Ben Saunders Art is a queer ceramicist, illustrator and events curator based in Manchester, specialising in creating work that celebrates transgender and queer bodies.

Through his work he strives to create a space for people to feel represented within art and feel comfortable to embrace their bodies, away from judgement or expectation. Ben also facilitates queer and trans life drawing sessions in Manchester, with tickets available through his Instagram.

These are relaxed sessions for all abilities with diverse models. Ben also co-founded Manchester Queer Art Market in 2022 which continues to run regular markets in venues around the city centre.

Instagram: @bensaunders.art
Shop: www.bensaundersart.co.uk
Manchester Queer Art Market Instagram: @mcrqueerartmarket

Ben Youdan is a visual artist based in Liverpool. His mixed media work employs a wide variety of techniques and processes including collage, drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography, to create imagery that takes inspiration from the iconography and ephemera of popular culture. His pieces explore themes such as identity, glamour, and sexuality.

Devon Short is an award winning non-binary illustrator, animator and comic creator.  

They’ve worked on a range of creative projects for the BBC, The Jim Henson Company and Manchester City Council. Their history of passion projects is vast and includes titles such as Dead Nipples, Fortunate Frogs and now Living Scars. 

With first-hand understanding, they portray the beauty and nuances of trans experiences through visual art and storytelling. Their passion for compelling stories is clear through their narrative work, and has garnered one RTS award to date, as well as a handful of nominations.  

Instagram: @wackydoodledevon
Shop: www.wackydoodledevon.com/shop
Website: www.wackydoodledevon.com

Doctor Gay UK is the social tag for Dr. Mark Perera (he/him). Dr. Mark is an actively practicing GP in London UK with a specialist interest in LGBTQ+ Health and he is also a queer content creator.  

Dr. Mark’s projects are all centred around being the type of doctor he wished he and all queers had growing up. He proudly represents the intersectionality of being a person of colour and queer and a healthcare professional because lived experience helps all communities feel seen and heard. 

His mission is 3 fold: educating, de-shaming and spreading queer joy! 

Instagram: @doctorgayuk
Tiktok: @doctorgayuk
Website: www.doctorgayuk.com

My name is Ella Whelan, I am a film student currently studying film and media at The BRIT School and next year I will go to Pinewood Studios for a screenwriting course. Since I was a little girl I was fascinated by the world of cinema and the wonderful stories it encapsulates. I decided that I was going to become a filmmaker in the summer of 2021 when I came up with my first plot line completely by accident; since then, I’ve been hooked on creating stories to share with everyone.

YouTube: @ellawhelanfilms

From a young age I was always taking photographs, from being the unofficial family photographer to documenting road trips, everyday life around me and anything and everything that attracted my attention. All my images have, so far, remained in my own personal archive, just building up over the years. When I retired and decided to study for a degree that the opportunity came to examine and use my own collection. As part of my final project for an M.A. in Contemporary Fine Arts, I have been reviewing and repurposing images taken of Pride and Protest Marches in the late 1980’s. 

Instagram: @constantimagery
Website: Helen Constantinou

Jack Jameson is a mixed-media artist based in Manchester, whose work explores queerness, identity, and storytelling through a fusion of digital and analog techniques. Their multidisciplinary practice spans photography, film, design, editing, animation, 3D modelling, styling, and prop-making, to imagine characters and environments that exist within otherworldly narratives and satirical interpretations of queer identity.

At its core, their work is an exploration of gender expression, shaped by influences from futurism, dreamscapes, fashion imagery, music, and queer culture. Through surreal and speculative worlds, they examine ideas of transmutation, faith, technology, and community, deconstructing societal norms in the process.

Instagram: @jackwjameson

Jenny Leonard is a live scribe artist drawing and sketching at meetings and conferences, both virtually and in person. She also paints murals and site specific public art on art trails across the UK. She is based out of Grit Studios in Manchester but will travel far and wide for the right projects and big blank walls! You can see her local mural work at the Great Northern Warehouse and paintings for sale up at  The Counter House in Ancoats.

Instagram: @JennyLeonardArt
Website: www.jennyleonardart.com

Josie McCusker is a Manchester-born and bred Design & Technology teacher with a lifelong love of crafting and creativity. This marks her first public exhibition, showcasing work that blends her carpentry skills with playful imagination. Her art celebrates childlike joy through fun, uplifting pieces made from materials like plywood, textiles, and paint. As an out lesbian educator, Josie proudly supports LGBTQIA+ youth, offering visibility, guidance, and a safe space in and beyond the classroom. Her work is a tribute to her inner child; messy-handed, wide-eyed, and endlessly curious. Her work is a celebration of making simply for the love of it. 

My name is Lynne Jones (she/her).  I am a cisgendered therapist with a special focus on sex, identity and relationships. I trained with the LGBT Foundation and I am a lecturer in counselling, a Leatherman and a transgressive poet. 

I am an advocate for transgender rights and use poetry for personal exploration and to develop training material for therapists’ continuous professional development, with a broader goal of improving engagement, inclusivity and effectiveness when working within the LGBT community.  I also run poetry workshops that explore marginalisation.  

I am proud to demonstrate allyship to the LGBT community in 2025. 

Website: www.unconditionalpossiblegirl.com

Neveah Willis is a young artist working with Venture Arts where she has experimented with photography, paint, print making and ceramics. She works mainly in digital illustration, working on an iPad to create bold, vibrant text-based artworks. 

One such piece was commissioned by ethical cosmetics company, LUSH, who have used Nevaeh’s artwork to decorate one of their gift tins. 

Nevaeh’s work was selected for the 2023 Manchester Open exhibition at HOME and she has also exhibited at The Lowry too. 

‘Having my work in the LGBT Foundation Rainbow trail makes me feel happy and calm.  I have been to pride before a few times with my family and I know my brother will be really proud and happy for me.’

Patrick He, a queer Chinese artist, finds inspiration in the beauty, desire, and pain woven into both people and nature. Using delicate dots and lines, he crafts intricate fantasy worlds where repetition and detail transform into dream-like expressions. Through his art, he constructs an intimate visual language that blurs reality and imagination, drawing viewers into a world of contemplation and emotion.

Instagram: @patrickhedesign
Website: www.patrickhe.co.uk/

Sam Bonser is an Illustrator and Animator based in Manchester with a passion for atmospheric visual storytelling. Their practice is heavily influenced by observation, site- specific drawing and recordings, capturing the magic of everyday life. Sam explores the characteristics and unique stories of places, focusing on their history, people and everyday beauty and how all these things combine to make a somewhere into where it is. Their illustrations and animations are often experimental and layered, using field recordings and sketches from on site to inform the final outcomes.

Instagram: @sambonserart
Shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SamBonserArt
Website: https://sambonser.cargo.site

UK-based, Colombian multidisciplinary artist exploring the world through photography, video, illustration and design. My craft invites to observe and reflect on topics from social justice, to nature conservation and anti-speciesism. I delve into visual storytelling featuring people, but also wild and urban animals–the latter usually around a concept that can also relate to human interactions. My intention is to bring people closer to their more perceptive, compassionate side, displaying a strong emotion, evoking a memory or even providing a message. I believe this opens minds and gives way to a more empathic and fulfilled society.

Instagram: @Scar.Rev
Website: www.scarlettnovoa.com 

Taofique Folarin (TAF) is a Jamaican-Nigerian Afro-queer artist and activist from the West Midlands. His vibrant work explores themes of healing, mental health, and identity. TAF’s practice is rooted in truth, authenticity, and freedom, all reflecting his heritage. With an investigative, instinctive, and divinely guided approach to art, he challenges conventions by drawing on his lived experiences and vulnerability. Beyond struggle, there is joy. There is healing. This is transformation.