Lydia Rose is a multidisciplinary artist, cultural organiser and creative health practitioner based in London. Working at the intersection of art, health and community organising, her practice seeks to build life-affirming relations and systems through radical creativity and collaboration.
Lydia’s art, writing and community practice have been commissioned and supported by several organisations, such as the Greater London Authority, Healing Justice London, the Wellcome Collection, London Arts and Health, Arts & Health Hub, and the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance.
Since 2021, Lydia has led the development and delivery of Allie’s Art Club, a grassroots community arts co-operative that provides fun and inclusive opportunities for creative expression, collective care and cultural empowerment.
Lydia has designed and delivered a wide range of projects and events with Allie’s Art Club, such as monthly art socials, creative workshops, community arts fairs, open mic shows and a collective exhibition. These have uplifted and empowered over 800 local people in London, and been supported by partners and funders such as the Greater London Authority, Foundation for Future London, Social Ark, Islington Council, Cripplegate Foundation, Cubitt gallery, Skaped and Power With.
Lydia’s work is informed by her positionality as a queer, neurodivergent woman of colour and survivor with lived experience of health inequality. She has shared insights from her lived experiences and community practice at several local and national events and advisory groups.
She is a member of Evidence Islington’s Strategic Development Board and Co-operative UK’s Youth Advisory Group; worked as a Lived Experience Expert for the Arts and Humanities Research Council; and facilitated sessions on inclusion and diversity at the London Creative Health City event and art, health and anti-racism at the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance 2023 National Conference.
As a multidisciplinary artist, Lydia explores a range of creative mediums such as poetry, painting and collage, and themes such as health, identity, community and abolition.
She was commissioned by Healing Justice London to make a multimedia collage on psych abolition for their platform In Practice. Her autobiographical story is published in LGBTQIA+ Phobia in the Mental Health System, an anthology funded by Wellcome Collection and Unlimited. She published her debut spoken word album This Body of Mine with funding from London Arts and Health, Arts & Health Hub and Raw Material Music and Media as part of the Artists’ Represent Recovery Network, a support and development programme for ethnically diverse creative health practitioners.
Lydia has worked as a creative facilitator in a range of community, health and youth settings across London, such as South London and Maudsley Hospital, St Margaret’s House, Stanley Arts Centre, Connect & Do, Space4, the Vibast Community Centre and the Vagina Museum.
As a facilitator, she provides inclusive, engaging and trauma-informed spaces for diverse participants to express themselves, build supportive relationships, learn about topics such as self-care, human rights and activism, and improve their mental health and wellbeing.
She has trained in somatics and incorporates somatic understandings and practices to support participants’ embodied sense of safety, and has facilitated creative activities ranging from poetry to co-design.
To see more of Lydia’s work, you can view her art portfolio:
You can read about a day in the life of her work on the Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance blog:
TESTIMONIALS
‘Lydia is an exceptional artist and we are more than happy to support her ideas and believe strongly
Anna Woolf FRSA, CEO of London Arts and Health
in her capability and vision as an artist and practitioner.‘
‘Lydia meets every task she faces with a tremendous amount of passion. She is a compassionate leader who continuously offers support and encouragement‘
Erin Earp, Creative Projects Team Leader at Skaped
‘Lydia is not just a great artist, poet and organiser but a truly wonderful human being with a
Mark C. Bolton, resident poet at Urban Dandy London
great sense of humanity and non-judgemental persona‘
Lydia Rose 