Artist Spotlight: Fiona Quadri

Fiona Quadri is a London-based artist, educator, and community builder with a background in Postcolonial Studies and Advertisin.

How has your lived experience shaped your practice?
My lived experience has been central to shaping my creative practice. As someone exploring displacement, community, and race through the lens of queer BIPOC communities, I’m constantly aware of the intersections of identity, belonging, and marginalised histories. Growing up with an Austro-Nigerian diasporic perspective, I was drawn to the gaps in mainstream narratives—this led me to explore historical archives, study postcolonial theory, and engage with community groups focused on borderless social movements.

Today, my everyday interactions—whether with friends, family, or strangers—are brought into my work. Good memories, difficult moments, fleeting conversations—all of it finds its way into what I create. I collect snippets in my visual diaries, write down quotes and observations, and absorb the energy of London’s streets, often from the top deck of a bus. Illustration has become a key tool for responding to my daily research, but my practice isn’t confined to that. I see myself as a community builder and visual archivist—whether through workshops, poster-making, talks, or lectures, my aim is to create safe, de-hierarchised spaces that shape accessibility, purpose, care, and change.

What are some of your biggest influences and motivations in your work? What issues are you passionate about working on?

My work is shaped by DIY publishing cultures, activist-led creative practices, and postcolonial histories—using them as tools for resistance and community-building. I’m especially interested in how art can serve as an archive for lived experiences that are often erased or overlooked. Racial justice, queer liberation, and decolonial storytelling are at the heart of what I do, particularly within cultural institutions confronting their colonial legacies. Collaboration is also central to my practice; I love working with grassroots organisations and community spaces to facilitate creative conversations and collective action.

Where are you based and what excites you about the creative community around you?
I’m based in London, a city that I never get bored of exploring. Through it, I’ve built deep friendships and a strong network of like-minded people who challenge institutional norms and prioritise accessibility, care, and radical imagination. Collective spaces and collaborative making are at the heart of my practice. One space that profoundly shaped me is Livesey Exchange 1 (sadly now closed). It’s important to acknowledge this because Nicholas, the founder, created something indispensable in the post-COVID landscape—a space that brought together some of the most creative, radical, and passionate thinkers and makers I’ve ever met.

See more of Fiona’s work HERE