Roshana Rubin Mayhew is an interdisciplinary artistic researcher presently focused on holding and wrestling-with a bodyweight of clay. This practice-based research investigates generative approaches to trauma and the collective live charge through methods of improvisation…or, weight, rhythm, rubs, and sweet spots. This places emphasis on bodily knowledge, disciplinarily dissonant experimentation, and philosophies of emergence. With a background in visual art and body-based practices, performance, and music, Roshana has shared and developed work through exhibitions, live performances, performance lectures, workshops, publications, and neckerchiefs. Roshana is currently undertaking research at the Royal College of Art, collaborating with the pedagogical collective Gentle Gestures, lecturing at Istituto Europeo di Design Milan, and living in London UK.
Upcoming
2025
21-27 February
RCA Research Biennale | Royal College of Art (Battersea), London
Past
Exhibitions and Performances
2024 The rub of the sweet spot | Performance, Queer Materialities Live!, Glasgow School of Art
2024 w tenderness | Chasma, Beaconsfield Gallery, London
2023 Suits from Feeling the Blues | Queereal Secretions, Annex Gallery, Glasgow
2023 Pre- and Remains Movement II: MAKE ME WET | Earthwise, Beaconsfield Gallery, London
2023 Movement II: MAKE ME WET | Performance, Hopscotch Research Biennale, Copeland Gallery, London
2022 4’45”, hold | Performance & remains, Unruly Encounters, Southwark Park Galleries, London
2022 coma burrito | Performance, Weathering Entanglement Research Platform, Dungeness
2021 Just Dreaming, Entanglement Research Platform, Royal College of Art, London
2021 stigma root cap | Performance, Royal College of Art Research Platform, London
2021 Visiting | Research Biennale, Royal College of Art, London
2020 desire-gram | Grand Re Union issue: Rooted Hauntology co-curated by Ingrid Vranken & Marta Keil | Art Stations Foundation, Poznan & Counter Pulse, San Francisco
2020 Trio Talk Rhizome #2/1 with Eva Karczag and Mayfield Brooks, Trio Talk Rhizome #3/1 with Jennifer Monson and Mariana Renthel | Grand Re Union issue: Liquefaction curated by Peter Pleyer | Art Stations Foundation, Poznan & Counter Pulse, San Francisco
2020 Beyond Beyond with Queer Street Press | Paris Ass Book Fair , Palais The Tokyo, Paris (Covid cancelled)
2019 Portals (Beyond Beyond) | Stand by me, Pelagica, MiArt & Milano Art Week, Milan
2019 Beyond Beyond with Queer Street Press | Strange Perfume, South London Gallery
2019 Rationalising a stepping away from rationality, or Blue Amadou | We belong to a poetry club, Walk-in Studio, Milan
2018 Anomalies in the flux of normal things | Solo exhibition, Nowhere Gallery, Milan
2017 Notes for a new world order (Beyond Beyond) | Shape of things to come, Nowhere Gallery, Milan
2017 Notes for a new world order: Portal #1 (Beyond Beyond) | Solo exhibition, Artquest Lifeboat Residency, London
2016 Where space is granular, things are nowhere and time does not exist | Screensavers at Artquest Lifeboat Residency, London
2016 Underfoot is space | 26 Caledonian Road, Geddes Gallery, London
2015 Metacrush | The Present Hurts, London College of Communication, London
2014 What is Left? (with Ellie Harrison, The Grief Series) | Solo UK Touring exhibition in empty houses (b-side Multimedia Arts Festival Portland, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Stockton Arc, Barnsley Civic)
2014 SAVANNAH (GJRL collective) | Solo exhibition, Art Licks Weekend, A_Space, London
2014 I’m (not) sorry (GJRL Collective) | Jonas Julekort 2014, Jonas Julekort, Copenhagen
2013 Film start time | Performing Paper, Paper Gallery, Manchester
2013 The Breath Collection | Vantage Art Prize 2013, Leeds
2012 The Sleep Collection | Solo exhibition, Islington Mill, Salford
2012 The Breath Collection | Salon Art Prize 2012, Matt Robert’s Art Gallery & Griffin Gallery, London
2012 The Breath Collection | World Event Young Artists 2012, Lakeside Arts Centre, Nottingham
2012 Film Start Time | The Manchester Contemporary, Represented by Paper Gallery, Manchester
2012 The Breath Collection | Culture Cloud, New Art Exchange, Nottingham
2012 Glimpse | Photography Open 2012 at Surface Gallery, Nottingham
2012 Photographic works | Paper, Paper Gallery, Manchester
2011 Film Start Time | Solo exhibition, Cornerhouse (now HOME), Manchester
2007 My Home a Social Space | Performance, My Flat, Manchester
2006 Microwaveable Moments | Performance, Method Lab Live Art Commission, greenroom, Manchester
2006 Melting Moment No. 1 | Performance, Live art cabaret at Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts
2005 ?erhaps | Performance for Emergency at greenroom, Manchester
Research & Conferences
2024 Research Lab with research lead Professor Johnny Golding | Radical Matter Research proto-Centre
2024 Conference Stream Collaboration and Collectivising: Potentials and Intersections curated with Gentle Gestures | London Conference in Critical Thought, University of Greenwich, London
2023 Research Assistant Glasgow School of Art Research Platform, Lead Researcher Dr Nicky Coutts | Glasgow School of Art
2023 Presented Queer invention through the pleasurable flow of improvisation in conference stream Thinking-Feeling Desire in the Now: Post-Capitalist Desire and Practices of the Body, London Conference in Critical Thought | London Metropolitan University
2023 Conference Stream Gentle Gestures curated with Gentle Gestures, London Conference in Critical Thought | London Metropolitan University
2020-2023 Research Group Entanglement with research lead Professor Johnny Golding, Royal College of Art, London
2022 Research Assistant Representation of Women Artists in the UK During 2021, Lead Researcher Dr Charlotte Bonham-Carter | Freelands Foundation
2022 Presented HOLD! refold in conference stream Sticky Matters, London Conference in Critical Thought | Birkbeck College, University of London
2020 Research Group Diagram with research lead Dr Catherine Ferguson | Royal College of Art, London
2015 Conference Laughing My Art Off co-organised and chaired | London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London
Awards & Grants, Commissions & Residencies
2024-2026 London Arts & Humanities Partnership Doctoral Research Funding (Arts & Humanities Research Council)
2022 Royal College of Art Research Funding, working with Kathy Crick (Trinity Laban)
2017-2018 Contact & The Proud Trust Commission (Beyond Beyond)
2017 BJP Portrait of Britain (Beyond Beyond)
2016-2017 Artquest Lifeboat Studio Residency
2015-2016 Metro Imaging Mentorship Award
2016 Magnum Graduate Photographers Award (nominee)
2015 R&D Residency with City Arcadia, Artspace (Beyond Beyond)
2014 £70k+ Grants for the arts and residencies across Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, b-side Multimedia Arts Festival Portland, Stockton Arc, Barnsley Civic, supported by Arts Council England in collaboration with Ellie Harrison/The Grief Series
2012 R&D Arts Council England funding in collaboration with Ellie Harrison
2012 Residency at Islington Mill
2006 Method Lab Live Art Commission, greenroom and hoeb
2006 Nuffield Theatre Commission, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts
2006 The Prince’s Trust funding for creative practitioner educational workshops
Lecturing and Workshops
Since 2017 Lecturer, course designer and unit lead | Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan
2023-2024 Associate Lecturer | University of East London
2021-2023 Associate Lecturer | University of the Arts, London
2019 Possible Utopias Cross-course four-day workshop | Istituto Europeo di Design, Milan
2018 On Desiring & Unknowing Workshop | Islington Mill Art Academy Masters, Salford
2017 Workshop Leader | London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London
2012 Visiting Lecturer | Manchester Metropolitan University
2011 On documenting performance Workshop | 11-11-11, Manchester
2010 Mentor and Workshop Leader | Future Fires at Contact, Manchester
2010 Creative Practitioner | Centre for Urban Education, Greater Manchester secondary schools
2007 Artist Assistant | Creative Partnerships, Greater Manchester primary and secondary schools
2006 Creative Practitioner | Pupil Referral Units, Manchester
Publications
2024 Gentle Gestures: contexts, spaces and approaches beyond the academy
Issue edited for Makings Journal, co-editor with Anouk Hoogendoorn, Sophie Mak-Schram and Dr Paul Stewart (Gentle Gestures)
2023 Feeling the Blues in ‘Queereal Secretions’ eds Nicky Coutts & Henry Rogers | Glasgow: Queer Materialities Network
2023 Entanglement Neckerchief in ‘Earthwise’ | London: Royal College of Art
2021 stigma root cap in ‘PROVA 6’ eds Chantal Faust & Nicky Coutts | London: Royal College of Art
2020 A next beyond (Queer is a portal) in ‘Modern Queer Poets’ | London: Pilot Press
Collaborations
Since 2022 Gentle Gestures with Anouk Hoogendoorn, Sophie Mak-Schram and Dr Paul Alexander Stewart
2016-2020 Beyond Beyond with Giulia Astesani
2014-2016 GJRL collective with Giulia Astesani, Jessie McLaughlin and Lalu Delbracio
2012-2014 with Ellie Harrison on The Grief Series
Press
The Independent, BBC 4 Women’s Hour, BBC Manchester, BBC Sheffield, The Big Issue, 1000 Words (Beyond Beyond), Artquest, DIVA (Beyond Beyond), Girls Like Us – Family issue (GJRL), Buzzfeed (GJRL), Modus Operandi/T14 Contemporary (Beyond Beyond), Central Station, Walk-in Studio, Pample-Mousse (Beyond Beyond), The Old Girls Club (Beyond Beyond), L-Mag (GJRL), The Northern Echo, Lancaster Guardian, Dorset Echo, Art Daily, The Mancunion
Education
Since 2020 PhD Practice-based Research, School of Arts & Humanities, Royal College of Art, London
2015 MA Photography with Distinction, University of The Arts, London
2009 Graphic Design HND with Distinction, Manchester College
2005 Foundation Art & Design with Distinction, Manchester Metropolitan University