Photo by Bethan Elford
Lu Williams lives and works in Southend-on-sea
b. Essex, 1993
Studio
The Old Waterworks, Southend-on-sea
Founder Grrrl Zine Fair
Co-founder Dog Ear
Williams uses research and community engagement to produce zines, print, sculpture, drawing, writing, events and workshops. They are interested in social history, accessibility, labour, DIY culture, protest and makes work through the lens of queerness,
neurodivergence and working classness.
Email: info@luwilliams.com
@luwilliamsdotcom
For zine workshop enquires email lu@grrrlzinefair.com
Selected Publications
Collaboration with Mary Mattingly, Published by Focal Point Gallery, Edition number 104, May 2021
Design.
Radical Possibilities
Art & Queer Identity published by Common Thread Press, March 2021
Contributing writer.
It's Only Me In The Playground
A zine, pin badge, and scratchcard design for Sad Night Dynamite, Parlophone Records, February 2021.
published by Holly Revell for SHOUT Festival, November 2020.
Design.
published by Metal Culture, October 2020.
Featured Artist.
published by FEM Press featuring artists Caitlin King, Kai Isaiah Jamal, Rene Matic, Harve and Otamere Guobadia, September 2020.
Design.
published by Lu Williams for Essex Book Festival, Essex 2020, September 2020.
Handmade paper zine, digital scan and 500 duplicates.
Workshops, Content generation, Design, Printing.
Grrrl In Print Issue 4
published by Grrrl Zine Fair, September 2020.
Concept, Editing, Design, Publishing.
published by Chelmsford Creatives 14-24yr olds + Chelmsford Council, September 2020.
Workshop content generation, Design.
To Dream Effectively Activity Pack
Activity Pack for Focal Point Gallery, October 2020.
Design and workshop concepts.
Activity Pack for Focal Point Gallery, June 2020.
Design and workshop concepts.
Activity Packs for Southend Museums, June 2020
Concept and Design.
A zine exploring art and activism in Basildon, published by Lu Williams and The Old Waterworks Press, November 2019.
Workshops, Concept, Editing, Writing, Commissions and Design.
The DIY Revolution In Female Self-Publishing
by Gemma Villegas.
published by Monsa Publications.
Featured Artist.
published by IDEA, 2017
created by Bay Garnett and Kira Jolliffe
Contributing Artist.
Selected Talks + Workshops
Zines As A Tool For Activism, Host,
Estuary Festival, May 2021.
Alt Art Education Conference, Conway Hall, July 2020.
Facebook Analogue Lab, June 2020.
Radical Histories of Basildon Talk, Radical Essex, Beecroft Gallery, October 2019.
Guest artist at International Literature Festival Dublin, 23rd-24th May 2019.
Education Workshops as part of Chisenhale Galleries Mandy El Sayegh Exhibition 2019
Educator at The Other MA, TOMA shop space with Essex University February-March, 2019
Mural project, developing a 6m mural with students at Woodlands High School for Make Happen, Basildon, 2019.
Workshops and talk for teenage girls as part of Natwest Women’s Prize For Fiction, Summer 2019.
Zine Workshop and Feminist Library Installation, A Vote for Whom? Victoria and Albert Museum Friday Late, March 2018
Selected Artworks + Exhibitions + Awards
Creative Estuary and Focal Point Gallery awarded commission to create a large-scale public artwork summer 2022.
Never Have I Ever
Print exhibited as part of Precarious Straights, The Other MA Project Space, June 2021
Lu Williams and Mary Mattingly, Published by Focal Point Gallery, May 2021
Artquest Adaptions Award, March 2021
Listen, Learn, Change, Rebuild
TOMA Takeover at Focal Point Gallery, July 2020.
The Agency Of Visible Women, Beecroft Gallery.
2019-2020
Representing Realness, Group Show, No Format Gallery curated by Liv Taylor, July 2019.
Grrrl Zine Library
Art Book Fair in China, Exhibitor and featured artist, Times Art Museum, Beijing, June 2019.
Grrrl Zine Library
Still I Rise: Nottingham Contemporary, 2019
Grrrl Zine Library
The Other Art Fair, 2018
Grrrl Zine Library
Grrrls On Film, screening 15 emerging artists films, A Woman With A Movie Camera Summit, British Film Institute, June 2018 and 2019.
Billboard design for Phytology Bill Posters, Bethnal Green, May 2018
Soft VergesThe Agency Of Visible Women, Beecroft Gallery, February 2017
'100% Southend', Twenty One, curated by Focal Point Gallery, July 2017.
Selected Curation
Estuary Festival 2021, Opening Weekend
Online talks, performances, walks, live and recorded in sync with low and high tide times plus biodegradable and online artist sticker commissions, May - June 2021.
Curator.
Grrrl Zine Fair Online Fair
Virtual marketplace, workshops, DJ sets and performances funded by Arts Council England, May 2020.
Curation and Production.
Village Green Festival, July 2019.
Curation, production, design and marketing.
Village Green July 2019, Arcade Campfa, Cardiff, November 2019.
Exhibition curation and programming.
International Women’s Day Southend 2019
Twenty One, Southend-on-sea, March 2019.
Curation and Production.
Grrrl Zine Fair Space
Talks, Workshops, Grrrl Zine Library exhibition.
London Illustration Fair, 2018
Curator and Production.