris at the time, which made it feel serendipitous.

But now that we’ve moved to quarterly publishing, we plan themes in advance and then build the issue around them. We reach out to artists and put out calls for pitches that fit our upcoming themes, which helps us stay structured—especially since we now have paid subscribers expecting regular issues.

Some themes are really specific, like New York, where every story had to tie back to the city. Others are looser, like The Internet or Nightlife, where we explored everything from why nightlife matters to how we can support club culture. The themes naturally shape the kinds of artists we feature, and it’s been interesting to see how that’s evolved—our earlier mags were mostly rap-focused, whereas more recent issues have branched into dance music, experimental scenes, and beyond.

HOW AND WHY DID OFFIE MAG GET STARTED?

There are really two answers to this. On one hand, I was finishing university and desperate to get my work out there. I’d been writing for football magazines at the time—still absolutely obsessed with football—but I had a growing urge to write about music and culture, especially independent music. Around 2016-2018, there was a wave of underground hip-hop, rap, and jazz in the UK that wasn’t being covered in much depth. If publications were writing about it, they weren’t digging into it the way I wanted to.

So, Offie Mag started as a way to bypass the industry. I wasn’t great at pitching, I had no industry connections, and rather than waiting for an editor to take a chance on me, I figured I’d just start my own platform. At the same time, I was getting more into film photography—my mum had given me her old Olympus Trip 35, a camera my dad had bought her when she was 21. I was taking photos of my mates, nights out, house parties, and the things happening around me. Offie Mag became the perfect mix of the two—writing and photography in one place.

Choosing to print the magazine was another step. I’d seen independent record labels selling small vinyl runs and limited merch, making enough to sustain themselves. That inspired me. There were loads of artists with dedicated fanbases but no in-depth media coverage. Print felt like a way to provide that while also making the magazine financially viable.

From there, it just grew organically. More people wanted to get involved—journalists, photographers, DJs. We launched a radio show at my university station, then moved to a small Brighton station, where the most transformative friendship of my lifetime begun to flourish with Matt Leppier (Brickcellphone), who’s now Offie Mag’s managing editor (pictured!). That led to events, which we kept in line with our ethos—booking small artists, keeping ticket prices low, and focusing on community building.

Initially, Offie Mag’s audience was Brighton-based, but the print magazine gave us a global readership. Financially, it started with what was basically an unofficial grant—I had been accepted for a Master’s in Documentary, and they had already sent my student loan before I decided, literally the day before term started, that I wasn’t going to do it. That money paid for the first print run, and from there, it snowballed into what Offie Mag is today.

DESCRIBE OFFIE MAG IN THREE WORDS.

A real-life magazine. Thank god for hyphens.

HOW DO YOU ENSURE THAT EACH ISSUE RESONATES WITH YOUR AUDIENCE WHILE INTRODUCING FRESH PERSPECTIVES?

We don’t overthink it. By focusing on independent musicians, independent labels, and independently owned establishments, we naturally attract readers who care about those things.

We also ask our contributors to write for themselves first. Since they come from different backgrounds and places, the mag reflects our audience without forcing it. The people making Offie Mag are the target audience, so it feels authentic.

There’s always a chance that someone only buys a mag because they’re obsessed with one cover star, but that’s a risk we take. We don’t rely on just the reach of big names—we trust the longevity of the curation and the stories we tell.

HOW HAS THE CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE UK INFLUENCED THE DIRECTION AND CONTENT OF OFFIE MAG?

How can it not? The biggest influence is austerity—the cuts to public funding that make it harder to be an independent artist, a venue owner, or a creative of any kind.

That financial pressure has shaped everything, but it also reinforces how important music and culture are—not just for entertainment, but for community, connection, and well-being. We cover those struggles, but also the ways people keep creating despite them.

WHAT ARE SOME UPCOMING PROJECTS OR EVENTS THAT READERS CAN ANTICIPATE FROM OFFIE MAG?

I don’t want to say too much… but if Offie Mag started a radio platform, it would probably be the best radio platform in the world.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO FOCUS ON PRINT VS. ONLINE?

A few reasons, but my favourite right now is the archival nature of print. Online content disappears in the flood of social media, but print makes things permanent.

There’s something special about knowing that in 10, 20, 30 years, someone might find an issue in a museum, a charity shop, or a car boot sale and get a snapshot of what was happening in independent music and culture at that time. Each mag is a capsule of a moment—something tangible that lives on.

WHY IS PRINT MEDIA IMPORTANT TO OFFIE MAG IN THE DIGITAL AGE?

If we hadn’t gone into print, we’d have just been another Instagram page or blog. Print made people take us seriously.

It also feels more special now that there’s less of it. When a new issue lands on someone’s doormat, there’s a novelty to it. People get excited to hold it in their hands, and that’s something online media can’t replicate.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THE FLYPOSTING CAMPAIGN?

I hope it stays up forever. I hope people who supported us since Issue One or Issue Two see it in their city and think, oh wow, they’re still going, still growing.

And as for the posters themselves? I hope a lot of people see that Zack Fox quote, because he nailed it—

“The internet is just a big old trash pile of the greatest thinkers and the dumbest people of all time.”

Features12.2404.25Nadina Ali, a visionary voice in art and social change.

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Nadina Ali is a London-based multidisciplinary artist whose bold, thought-provoking work uses the power of design to amplify marginalised voices and address pressing social issues. Known for her striking typographic posters and visually arresting slogans, Ali’s art inspires people to reflect, converse, and act. Her latest project centres on spreading positivity and unity, blending her signature style with messages that challenge the current climate of division and injustice. She has partnered with UNCLE to bring these messages to the streets just in time for the end of the year, aiming to inspire a fresh start filled with positivity, kindness, and connection as we step into the new one.

Ali’s creative journey is deeply informed by her personal experiences as the child of East African immigrants who grew up in France and later found her artistic voice in London. Her work has been shaped by a desire to empower others, normalise conversations about uncomfortable truths, and encourage meaningful action. Drawing inspiration from protest slogans, she crafts her own statements with a focus on problem-solving and impactful storytelling. Ali’s posters, including her latest series Less Is More, have become powerful tools for addressing societal issues with optimism and clarity.

In this interview, Ali delves into the inspirations behind her work, the creative process of refining her bold typographic style, and the role of public art in driving social change. Read on for an engaging Q&A with Nadina Ali, where she discusses her mission to inspire kindness, connection, and activism through art.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

People speaking up against injustice.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU ABOUT YOUR ART?

Raising awareness about topics and issues that people might not be aware of, normalising having conversations that might be uncomfortable, encouraging people to speak up about the things that matter to them, and empowering as many people as possible to act towards positive social change.

HOW HAVE YOU REFINED YOUR STYLE?

Through lots of typographic experimentation to help me identify what style has the most visual impact.

WHERE DO YOUR SLOGANS COME FROM?

I come up with my own slogans and often use protest slogans as a reference point.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE PART OF THE CREATIVE PROCESS?

Problem solving.

ARTISTS YOU LIKE AT THE MINUTE?

Malala Andrialavidrazana, Jasleen Kaur, Deborah Segun, Alma Singer.

TALK US THROUGH THE DESIGN OF THE POSTERS?

The posters come from a series of slogans I started in 2021 called ‘Less Is More.’ I imagined the series as everyday pieces of advice that people could benefit from, including myself. The format of the posters follows the bold and colourful typographic style I currently use and is supposed to be as eye-catching as an advert, except they are meant to spread positivity.

WHAT DOES THE CAMPAIGN AIM TO ADDRESS?

The campaign aims to address the current state of the world, where it seems like bigotry, hatred, and injustice are at an all-time high. Both ‘Less Madness, More Kindness’ and ‘Less Division, More Connection’ felt like the kind of positive messages that the world particularly needs right now. I hope those messages will contribute to bringing people together through being kind to each other and connecting with one another.

DOES YOUR FRENCH HERITAGE IMPACT YOUR WORK?

As a child of East African immigrants from a country previously colonised by France, and as someone who was born and grew up in France yet never felt accepted as a French person, it’s difficult for me to give credit to my French heritage in a way that is celebratory. However, the challenges I have faced being an under-represented individual have definitely informed my practice and my desire to amplify marginalised voices through my work.

HOW HAS LONDON INFORMED YOUR STYLE?

It allowed me to be bolder.

FAVOURITE PLACES IN LONDON?

Shoreditch, the Southbank Centre, Somerset House, Black Cultural Archives.

BEST THING ABOUT LIVING IN LONDON?

Access to a plethora of amazing art and cultural events.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOU?

More public art.

Features11.24VOYA ascends as a boundary-pushing force in modern music.

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VOYA have swiftly become synonymous with pushing creative boundaries, earning their place as one of the most compelling new acts to watch. Blending the raw energy of post-punk with the lush textures of synth-pop, the duo is riding a wave of momentum that shows no signs of slowing. Their debut single, ‘2 Shy 4 Love,’ will premiere at a headline show at Venue MOT Unit 18 in London, a fitting stage for their bold and theatrical artistry. Partnering with UNCLE to amplify their impact, VOYA has already made waves, including winning the prestigious Triskel Award for Best Emerging Act. Whether you’re mesmerised by avant-garde performances or you’re looking to discover eclectic style, this debut is sure to captivate your curiosity.

The centerpiece of this campaign is their live show – curated entirely by VOYA, it promises to be more than a concert, the event is a multi-sensory experience, combining live music, DJ sets, and an enchanting vampire cabaret act. For those lucky enough to attend, it’s poised to be an unforgettable night of tasteless glamour and unapologetic spectacle. Anchoring the evening is their debut single, ‘2 Shy 4 Love,’ a hauntingly captivating track that combines emotional vulnerability with a shimmering nod to 80s new wave, all delivered with a hypnotic depth and cinematic flair.

In an exclusive interview, VOYA reveals the inspirations behind their music, their creative approach to live performance, and what it means to be recognised with accolades like the Triskel Award. They share insights into the making of ‘2 Shy 4 Love,’ the influences shaping their sound, and why London’s vibrant cultural scene is a perfect backdrop for their artistry. As they prepare to unveil their distinctive vision, VOYA is poised to redefine the synth-pop and post-punk landscape with daring ambition and unmistakable style.

HOW DID THE SONG TITLE ‘2 SHY 4 LOVE’ COME TO BE?

Oh, I don’t know. With this particular song, we didn’t feel we wrote it—it came from feeling what the music gave us. The lyrics seemed fitting at the moment. I mean, I don’t think it’s too relatable to me. I’m certainly not shy when it comes to romance. ‘Love,’ I relish and enjoy it. So perhaps it’s written from the perspective of someone else, another character—that old chestnut.

COULD YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE SONG AND HOW IT EMBODIES THIS VULNERABILITY?

Again, I think we were pulling from initial feelings, without over ruminating. There are themes of isolation and feeling unseen things that tie into shyness. There’s an element of fear: the fear of not being noticed and attempting to be seen only to be rejected. But honestly, it’s not that deep. Just wiggle your ass and smile, please!

HOW HAVE YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES SHAPED YOUR APPROACH TO MUSIC AND PERFORMANCE?

As for musical influences, I’m not sure it’s so much about particular artists shaping us as it is our personalities naturally being drawn to similar genres. It’s cyclical—like we’re dung beetles, and we innately love dung. We have a penchant for theatrics and maximalism, which reflects the music we’re in awe of.

TELL US ABOUT THE ARTWORK DESIGN?

The promotional poster was born from Old Hollywood distaste, glamour and decay, from influences of Sunset Boulevard to Kenneth Angers’ ‘Hollywood Babylon’, which Josh Quinton magically invoked with his handmade collage style, which blew us all away – it’s a proper sexy poster.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE HEADLINING THIS SHOW?

I mean, we created this whole evening, so headlining obviously feels correct. But when you are curating an evening, there’s satisfaction in sharing your likes and interests with an audience. I think we’ve made a microcosm of something quite seedy and fabulous for the 28th of November.

THE TRISKEL AWARD AND RECOGNITION FROM THE WELSH MUSIC PRIZE ARE HUGE ACCOLADES. HOW HAS THAT RECOGNITION IMPACTED VOYA AS A BAND, AND WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT?

The Triskel Award, which was bestowed upon us by the Welsh Music Prize, was absolutely lush to receive. For a band who has yet to release any digital form of music and only two years of live gigs, being recognised by the “music industry” feels glorious and gratifying to the ego. However, we’re very cautious of award systems in general. The award night was incredible—though there were only heinous tropical beers. Not an ounce of white wine on the rider.

Music and most art seem to be about communication with an audience. You’re asking a question with your art and hoping for an answer in the form of some reaction. That’s our next step: sharing the music so as many people can connect with it. It’s the done thing, after all.

SYNTH-POP AND POST-PUNK ARE HAVING A MAJOR RESURGENCE. HOW DOES VOYA ADD SOMETHING NEW TO THESE CLASSIC SOUNDS, AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PART OF THIS WAVE?

Oh my God, I think synth-pop and new wave—they’re always on the incline. It’s like one of those arduous hills that you have to climb at some family gathering in winter. Only a few family members persevere, and those which are left are able to enjoy it and reap some benefits at the top.

We didn’t go into this thinking about genres. Like most 21st-century listeners of music, we’re so whorish with our commitment to style.

HOW DID YOU ENVISION THIS EVENING’S VIBE?

Tasteless, loud, and fueled by white wine—which we have to provide as it’s our show.

WHAT MAKES VENUE MOT UNIT 18 THE IDEAL LOCATION FOR IT?

To be honest, it was the only place that would take us! Everywhere in London is booked up for five months in advance—supposedly talking about you, Royal George Tavern.

HOW DO YOU HOPE THE AUDIENCE WILL FEEL WHEN THEY LEAVE THIS EVENT?

We try not to hold too many expectations. It’s near impossible to inject any certain emotion into somebody. All you can do is fling the pieces which seem right at the venue’s walls and see what sticks. Perhaps the audience never leaves the venue. Perhaps we all start a South London cult in that room and live there harmoniously.

WITH THE MIX OF DJS, BANDS, AND EVEN A VAMPIRE CABARET ACT, THERE’S A THEATRICAL ELEMENT TO THIS EVENING. HOW IMPORTANT ARE VISUALS AND STORYTELLING TO THE EXPERIENCE YOU WANT TO CREATE?

Yes, the lineup is truly an extravagant one, spanning from the fresh newcomers on the post-punk scene, Nexus_0, to the most wild and visceral band I’ve seen recently, Jeanie and the White Boys. The live acts will conclude with us, VOYA, and the night will be perfectly rounded off by a trio of DJs and noted personalities in the London underground scene: Josh, Quinton, Jeannie Crystal, and Tiss Vampiric.

I discovered all these incredible acts through London’s seedy melting pot of creativity. It began when I started a dance exploration workshop with Martin Tomlinson, formerly of the music project Selfish Cunt. Martin brought Jeannie Crystal along to VOYA’s gig at the Bermondsey Social Club, where she seemed to hold a genuine respect and adoration for VOYA. From that moment, we knew we had to collaborate with her.

Later, Jeanie introduced me to Josh Quinton at her Jeanie and the White Boys show. Josh and I hit it off instantly, bonding over a shared love of Mr. Bean. Through Josh, I discovered their DJ night STUD, which Tiss from Tiss Vampiric co-created. Together, they are the guardians of this evening’s energy, while the rest of us are merely players in their world.

WHY IS LONDON AN IMPORTANT LOCATION FOR YOUR PERFORMANCE?

The importance of London is undeniable. For one, I live there, so it’s very convenient! But it’s also a mecca of multiculturalism and storytelling. The class divide is stark in such a condensed space, so naturally, you’re going to experience contrasts. Which is all great and enriching. It’s nice to be challenged. Dunno, you just want to play London, you know. “Give London a go,” you know?

HAS THE CITY IMPACTED YOUR MUSIC?

Right now, I’m coming up with these answers on an autumnal walk in the countryside of South Wales, and I can hear the screams of London’s chaos from here—it demands influence. I’m often sneakily recording snippets from places like Unfold and Club_Are for inspirational theft. As serious and oppressive as the city can be, it’s so fucking silly—like a playground full of frightened 30-year-olds.

So, come down and witness some solid fabulousness.

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