Boscombe Radicle Arts Collective
B.R.A.C was formed in response to a clear gap in Dorset’s arts scene, where global majority artists often felt isolated, underrepresented, and without access to the same opportunities or networks. Led by artists from Afro-Caribbean, African, Jamaican, Iranian and Lebanese backgrounds, B.R.A.C creates a space rooted in shared experience, support, and visibility. It exists to bring artists together, build confidence, share knowledge, and open doors shifting the landscape so it better reflects the communities who live and create here.
Radicle – A radicle is the embryonic root of as of a plant, representing the first part of a seedling to emerge during germination. It grows downward into the soil, anchoring the plant and absorbing nutrients. It is also defined as a rudimentary root or small root-like structure, often called a rootlet or primary root.
Boscombe Radicle Artists
Founder, Chairperson, Artist, Curator and Mother
Sharon James (she/her)She is a Black, queer mother and visual artist based in Dorset, working across painting, drawing, and printmaking. Her practice is deeply autobiographical, rooted in lived experience and shaped by the intersections of identity, place, and memory. Through her work, she explores what it means to exist as Black and queer within a predominantly white, rural landscape, addressing themes of motherhood, belonging, heritage, and visibility.
Her paintings and prints reimagine everyday domestic and coastal scenes, positioning Blackness within spaces where it is often absent or overlooked. Moving between the personal and the collective, her work engages with both contemporary experience and historical narratives, creating a visual language that holds presence, absence, and legacy.
Driven by a desire to leave something tangible for future generations, her practice expands representations of Black British life and contributes to a more inclusive and honest cultural record.
Vice Chairperson, Artist, Installation Creatrix and Curator
Artist Statement
Carmel De’Lisser (she/her), is a self taught intuitive artist of mixed heritage. Her work is deeply rooted in symbolism and the journeys we take in transformation and awakenings.“I believe to bare your soul through a creative process is to breathe life into your own story.”
Working in “flow state” and using meditation and ritual as part of her practice each piece is direct response to time, place and emotional connection. Multiform artist using words, pictures and sculpture to tell stories and explore her connection to the natural and spiritual world and the place it has in our modern lives.
Artist, Textile Artist
Artist Statement
Karina West (she/her), is a Poole-based artist whose work draws from her lived experiences. Through mixed media, including painting, textiles, tufted art, punch needle embroidery, sound, and installation, Karina explores themes of identity, growth, and resilience. Her work often incorporates symbolic and uplifting imagery, such as vibrant colours, feathers, celestial motifs, and natural elements, to reflect the complexities of dual heritage and the ongoing journey of self-discovery.
Karina’s art is deeply personal, with recurring motifs that celebrate authenticity, inner strength, and the imperfect beauty of becoming. She invites viewers to engage with her evolving narrative, inspiring conversations about hope, transformation, and the layers that shape who we are.
Actress, Writer, Poet and Artist
Artist Statement
Anne Charbel (she/her), is a writer, theatre-maker, and installation artist based in Bournemouth. She trained with Identity School of Acting (IDSA). Anne has performed with several local theatre groups, and is a founding member of the Boscombe Radicle Arts Collective (BRAC).
Environmental Activist, Herbalist, Artist
Artist Statement
Monica Bonomo, (she/her). Monica’s work explores our relationship with plants through botanical crafts such as herbal medicine, natural colour exploration, and plant-based storytelling. At the heart of her practice lies a deep interest in our ever-evolving connection to the Earth and the knowledge systems that have sustained this relationship across generations. Through environmental activism and socially engaged practice, she seeks to broaden our understanding of community, recognising the intricate, co-evolved relationships between humans, plants, and the wider ecosystem.
Working primarily with organic materials such as natural fibres and plants, she often incorporate repurposed and recycled elements, honouring cycles of regeneration and care. Digital media forms an important part of the process, documenting the landscapes, gardens, and environments she engages with. Inspired by markets, forests, and communal growing spaces, her practice aims to preserve traditional knowledge, reveal the living and medicinal properties of plants, and foster environmental awareness rooted in care, reciprocity, and connection.
Puppeteer, Artist, Writer
Artist Statement
Mahtab Grimshaw (she/her), is a British/Iranian multidisciplinary artist whose practice centres on puppetry, wellbeing, and community connection. She holds a B.A. in Puppetry Theatre and an M.A. in Drama & Literature from the University of Tehran, and has recently completed a Diploma in Puppet Therapy, deepening her interest in how puppets can act as bridges to our deepest human emotions. Her work explores the unique, transformative way humans interact with puppets, how they offer distance, metaphor, safety, and surprising emotional honesty. She has also worked for more than a decade as an art director, TV host, producer, animator for media.
Alongside her studio practice, Mahtab facilitates clay, sculpting, and puppetry workshops for families, focusing on creativity, confidence, and collaborative storytelling. Her projects bring together art, culture, and human connection, shaped by her belief in the transformative power of shared creative experiences.
She is an active member of the global majority collectives Kainaat and BRAC, and recently launched a small Persian supper club that blends food, poetry, culture, and community, another way she brings people together around stories and shared care.
Artist
Artist Statement
Born to Zambian and Scottish parents Dorset based artist, Jack draws upon a range of cultural influences in his work. He uses a variety of media including digitally images, textiles, painting and drawing. At the heart of his practice is observation, responding to the world around him, to people and their stories. Each element in the background of his densely layered, mixed media work has meaning. Images, colours and patterns are sometimes literal or biographical; sometimes they are more ambiguous or metaphorical.
Jack exhibits regularly including a solo show at the Russell Cotes Gallery in Bournemouth and group shows in London. He has work in the National Portrait Gallery’s online collection and the Guildhall, City of London. He participated in Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year in 2020, appeared on the BBC series Make it At Market in 2023 and took part BBC One’s Extraordinary Portraits with Bill Bailey in 2025 and 2026. Jack has been shortlisted and longlisted for various prizes and exhibitions including: the Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters, the ING Discerning Eye, the RWA Open and the Jacksons Painting Prize. Some of notable commissions have been for Netflix, Voltalia, Hall & Woodhouse, Talbot Heath School and Nosakhari.
Vice Chair Person, Portrait Artist, Painter, Community Artist
Artist Statement
Adilson Naueji (he/him) is a self-taught Angolan painter based in Bournemouth, England, known for socially engaged, thought-provoking work. Rooted in his Ovimbundu and Tchokwé heritage, his practice draws on research into African rituals, masks, and traditions, aiming to document and share histories while empowering Black communities.
Working primarily in acrylic and oil, Naueji uses a realist approach centred on human features to explore the relationship between individuals and their environments. His paintings capture moments of everyday urban life, amplifying authentic, often overlooked narratives.
Though an emerging artist, he has quickly gained recognition. Recent highlights include his debut solo exhibition BH5 Boscombe Beyond Your Eyes, exploring marginalisation and resilience; co-founding the Boscombe Radicle Artist Collective (BRAC); exhibiting at BEAF Art Festival 2023; and winning the Lighthouse Poole Open Call 2024.
Environmental Activist, Herbalist, Artist
Artist Statement
Monica Bonomo, (she/her). Monica’s work explores our relationship with plants through botanical crafts such as herbal medicine, natural colour exploration, and plant-based storytelling. At the heart of her practice lies a deep interest in our ever-evolving connection to the Earth and the knowledge systems that have sustained this relationship across generations. Through environmental activism and socially engaged practice, she seeks to broaden our understanding of community, recognising the intricate, co-evolved relationships between humans, plants, and the wider ecosystem.
Working primarily with organic materials such as natural fibres and plants, she often incorporate repurposed and recycled elements, honouring cycles of regeneration and care. Digital media forms an important part of the process, documenting the landscapes, gardens, and environments she engages with. Inspired by markets, forests, and communal growing spaces, her practice aims to preserve traditional knowledge, reveal the living and medicinal properties of plants, and foster environmental awareness rooted in care, reciprocity, and connection.
Puppeteer, Artist, Writer
Artist Statement
Mahtab Grimshaw (she/her), is a British/Iranian multidisciplinary artist whose practice centres on puppetry, wellbeing, and community connection. She holds a B.A. in Puppetry Theatre and an M.A. in Drama & Literature from the University of Tehran, and has recently completed a Diploma in Puppet Therapy, deepening her interest in how puppets can act as bridges to our deepest human emotions. Her work explores the unique, transformative way humans interact with puppets, how they offer distance, metaphor, safety, and surprising emotional honesty. She has also worked for more than a decade as an art director, TV host, producer, animator for media.
Alongside her studio practice, Mahtab facilitates clay, sculpting, and puppetry workshops for families, focusing on creativity, confidence, and collaborative storytelling. Her projects bring together art, culture, and human connection, shaped by her belief in the transformative power of shared creative experiences.
She is an active member of the global majority collectives Kainaat and BRAC, and recently launched a small Persian supper club that blends food, poetry, culture, and community, another way she brings people together around stories and shared care.
Artist
Artist Statement
Frida (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, DJ and currently a Fine Arts student at Arts Bournemouth University, exploring identity, memory, and emotion through film photography, screen printing, and tactile materials like clay, wood, and metal which are rooted in her African heritage.
Born and raised in Italy, she cherishes memories and a sense of belonging. Through her experiences in some west African countries and western societies—she reflects on the complexity of everyday life, the weight of memory and the strength of underrepresented voices.
Guided by imagination and emotion rather than rigid plans, she create art that honours vulnerability, challenges norms, and embraces imperfection.
Her practice is a space for truth, transformation, and connection—where memory and material come together to tell stories that are often unseen but deeply felt.
Writer, Poet and Artist
Artist Statement
Tobi Aluko (he/him) is inspired by the artistic expressions of the Romantic era. He creates paintings, fiction, poetry and rhetoric in this expression, but reimagined for a modern audience. He considers his expression, 21st Century Romanticism. His artistic focus revolves around the central theme of love, beauty and the love for nature.
Tobi believes, ‘…art has the power to teach love, a profound need in today’s world.’
boscombe Radicle arts collective 