Introducing Abel Holsborough, our new artist in residence.

Abel Holsborough is no ordinary artist.  

Their bio is diverse as it is captivating: a former banker, app developer, and advertising professional, their storied career has even included becoming a miller at London’s last functional windmill, where whole meal flour is still ground daily, servicing many local bakeries including The Clink, an initiative at HMP Brixton which aims to upskill inmates to reduce recidivism. 

Indeed, Abel has taken the road less traveled to his current job as a full-time artist with projects with such esteemed institutions as Grizedale Arts, William Morris Gallery, Artsadmin and Museum of the Home. 

Their interest these days is on all things local and east London: on the one hand investigating, through their practice, artists’ relationships to work and industry, and on the other, uncovering and archiving obscure local histories that others might consider un-monumental.  

To demonstrate this, he talks about a former matchbox factory his mum used to point out on his morning commute that these days, predictably in an age of gentrification, is an apartment block.  

But it’s the history underneath the surface that interests Abel. In this case, a legacy of radical working-class struggle, militant unions led by south Asian women. These are the stories their practice investigates.  

It is this commitment to the local and to east London that makes Abel the perfect fit for our new artist in residence here at UCL East. Sitting under the UCL Public Art and Culture and Community Engagement Team, Abel will be in residence here until October, developing their practice and learning more about the community.  

An important part of this residency is that it will not necessarily result in a public outcome; rather the point is the process. One of rumination and experimentation that aims to be more organically embedded within the East London community, bridging the gap between the institution and the community, while also giving Abel the opportunity to interface wth UCL academics whose research aligns with his work.   

It is Abel’s agility and hands on attitude, their desire to take the road less traveled that makes them such a deserving recipient of this residency because it bespeaks an insatiable curiosity that enriches his artistic output.  

UCL’s head of public art, Sam Wilkinson, commented:  

“‘We are delighted to have appointed Abel Holsborough as UCL East Artist in Residence as part of the UCL200 Public Art Programme. Abel's practice is centered on inquisitiveness and creating spaces to share stories, histories, and ideas. We believe these values exemplify the interdisciplinary nature of our teaching and learning at UCL East.  As we start our celebratory year marking 200 years of UCL, we are excited to see how Abel’s residency will contribute to exploring and sharing our community’s diverse narratives.’ 

Abel is also going to take the opportunity while here to run a reading group focused on these questions of place and space. The reading group will be open to all UCL East community members. 

We look forward to welcoming Abel and seeing how their practice develops over the year at UCL. If you are interested in following Abel’s journey, you can contact them at a.holsborough@ucl.ac.uk or follow them on Instagram: @akidinlondon