Artist of Human Experiences & Connections + Commentary
Contact Nicky at: info.nickynadine@gmail.com
Nicky Nadine’s practice explores experiences that resist easy language — traces, memories, sensations, and stories too complex or unstable to be neatly articulated. Her work examines how these experiences surface through images and objects, and how storytelling can question what is spoken, unspoken, and overlooked.
Working across pastel paintings and large-scale sculpture, Nadine investigates how narratives are constructed, inherited, and enforced — particularly in relation to power, gender, and vulnerability. Shifts in scale, distortion, and material tension make familiar forms appear strange: objects become oversized, fragile, humorous, or quietly unsettling, inviting viewers to engage with uncertainty and ambiguity.
Even when works appear empty or minimal, such as her paintings of windows or thresholds, they explore absence, unseen presence, and the difficulties of mental and emotional states. These pieces continue her interest in the unsaid, creating space for viewers to reflect on vulnerability, isolation, and the emotional landscapes we collectively inhabit.
As a neurodivergent artist, Nadine employs non-linear, process-led methods. Instinct, repetition, and improvisation guide how ideas develop, often through cycles of making, undoing, and returning. Materials such as soft pastels and papier-mâché support this approach, allowing immediacy, tactility, and an embrace of imperfection. Pastels offer intimacy, while sculptural works assert physical presence, creating a dialogue between vulnerability and confrontation.
While informed by lived experience, her work moves beyond autobiography toward broader social and political questions. Nadine is interested in how harm operates quietly within domestic spaces, cultural myths, and political structures, and how acts of care, resistance, and repair emerge. Her work asks viewers to consider responsibility, complicity, and the unseen dimensions of human experience.
Nicky Nadine (b. 1996, Aberdeen, Scotland) is a British-Ukrainian artist based in Manchester. Working across pastel painting and sculpture, her practice examines storytelling, human connection, and the systems that shape experiences of vulnerability and resilience. She holds a BA (Hons) in Illustration with Animation (2019) and an MFA in Fine Art from Manchester School of Art (2024).
Nadine's recent exhibitions include Dis/Connect at AIR Gallery, Gallery 2 (Oldham), and Made It 2025 with Short Supply x Glass House Collective at PINK, Stockport. She has been awarded the Manchester School of Art Dean’s Award for the Sketchbook Prize and has previously been commissioned by Sour Grapes Records to create gig posters for venues including Night & Day Café, Projekts MCR Skatepark, Deaf Institute, and Gullivers.
Images courtesy of Franziska Tremper-Jeschke
Upcoming
Stay tuned!
For behind the scenes and snippets of what's going on, find Nicky on Instagram @nicky_nadine_
Exhibitions | Awards | Press
2025
- Ey-up at Kawa's Coffee and Wine Bar, Wigan, Uk (Group)
- Short Supply x Glass House: Made It at PINK, Stockport, Uk (Group)
- Graduated: MFA in Fine Art, Manchester School of Art
- Reached 2nd Stage of John Moores Painting Prize
- Air Gallery: Dis/Connect, 1853 Studios, Oldham, Uk (Group)
- Review for Dis/Connect by Corridor8: Dis/Connect: Kelan Andrews, Nicky Nadine, Renee Nie
- Interview with Castlefield Gallery: Artists and Sustainability Spotlight: Nicky Nadine
- Longlisted for Paradise Works 'It's Paradise Up North!' Open Call, Manchester, Uk
2024
- (Completed MFA in Fine Art)
- MFA Show, Holden Gallery, Manchester School of Art, Manchester, Uk (Group)
- The Harley Open, The Harley Gallery, Worksop, Uk (Group)
- Beyond the Capital: Manifestations, PINK, Stockport, Uk (Group)
- MA Show, Manchester School of Art, Manchester, Uk (Group)
2023
- Extract, K-House Gallery, Manchester, Uk (Group)
2022
- Manchester Open Exhibition, HOME, Manchester, Uk (Group)
2019
- Graduated: BA(Hons) Illustration with Animation, Manchester School of Art
- New Designers, Business Design Centre, London, Uk (Group)
- Shortlisted Mural Design for NHS Christies Hospital, sponsored by Tim Bacon Foundation
- Manchester School of Art Sketchbook Awards; Dean's Prize
- Studentship Award, from Illustration with Animation staff
2018
- Manchester Film Festival, Odeon Great Northern (Previously AMC), Manchester, Uk (Group)