PR professionals turn artists for third annual Art of PR exhibition
The annual exhibition returns to London this September with its biggest line-up yet, bringing together 21 artists from across the PR industry and beyond.
The PR industry is used to telling other people’s stories. Once a year, however, a group of its practitioners get the chance to tell their own stories with paint, photography, sculpture and print rather than press releases.
For its third year, the Art of PR returns to London this September, bringing together 21 artists connected to the PR industry. The free exhibition will run from 21-26 September at The Coningsby Gallery in Fitzrovia.
Exhibition founder and curator Ade Lee says the exhibition aims to showcase the creative talent within PR while allowing emerging artists to exhibit alongside those former PRs who have gone on to pursue art professionally.
This year, the exhibition is set to be the biggest yet, with seven new exhibitors joining 14 returning artists. The work presented will include a diverse range of art, including oil painting, watercolour, acrylic, drawing, letterpress, digital, object, digital photography and wet plate collodion photography.
Seven new artists for 2026
Among the new exhibitors is Emma Alexander, director and co-founder of Indie Comms, who began painting buildings in watercolour and ink during lockdown. Her work for the exhibition includes London’s Battersea power station, a south London market and a Soho pub.
There is also photographer Mike Buck, who has worked across consumer communications and national newspapers and is the founder of visual media production agency crunchyWAVE. His work has been exhibited internationally.
Ellie Hawes, a senior designer at Oath, the in-house design studio at 72Point, will show a new collection of paintings exploring identity, femininity and self-acceptance. And Henry Hemming, founder and CEO of Rooster and former co-owner of TravMedia UK, will exhibit his street photography alongside work inspired by landscapes and flowers.
From PR to full-time artist
The exhibition will also feature several PR professionals who have moved permanently into the art world. Shama Johns, who previously worked at Havas, Kindred and dating app Inner Circle, is now a full-time artist whose still life paintings explore food, community and the joy of gathering around a table.
Founder Lee has made the transition from PR to full-time artist, specialising in wet plate collodion photography, an early photographic process dating from 1851 that uses Victorian chemistry, vintage equipment, silver and light to create one-off images on metal or glass plates.
Other returning exhibitors include figurative painter Kim Badland, former Global communications director Justine Bower, abstract artist Jessica Jackson and portrait artist Stella Tooth, a former senior PR at Sky News and BBC News.
The exhibition's founder and curator, Lee, said its purpose was to recognise the creative potential within an industry often associated with commercial briefs and client demands.
“The Art of PR exists to support and promote creative potential and exceptional artistic talent wherever it exists in the PR industry,” said Lee.
“The PR industry is teeming with exceptionally human creativity.”
That idea runs through much of the work on display. Some artists draw on their professional lives, while others use art as a space to pursue interests that sit well outside their day jobs.
Inspiration for the artwork
Ruby Quince, a creative director at Burson, is exhibiting work inspired by AI's impact on creativity and working life. His pieces feature fabricated objects and symbols exploring changing rituals as technology, creativity and workspaces collide.
Other artists include Gemma Moroney, co-founder of creative communications agency SHOOK, who is showing letterpress work centred on her love of words. And Joe Thomas, an independent creative director with over two decades' experience in the industry, will exhibit his latest landscapes created in what he describes as the ‘press release style’.
The Art of PR, partnered this year by Boldspace and 72Point Group, is a reminder that creativity doesn’t necessarily stop when the client brief does. It can also provide a useful outlet for the ideas, interests and skills that don't always have a place in day-to-day agency or in-house life.
Speaking about founder Lee, Mike Robb, co-CEO, Boldspace says, “Ade always pulls together a fantastic group of people in a jaw-dropping showcase of talent, one that reminds us of the depth of creativity that is alive and kicking right across the industry today.”
Katie Earlam, MD 72Point, adds, “Great PR has always been about people - the connections we build, the stories we tell, and the creativity we bring to both. The Art of PR captures that spirit perfectly, giving our industry's talent the freedom to create without a brief or a client in the room.”
The Art of PR 2026 opens to the public from 21-6 September at The Coningsby Gallery, Fitzrovia, with free entry. A private view will take place on Tuesday 22 September from 5.30pm to 9pm, with a performance by jazz musician and BBC publicist and producer Eleonora Claps.
Maria Martin is a London-based writer and editor covering travel, wellness, lifestyle and culture. Her work has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, and MadeForMums. She is also co-founder of The Sona Space, a community coffee and wellness space in Walthamstow.
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