The Gashtrays' Gallery is an open space for independent artists and makers to sell their creations and share their stories.
Gashtrays currently exists within a scrumptious yet dishearteningly small echo chamber of sex and body positive art. Despite its wonderfully inclusive intentions, there is still a serious lack of diversity within our community and the small business world in general.
The Gashtrays Gallery is an open space for independent artists and makers to sell their creations and share their stories. We recognise that the world of sex and body positive art is currently dominated by white, cis artists.
The Gashtrays Gallery project hopes to challenge this imbalance by amplifying underrepresented artists. By sharing these platforms, we hope to diversify the art we see and support independent small business owners.
If you would like your work profiled on The Gashtrays Gallery, submit below:
Tosin is a self taught digital artist juggling their art with their full time studies.
Illustration
A photo studio for sex workers, by a sex worker, offering creative, editorial and artistic photoshoots and videos.
Photography
Nan Dorrego is a non-binary artist who’s work explores their connections with queer and peripheric experiences.
Illustration
New Zealand based Daniel Ido is a surrealist illustrator who's work focuses on the fantastical and absurd.
Illustration
A line of smokeware and other creations to release some pent up 2020 anger and give time to creative change.
Smokeware & Illustration
Homeware & Illustration
Rosa O’Mara is a politically and socially engaged
illustrator and maker from South London.
Accessories
Clothing
A small batch, sustainably produced clothing brand created by and for the underrepresented.
A collection of activist bandanas, worn as a silent protest to spark conversations on taboo topics.
AMAKHI combine's artistic design with high quality products that are handmade in very small batches.
Home & Beauty
Manchester based and inspired sustainable streetwear.
Clothing
Ceramics By Hani is a homeware and accessories range focussing on sustainable methods and materials.
Ceramics
As reported by FSB,
‘Only 5% of small enterprise employers are run by leadership teams where the majority are from black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups.’
'Only 15% of SME employers are women-led’.
As most research on this issue only ever addresses the gender binaries, queer owned business rates are very difficult to specify in the UK.
How it works...
Each artist has their own profile on the Gashtrays website where they can sell their work and share their experiences of running a small business. Their work will also be routinely shared through our social media and blog posts.
Curation...
Theres are many platforms out there that collect and share other people work, however they are often curated to stylistically match each other. This method of curation often means that the same kind of artwork is repeated again and again, and those that don’t classically fit the bill are left out.
Our diversity panel assesses all submissions to ensure an unbiased curation of makers. We aim to curate a space of diverse perspectives that challenge conventional standards around sexuality, gender, class, race and identity.
Please send us an email if you would like to be a part of our diversity panel.
We want to hear from you!
If you have any feedback on how we could run the Gashtrays' Gallery better, any suggestions on artists/makers to submit, or any questions in general, please do get in touch!