Introducing "It's Grim Up North"

"It's Grim Up North" is an exhibition themed around the stories of Northern women and nonbinary people, as well as all of the beautiful places that have been important to themselves and the region as a whole. After a year of research, development and unexpected events, the exhibition is finally up and ready to be shared.

Lovejoy has spent all of their life living in the North East, particularly the County Durham and Teesdale area. After all of the ups and downs of working class life, they have found joy in friendship and family, citing the community spirit of the region as their main reason for focusing on this particular topic. In the midst of emotional distress, this project began to take flight, finding the beauty in the immediate surroundings, incredible architecture, the power of image making and most importantly the significance of human connection in our fantastic Northern community.

"Durham Sixth Form Centre would like to invite you to our artist-in-residence virtual exhibition celebrating the diverse creative practice of artist and illustrator, Lizzie Lovejoy.

Combining mixed media and sound, Lovejoy shares a series of reportage and refined illustrations alongside musical and spoken word pieces created throughout her residency at Durham Sixth Form Centre. Lovejoy’s work seeks to celebrate North East unsung heroes; incredible people who have spent their lives in the area and whose stories of both joy and struggle would otherwise go untold.

Universal themes of identity, family, social isolation and the power of memories are explored through Lovejoy’s signature application of naïve and simple line techniques."