Submit to Love Studios release a T-shirt collection collaborating with creative greats

Submit to Love Studios, a collective of self-taught artists based within brain injury charity Headway East London, have released a t-shirt collection as part of its wider Home Not Alone campaign. Usually found in their studio in the arches under the Overground railway between Hoxton and Haggerston, four Submit to Love artists were paired with four creative industry greats to create a collaborative tee. The results, as with all of Submit to Love’s output, are bound to uplift your spirits.

The four artists involved include Jason Ferry paired with John Booth, Sandra Lott working with Lizzie King, Cecil Waldron collaborating with Rose Blake and Affiong Day working with Nancy Haslam-Chance. Each of the pairs have been working away on their designs in long distance settings, usually over the now very familiar format of Zoom. Within this format was the unique opportunity to try something new for both artists involved, whether it’s the “one bold hybrid style” John and Jason have settled upon, or in the instance of Nancy and Affiong, slowing down their process and sharing their artworks via letters in the post.

Each boldly different in their choice of tools and styles, in the instance of Nancy and Affiong it was a response to a poem the pair worked on. “I liked it because when I read it I was transported into this secret imaginary world created by Affiong,” says Nancy on the project’s starting point. “Here I crawled through ferns, dipped my toe in a pond and cuddled a bee while it purred like a cat. It was wonderful to be allowed to escape from reality for a short time.” Whereas as illustrator Lizzie King points out, who worked with Sandra Lott on recreating an illustrated poolside t-shirt, “it was great to meet (and work with) Sandra on Zoom – I can’t wait until we can all see each other again in real life wearing out t-shirts.”

Purchases of the Home Not Alone collection, available via Everpress, will raise funds for Headway East London’s larger campaign of the same name. “As the charity strives to adapt in the devastating wake of Covid-19, the Home Not Alone campaign raises vital funds to help plug the resultant huge loss of income and showcases the innovative ways in which its team has continued to ensure that its members remain supported, creatively stimulated, and connected even while kept physically apart,” explains Headway. As well as this t-shirt collection readers should look out for an upcoming print workshop Submit to Love will be hosting online in partnership with the Barbican Centre, as well as soon to be released downloadable colouring book by studio artist Sam Jevon and curator Lisa Slominski.

For more information on how you can support Headway at this time, head here. And, of course, to pick yourself up a t-shirt visit Submit to Love's Everpress page here.