Westminster students explore careers in the arts at latest What Comes Next? event

The event took place on 26 November at the University’s Harrow Campus and was co-organised by the Alumni Relations Office and Peggy Atherton, an artist and Senior Lecturer at the Westminster School of Arts. The discussion was chaired by artist, Senior Lecturer and Fine Art Mixed Media BA Honours Course Leader Raine Smith. He was joined by course alumni Folake Fadojutimi, Karen David, Karolina Žalėnaitė and Konstantinos Argyroglou, who all shared their career insights and offered valuable advice.

Folake Fadojutimi is an artist and 2D animator based in east London, who creates hand-drawn animations that explore urgent issues around the effect of media and technology on the contemporary world. She explores the cultural history of “‘rubber-hose”’ animation and its entanglement with the exploitation and misrepresentation of the Black body.

Karen David is a London-based artist whose practice explores the transpersonal and mythmaking through paint, narratives and diagrams. Her work has been exhibited in galleries such as the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, Site Gallery, Sheffield, and Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum.  

Karolina Žalėnaitė is currently studying for a Master’s in Culture, Criticism and Curation and works as a Gallery Assistant at StolenSpace Gallery in London. She also is part of Transit Grp, a collective of early-career creatives inspired by encounters within transitional urban spaces.

The final panelist was Konstantinos Argyroglou Argyropoulos, an artist whose practice focuses on intimacy, care and subjectivity through the prism of memory. Through his work, Konstantinos explores ways of revisiting his childhood memories, both physical and emotional, via an embodied approach, contributing to a wider economy of care in the field of learning difficulties and dyslexia.

The panel discussed a range of useful topics before opening the floor for a Q&A for students. The event concluded with a networking session where the 39 students in attendance had the opportunity to speak with the alumni panellists face to face and ask them specific questions about their future careers.  

Amore Farrag, Fine Art Mixed Media BA Honours student, said: “I enjoyed hearing about the many different routes available, it made me feel less constricted and more confident that it will all work out in the end.” 

Haydn Worley, Senior Alumni Officer, commented: “It was lovely to see our panel of alumni providing such honest insight and advice to lots of Fine Art Mixed Media BA Honours students. There were many great questions from the students during the Q&A and informally during networking at the end. Raine was a wonderful chair and there was a nice buzz in the room throughout.”

This event directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 4: Quality Education and 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.

Find out more about studying Fine Art Mixed Media BA Honours at the University of Westminster.