Lakwena, Sirui Ma, Harriet Richardson, Omse: Tickets now available for October’s Nicer Tuesdays!

Summer is fading into the background and the spooky season is rapidly approaching. But, what’s not spooky (in fact it’s the very opposite) is our line-up for October’s Nicer Tuesdays! So grab yourself a ticket, and wash away those post-summer blues with some cosy, inspiring talks.

This time round, as an extra special treat (definitely not a trick) we’ve got not three but four speakers to get your creative juices flowing. The design studio Omse will be talking us through their rebrand for Other Box, an organisation that promotes equality in the workplace; the photographer Sirui Ma will be giving us insight into her debut book, which focuses on the people who keep New York’s subway service running; and Harriet Richardson will be shedding insight on one of the most interesting career trajectories, going from graphic design to performance art. Finally, the artist Lakwena Maciver, widely known for her kaleidoscopic murals and installation art, will be sitting down with It’s Nice That’s editor-in-chief Matt Alagiah for a Q&A, digging into how she’s crafted such a colourful career.

The event will take place on 1 October with doors opening at 6pm. As this is an 18+ event, please bring ID with you to the venue. If you are in need of disability access, please make yourself known to a member of the EartH team on the night or email [email protected] so we can arrange assistance. Read more about October’s speakers below.

If you live in London, there’s a good chance you’ve seen Lakwena Maciver’s work; maybe plastered on the rooftop of Temple Station, wrapped round an entire electrical substation in Brent Cross Town, perhaps speeding by on a classic British mini, or even adorning kids’ clothing. The artist’s work has seemingly found its way onto every possible surface, and it’s no surprise – her colourful, vibrant works are full of energy and have the ability to brighten up any scene. Often emblazoned with slogans, typography has always sat at the core of Lakwena’s work – a feature that makes sense, as before becoming an artist she studied graphic design. Her words are often used to make powerful critiques of society and colonial legacies, as explored in the exhibition HA-HA, which showed at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park last year. Lakwena will be sitting down with It’s Nice That’s editor-in-chief to discuss her colourful works, astute critique, and career so far.

Sirui’s Ma’s recent series, The Little Things Mean a Lot, focused on London, and the small moments the photographer spends with friends in the city she calls home. But now, Sirui’s upcoming debut photobook centres on a metropolis across the pond – New York; though rather than traversing its streets, Sirui has taken things underground, snapping portraits of the people who keep the world’s only 24/7 public transport system running, taken on a discontinued Kodak Endura. These shots are featured alongside interviews, subway stories of other New York-based creatives, and an archive of subway images. At Nicer Tuesdays, the photographer will be shedding light on what it’s like to make your first photobook, from inception to execution.

Harriet Richardson has made one of the lesser expected career shifts: graphic design to performance art. She kicked off her working life at London’s Pentagram office before finding her talents more aligned with political slogans, after one her placards at the Youth For Climate Justice march in 2019 (which read ‘Leonardo DiCaprio’s Girlfriends Deserve a Future’) went viral. Since then Harriet’s transitioned from slogans to creative stunts, which have got more and more absurd (and brilliant), from going on 100 dates in one day, her ongoing feud with Meta and Mark Zuckerberg, as well as persuading a reverend who worked at the church across the road to her gym to dedicate a message to her on its outside walls. Harriet will be taking us through her varied career, and telling us why she was destined to make such a shift.

“How do you create a brand that shouldn’t need to exist?” This question sat at the forefront of the design studio Omse’s whole time creating a new visual identity for Other Box, a social impact company that’s “on a mission to address power imbalances that exist in the world”, by working with workplaces to make their environments more inclusive. The way they tackled this? By drawing as much attention as possible to the brand, to help it achieve its goals, and (hopefully) one day become redundant, and creating the visual feeling of a “work in progress” – with graphics inspired by construction signage. At October’s event they’ll be digging into the project further, explaining how they tackled such a complex, interesting and important project.