Nottingham is home to some of the most impressive street art which can be found all over our city walls. The city has become a colourful canvas where you can see artworks from well-known artists such as Kid 30 and Anna Wheelhouse. We've even had our very own Banksy piece in recent months.
There are many stories behind the artwork but street art can often, and wrongly, be associated with being only male artists. Nottingham has a strong tradition of female artists who are responsible for some of the city's best artworks.
Laura Decorum has always been an artist using different surfaces to express her creativity. She had a background in mural painting but also as a face painter in the city before swapping it for legal spaces and walls.
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"I used to work in children's care homes a long time ago but I've always been a painter. I would get permission to do murals in the children's homes based on what they liked. I was also a face painter too so I've basically changed faces for something completely inanimate," she said.
Laura's style can change depending on the surface that she is working on but she does enjoy more surrealist designs. Her favourite piece is one with a lot of meaning behind it.
"My favourite piece is one that was a memorial for a close friend, a Nottingham rapper, who passed away. I did it about a week after he passed and it had a lot of emotion in it."
When it comes to the Nottingham street art scene, Laura says that like any industry, it can be male-dominated and that the fleeting nature of the art can be a deterrent as artists see their work vanish.
"It's like any industry really but I think it's quite difficult but there isn't that much permanence in the painting. Artists who potentially want to do something in the city can find it a bit soul destroying when they put effort, time and money into their art which is being painted in a communal community space then it disappears."
When it comes to getting involved with street art, Laura suggests that anyone looking to get involved should look at legal spaces and give it a go. Often, cities will have designated street art spaces in a bid to encourage new artists, contain art or tags in certain areas or create community art projects.
"It's a case of just approaching legal spaces to see if you can actively go and paint. It's about exploring what you want to paint and just having a laugh while doing it."
Emily Catherine is a well-known Nottingham artist who has incorporated street art elements into her work. She has also swapped the canvas for a wall or two.
"A lot of my work is informed by everyday life, everyday culture including street culture. A few people said to me, have you tried graffiti but I didn't really know how to get into it or how to start. I had a little community of people who were encouraging me and my first painting was organised by a fellow female artist," she said.
"It was really nice painting at that scale because it was something that I hadn't done before. Painting with a can is so quick and I really enjoyed it but that's the street art element of my practice."
Emily highlights that the community often recommends each other for work and that a lot of jobs come through by word of mouth from happy clients who love her style. She feels that graffiti and street art have changed a lot since they began in the 1980s and there is a gender balance from being anonymous.
"I think we are very lucky that nowadays since its inception in the 1980s it has changed a good deal. Everyone is considered equal as long as they are really good artists and are respectful of what has come before them. Some of the biggest street artists who paint illegally are women but we don't know they are because they are anonymous," she explained.
"They never do interviews or show their face so how would you know? Because we are anonymous as are our male counterparts in the graffiti community then this is one of the more equal practices but if you are looking at it from an art point of view then it is male-dominated."
Emily feels her favourite piece was one she did at the Leicester Street Art Festival. She is also known for her large portraits of famous people such as Frieda Kahlo and Biggie Smalls.
" I was in between two male artists who were doing very colourful pieces and the boards were black. I wanted to do a very stark portrait of a lady with gold freckles but there would have been lots of space between their pieces rather than it flowing into each other. I was very proud I got over that creative block and it was actually really good."
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