Author: Carmela Vienna

Ruth Millington is an art historian, curator, broadcaster and author, specialising in modern and contemporary art. Committed to sharing art great’s stories, she has written for publications including The i newspaper, The Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Art Newspaper and BBC Online. She has featured as an art expert on TV and radio, including BBC Breakfast, Sky Arts and ITV News. Most recently, she presented ‘Painting with Scissors’, about the radical history of collage art for BBC Radio 4, which features interviews with Sir Peter Blake, Chila Burman, Cold War Steve and John Stezaker among others.

Her first book Muse (Penguin) uncovers the true stories of 30 real-life figures, from the ancient world to today, reclaiming the word ‘muse’ from a feminist perspective. She has curated several exhibitions on the theme, including ‘Reframing the Muse’ for London Art Fair. She also loves writing for a younger audience: This Book Will Make You An Artist (Nosy Crow) — winner of The Week Junior Book Awards 2025 (Hobbies & Interests) — invites children to be more creative by drawing inspiration from great artists of the past, while her next book The Science of Art (DK) reveals the magic, inventions and methods behind masterpieces. You can pre-order a copy here.

Fauziya Johnson is a Somali-Dominican queer curator, artist and producer based in Manchester. Fauziya creates with a focus on current social and political issues through community-centred workshops, art projects, and exhibitions. Her work creates thought-provoking, engaging and trusted spaces for the public to engage in, making collective care, deconstructing harmful systems, and activism the core of the work for marginalised groups, in particular Queer, Black and disabled communities. Her every day role is as a Community Engagement Advisor.

Fauziya’s purpose through curation and facilitation is to create trust-based engagement within different scales of community groups – linked by place, circumstance, or characteristics. She extends her practice by designing and leading workshops to co-produce with local groups and expand on collective care.

Topics she has worked within are: debt abolishment, food empowerment (examining industrialisation), archiving and nostalgia, anti-racism, Northern pub and club cultures, mental health/embodied healing and more.

In 2018, she co-founded ROOT-ed Zine, a zine and social platform dedicated to supporting, promoting and inspiring creatives of colour in the North West. She is currently on the board of Trustees for Broken Grey Wires CIC and has previously been a Trustee for Metal Culture CIC.

Fauziya’s headshot was taken by Ella Mayamothi.

John Sewell is the Founder and CEO of Cosimo, a platform designed to help artists present, manage, and grow their creative practice. With a background in History of Art, his experience spans galleries, museums, and startups, combining curatorial insight with entrepreneurial experience. John has been recognised for his work supporting emerging artists, including being shortlisted for the Great British Entrepreneur Awards (Creative Entrepreneur of the Year), and currently serves on the Creative Industries Advisory Board at the University of Birmingham. Through Cosimo, he focuses on creating more direct, transparent pathways between artists and audiences, while developing tools and education that support sustainable, long-term careers in the arts.

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Dr. Benedict Carpenter van Barthold is an artist and scholar dedicated to the work of ‘anti-oblivion’. While his own sculpture has been exhibited internationally and recognised by the Jerwood Sculpture Prize, he now focuses on helping fellow artists move their life’s work out of storage units and into the digital age.

As Director of Culture at Vieunite, Benedict bridges the gap between traditional art and new technology. He ensures that as private collections enter the digital economy, they retain their original meaning and authenticity through rigorous academic care and ethical provenance.

Roma Piotrowska is a curator and writer with extensive experience in curating, managing exhibitions, events and budgets, as well as producing and contributing to publications. She is currently the Senior Curator at Midlands Arts Centre, where she oversees an ambitious programme of exhibitions and public events. Previously, she worked as Curator at Wolverhampton Art Gallery and as Senior Exhibitions Manager at Ikon Gallery, where she coordinated exhibitions and publications for artists such as Dan Flavin, Sheela Gowda and Roger Hiorns.

Her writing has appeared in exhibition catalogues including Su Richardson – In Stitches, Artur Żmijewski: Selected Works (Neuer Berliner Kunstverein), and The 27th Biennial of Graphic Arts Ljubljana. She has also contributed articles to journals such as engage and to magazines including This is Tomorrow, Contemporary Lynx, and Daily Art Magazine.

Roma has also supported the Iraq Pavilions at the Venice Biennale (2013–2019) and served as Curatorial Assistant for the 4th Guangzhou Triennial in 2012. She is the co-founder of Centrala Gallery in Birmingham and has led projects such as Clipping the Church by Tereza Bušková (2016) and the art strand for the Artloop Festival in Sopot, Poland (2015).

Roma’s headshot was taken by Victoria Beddoes.

Professor Andrew Kulman is an established Graphic Artist, who teaches Visual Communication at Birmingham City University. He trained at the Royal College of Art and has had a freelance career working with clients in the UK and overseas. He exhibits and has his work in National collections, including the V&A and Tate. Andrew regularly travels overseas and recently took part in a conference in Bangkok, focusing on new developments in Art and Design pedagogic practice. He is the recipient of numerous academic and industry awards.