Global Cultures: A Visual Journey

AMY SHACKLETON

York University (BA Hons Fine Art, 2008)

Canadian-born Amy Shackleton is a professional visual artist – a skilled urban landscape painter with an inventive technique embracing gravity. Her background includes a Fine Arts Honours Degree from York University (Toronto, ON), an extensive exhibition history (e.g. a 2017/18 National Tour exhibiting her 53’interpretive panorama of Canada) and paintings displayed in hundreds of public and private collections(e.g. THEMUSEUM, Colart Collection, Facebook Canada and the University of Cincinnati). Shackleton is an active member on the Board of Directors at the Visual Arts Centre of Clarington and within the larger Ontario and Canadian Arts Community. She works from her studio in Oshawa, Ontario.

Inspired by her travels, Shackleton’s work explores the conflicting relationships between humanity and the environment by depicting an uncertain future where cities blend with nature. She draws upon the real-life urgency regarding climate change (demonstrated in extreme global weather events) and uses visual art to question the future direction—be it utopian or apocalyptic.

Shackleton’s work references opposing forces – the technique (control vs. spontaneity) and the subject matter (architecture vs. nature). Moreover, rather than conventional paintbrushes, she uses squeeze bottles and gravity as her primary tools for creation. Liquid paint is dripped, poured and layered as the canvas is rotated to navigate. Whereas the architectural aspects of her work are calculated, measured, and controlled – as they are precise marks of reality – natural elements embody the spontaneous, unpredictable liquid impulse.

HABIB HAJALLIE

Loughborough University (Fine Art, 2017)

Habib Hajallie (b.1995) is an elected member of The Royal Society of British Artists, winner of The UK NewArtist of The Year Award 2022, and was featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in 2023. His work championsfigures from ethnically diverse backgrounds, often omitted from traditional British portraiture. Through hisballpoint pen portraits, Hajallie addresses socio-political issues and questions perceptions of minoritygroups.

Using antique texts and maps as canvases, he re-contextualises ephemera, merging historical context withmodern representation. His Sierra Leonean and Lebanese heritage informs his drawings, which oftenfeature himself or family members to navigate the intersection of his Western upbringing and Africanroots.

Hajallie’s detailed mark-making with a black ballpoint pen celebrates Blackness, while showing that identityis deeper than skin colour. His work challenges revisionist narratives of West African histories, confrontingantiquated ideologies and encouraging discourse on those labeled as the ‘other’ in any manifestation.

LINDA CLERGET

Terre et Feu (Visual Arts, 2018)

Linda Clerget, born in Paris in 1985, is an accomplished artist known for her vibrant acrylic paintings of landscapes and floral abstractions. Based in Thomery near the Fontainebleau Forest, her deep connection to nature fuels her evolving artistic process.

Clerget’s work combines Impressionist techniques with modern interpretations, creating a balance of tranquillity and vibrant energy in each piece. Her art has been featured in The World of Interiors and exhibited in Paris, London, and New York City.

Each painting offers a meditative experience, inviting viewers to reconnect with the natural world and reflect on the ever-changing beauty that inspires her.

PHIL DAVIS

Loughborough University (BA Fine Art, Sculpture, 2004)

Phil Davis creates dynamic landscapes and figurative works using vivid colours and hand-made stencils. His style merges two processes: expressive, emotionally charged colour application and meticulous stencilwork. This blend produces heightened images where instinctive creativity and fine subject detail are juxtaposed.

Bold colours convey emotional intensity, while sharp, graphical tones emphasise physicality, presenting Davis’s interpretation of life’s physical and emotional aspects. His process begins with expressive colour application to capture the mood, followed by stencil creation to print the subject onto canvas. Davis experiments with combining traditional painting and printmaking techniques, pushing compositional boundaries to offer a more subjective view of his subjects.

YULIYA MARTYNOVA

Queen Mary University of London (Law, 2010)

Yuliya is a multidisciplinary painter from Kazakhstan who has lived in the UK for the past 20 years. With a background in classical arts and a law degree from prestigious institutions in Kazakhstan and the UK, she transitioned from a 15-year corporate career to becoming a full-time artist.

Her work has appeared in major film sets, including Marvel’s Doctor Strange (2016) and ABC’s Scandal(2017), and will be featured in a BBC drama in 2025. Yuliya’s art graces exclusive London and Berkshireclubs, luxury hotels like Hyatt and The Breakers, and private collections worldwide.

Her collections showcase an elegant flow and ethereal glow, exploring themes of fragility and strength in her skyscapes, isolation in her sailboat series, urban dynamics in her Connected works, and the cyclical nature of florals in her Blossom collection. Each piece invites viewers into a dreamy realm, evoking light nostalgia and weightless emotions.