Lockdown has unleashed a wave of creativity through our community, with many amateur artists finding time to invest in creative pursuits. We'd like to celebrate these inspiring works by holding an exhibition Downstairs. The exhibition will be an opportunity for Upstairs, members and the wider Brixton community to present their work alongside each other and share their experiences of lockdown at a time, date and format to be developed as lockdown restrictions are eased.

Funds raised will be donated to the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, who inspire and enable young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to succeed in their chosen career, and work to create a fairer society in which everyone can thrive.

Creativity comes in many forms - drawing, painting, photography, collage, ceramics, embroidery, sculpture and many more. We'd like to encourage everyone to have fun embracing their inner artist in whatever way that might be.

 Who can exhibit?

• You must be an amateur artist.

• Your work must have been created during isolation, quarantine or lockdown.

Prizes will be given to the following categories:

• Best overall piece

• Most Innovative

• Most uplifting

To register your interest please email signup@thedepartmentstore.com with the following information;

• A photograph if the work has already been completed (please keep the file size to less than 2MB)

• Your medium of work

• Size of your work or an indication of this

• Format of work

• Your contact details

• Any additional information

Each artist can submit one piece per entry.
Submission deadline to register to be involved will be the 31st August 2020.