BIO

Olivia Twist is an Illustrator and Educator from East London with a socially engaged practice which centres community.

The key threads which can be found in her work are place, the mundane and overlooked narratives. Her visual language comprises of a myriad of esoteric layers informed by a propensity for human-centred research methods.

As a practitioner her aims are to provide her audience with 'the shock of the familiar' and to trigger greater intergenerational discussion.

She has a particular interest in participatory design, relational aesthetics and documenting social history as it unfolds.

Olivia’s work can be found in the permanent collection of the Museum of London. She has designed a special edition Air Max 95 Sneaker for Nike. Her practice spans artists residencies both here and abroad, advertising campaigns for Apple Music workshops for National Portrait Gallery, editorial illustrations for Penguin and murals for local youth groups.

SELECTED CLIENTS

Nike, Apple Music, St. Christophers Hospice , Penguin Books, Carney’s Community Youth Club, It’s Nice That, Tate, House of Illustration, Levi’s, Graeae Theatre, WePresent, The Guardian, BBC, Bonnier Books, Vans, The Drawing Room, Victoria & Albert Museum, Wellcome Collection, The Design Museum, Blackhorse Responders & Rizzoli

teaching EXPERIENCE

Lecturer in BA Illustration Animation @ Kingston University

Lecturer in BA Graphic Design @ University for the Creative Arts: Epsom

Visiting Lecturer in MA Visual Communication @ Royal College of Art

Associate Lecturer in BA Illustration @ University of the Arts London

Awards

2023 Bologna Ragazzi Award - The Art of Protest

2019 Taschen: The Illustrator 100 Best from Around the World

2017 Quentin Blake - Narrative Drawing Prize 

WORKSHOPS

2024>>>>>>>>>>>

Rock Paper Scissors @ The Drawing Room, Blackhorse First Responders, Harris Boys School x Africa Centre

<<<<<<<<<<<2024

BADU Sports,  Winchester School of Art, Blackhorse First Responders, Leyton Sixth Form College x Barbican & V&A East, Drawing Room, Museum of London, Nike, VANS X MOMA, Spread the Word X Lewisham Youth Clubs, Leyton Sixth Form College x Barbican, UAL Graphic Design Summer school & Teachers Assembly x The Drawing Room , Battersea Bikes x Carneys Community,  St. Monica’s Primary School X Peer Gallery, Coal Drops Yard, Friday Sketch @ Design Museum,  House of Illustration & Royal College of Art, OPO Workshop, The Missing Chapter Collective x Tate Modern, Rosetta art centre, V&A Friday Late; Threads & Blackhorse Workshop x Princes Trust, V&A Friday late; Quids in, V&A Friday late ; Gal-dem (expanded), Stratford Arts Centre, The Missing Chapter x Peckham platform, ReachOut & Impact Hub

ON BOOKSHELVES

Contenuti Espliciti - Rizzoli, 2023

Outsiders: Flock Together - Octopus books, 2022

Runaways London - Ink Sweat and Tears, 2021

Black Joy - Penguin, 2021

Illustration Research Methods - Bloomsbury, 2021

The Art of Protest - Bonnier, 2021

Happy Here - Knights Of, 2021

The Illustrator - Taschen, 2020

Exhibitions

-Netflix: A portrait of a Top Boy @ Somerset House, September 2023

-Black Eats London x Hackney, May 2023

-Peopledem x Dreamland Margate, November 2022

-The World Reimagined @ Trafalgar Square , October 2022

-The World Reimagined @ Parliament Square , October 2022

-Framed by London Borough of Wandsworth, December 2021

-Open Air London Billboard Exhibition by Home by Ronan Mckenzie, October 2021

- Melancholy: A New Anatomy @ Bodleian Library Oxford University, September 2021

-Olivia Twist x Sawubona - Levi’s Rooted in Joy @ Levi’s House, September 2021

-Open Air London Billboard Exhibition by Molasses Gallery, July 2020

-Olivia Twist @ Island Social Club, December 2019

-UNSIGNED @ BBH, September 2019

-Olivia Twist @ Solent Showcase Gallery, October 2019

-SXWKS; Two sides one coin @ The Curtain, March 2019

-Can’t Win. Don’t Try 7, March 2019

-Don’t ask how we’re cousins @ Parkgate Road; Battersea, September 2018

-AFROPUNK;Resist @ 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, August 2018

-Reconstructing Practice @ Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, USA, July 2018

-Goldfish Bowl @ Battersea Arts Centre, June 2018

-Yellow zine; Issue#2 Launch @ 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning, May 2018

-Normal to Dissent @ Lethaby Gallery, April 2018

-Basis Zine Launch @ Peckham Levels, April 2018

-Open Dialogues @ Central Saint Martins (UAL), March 2018

-Can't win_Don't Try X Defining Sessions @ The Old Blue Last, February 2018

–ColabNOWNOW X British Council @ Faku'gesi Festival, Johannesburg, South Africa, September 2017

–Whats next? @ Centre for Recent Drawing, September 2017

–5 to 12 by SXWKS @ The Freeword centre, September 2017

–RCA SHOW '17 @ Royal college of art, July 2017

–WE ARE HERE @ Alev lenz Studio, July 2017

–3:45 Herstory @ Wolverhampton art gallery, June 2017

–Draw @ Hockney Gallery, May 2017

–Afroportraitism @ Republic gallery, May 2017

–Seen and Unseen @ University of Central Lancashire, April 2017

–Belief and Beyond Belief festival @ Southbank centre, March 2017

–Work in Progress @ Royal College of art, January 2017

–Aint I beautiful? @ The job centre Deptford, November 2016

–Decolonise not diversify @ Impact hub (Birmingham), October 2016

–Smokey tails. Hoxton, October 2016

–BBG SHOOBZ @ Buster mantis, August 2016

–Brick and salt @ French Riviera, August 2016

–Bare Fuckeries @ T Chance's Tottenham, July 2016

–National Conference for Race & Ethnicity in American Higher Education @ San Francisco (USA), June 2016

–Ridley Road Records @ Doomed gallery, May 2016

–See them @ Ridley road market, May 2016

–Secret 2016 @ Royal College of Art, April 2016

–Research Design Publish @ Royal College of Art, April 2016

–The Missing Chapter @ Autograph-ABP, January 2016

–Black history Festival @ Chelsea School of Art, November 2015

–An ode to Black British artistry @ Hoxton Basement, October 2015

–Diaspora Britain @ Millennium Point (Birmingham), October 2015

–Makeba @ Richmix centre, September 2015

–Acts of looking; Africa Utopia @ Southbank centre, September 2015

–SXWKS presents DREALITY @ The Bussey Building, August 2015

–Black British Girlhood @ Centre for better mental health, July 2015

–Input>Output; Degree show @ LCC (UAL), June 2015

–All that Jazz @ Stage3 Hackney Empire, January 2015

–SXWKS @ The Rag factory, August 2014

EDUCATION

-PGCert Academic Practice in Art, Design and Communication @ University of the Arts London (LCC), 2019-2020

-MA Visual Communication @ Royal College of Art, 2015-2017

-BA Design for Graphic Communication @ University of the Arts London (LCC), 2012-2015

-Foundation Diploma in Art & Design @ University of the Arts London (LCC), 2011-2012