Art By: Abdul Waheed

The exhibition, Creativity of Freedom, opened this morning and runs from 10am-4pm every day until Saturday 2nd November at artsdepot, 5 Nether Street, Tally Ho Corner, North Finchley, London N12 0GA.

All of the works in the show come from the collection of Outside In – a registered charity that provides a platform for artists who encounter significant barriers to the art world due to health, disability, isolation or social circumstance. The curator, Abdul Waheed Adeniran, chose the title Creativity of Freedom as a reference to the freedom that art offers people from the difficulties they experience in life. Abdul himself started painting at the age of nine and his prolific art-making helps him manage his ADHD and other mental health challenges.

The project came about following a mentoring session with Monique Deletant, CEO of artsdepot. In the session, I mentioned that I felt that I made the biggest impact when mentoring neurodivergent artists and that I loved putting exhibitions together and I’d like to do more of these things. Having received funding to support neurodivergent creatives, artsdepot asked me if I would like to support an artist in putting together an exhibition from the Outside In Collection in the gallery space (which is used as a dance studio during term time) over half term.