Last year we worked with 18 brilliant disabled creatives on our Young Artist Development Programme (YADP). Their work is featured in a new zine called “Department for Wonder and Play”, more about this here. In addition to the digital and physical publication, we’re going to spotlight each artist on the blog so you can get a deeper insight into their work and process. Over to our Solidarity Coordinator Katie, who’ll tell you more about John Lougher’s work.

John is a visual artist who uses pastels to make amazingly bright, vivid and imaginative artwork. Each piece John makes tells a different story and often has lots of different things happening at once. John told me that he likes to put things in unexpected places when he draws, because it makes it more interesting. You can see that clearly in his work – there’s a giant drinking straw in the middle of an ocean, a penguin next to a giant blue toilet, and a sandcastle on a kitchen table.

Here are some of the artworks John made for The Department for Wonder and Play. I find something new each time I look at them – see what unexpected things you can find!