Student Collaborative Callout: Nicky Eastaugh

It's Pride Month and OCA Textiles Stage 3 student Nicky is looking for collaborators for a transgender identities project.

I moved to Spain 5 years ago, pretty much half way through my textiles degree course. The flexibility and online working made the transition easy, and it’s hard to believe that this week I will have my last ever tutorial! Although signalling the completion of my studies, it is also the beginning of my ongoing practice, and I am looking forward to the future and opportunities ahead.

I live in Torrevieja, a city on Spain’s South East Mediterranean coast. It is very diverse with over 120 different resident nationalities and a population that swells fourfold in the summer with seasonal visitors. Inspired by my community, my practice explores identity, place and the relationships we have with each other and our surroundings. Promoting diversity and inclusion is something which I am passionate about. 

Torrevieja is not just nationally diverse. It has an active and growing transgender female community (something I was unaware of until my daughter came out 2 years ago). Since then, I have become increasingly conscious of the negative attention and discrimination which gender diverse people encounter in their everyday lives (although I should add that Spain is a leader in gender equality and one of the most progressive countries in Europe).

Gender equality is a topic which has recently been placed very much in the spotlight. From President Trump withdrawing gender affirming care for minors, to ramifications of the recent UK Supreme court ruling. Yet the achievements of gender diverse people are often overlooked - from pioneering musicians to outstanding engineers, computer scientists and medical professionals. How many could you name? More than ever, this minority group needs advocates, and the creative arts offer the ideal platform. Art can be sensitive, questioning, and persuasive, making it the ideal vehicle to bring wider topics to the public consciousness and challenge stereotypes. 

As an artist, I want to use my creative voice in a positive and affirmative way. Working with the town hall and local transgender community, I would like to curate an exhibition which celebrates gender diversity and at the same time raises the profile of Torrevieja as an LGBT+ welcoming and inclusive destination. 

I am looking for creatives who might be interested in collaborating with me, initially in an exploratory capacity with a view to putting forward a proposal and applying for EU funding for a joint or collaborative exhibition. This would be an ideal project for students wishing to demonstrate working with others, particularly those engaged in module 3.2 (external partners), but also undergrad-post graduates and tutors. I am open to working with any creative discipline, providing you are passionate about the subject. 

You can email me here - nicola513015@oca.ac.uk if you would like to find out more and collaborate!