As part of the BCN Residency Programme 2023/24, Zara Masood, artist in residence during February 2024 was interviewed by Project Co-ordinator Rene Francis-McBrearty. Read the interview in full below.


Rene: What are you up to for your BCN residency?


Zara: “As an artist and writer, language is at the centre of my work. So, I’ll be writing and collaging and playing with materials that create a narrative exploring the diasporic experience. I will also be hosting some workshops at The Wolverhampton School of Art to create a space for discussion around the topic of diaspora, centring lived experience of being racialised.”*

*If anyone is interested in taking part in Zara’s project please get in touch with Rene (Project Co-ordinator) at [email protected] / 07562 980384


Rene: What got you into making art?


Zara: “I suppose asking questions got me into making art. And daydreaming. And Art Attack. A huge combination of things really. But I think I really fell in love with making when I started painting, although I don’t paint that much anymore, I always go back to it when I’m in a funk.”


Rene: Who or what is inspiring you right now (other artists, people, music, food, a book, land, nature… anything!)?


Zara: “I really enjoyed Exodus Crooks’ Epiphany: Temporaire. I saw it in last summer in Brixton, but it’s moving to the IKON and it was brilliant. Really moving. The different spaces they created allow you to linger in deeply personal moments and sparked joy and sadness. The use of furniture, personal archives and text just click together.”


This interview took place on 7 February, 2024. Find Zara Masood on Instagram.

Zara Masood Residency Induction Tour, Feb 2024 © Multistory

I suppose asking questions got me into making art. And daydreaming. And Art Attack. A huge combination of things really.”



Zara Masood

The BCN Residency Programme is a funded artist residency held in partnership between Multistory and The Wolverhampton School of Art. The programme provides Sandwell and Black Country artists with focused time and support for; development, research, testing out ideas, making new work and sharing it with audiences. It provides artists with structured support from the Multistory team, 1-to-1 mentoring with Multistory’s Arts Council England’s Relationship Manager, focused time and financial resources to reflect on and develop their practices. The Wolverhampton School of Art provide studio and an exhibition space for the end of programme group show.

Residencies will take place in October and November 2023, and January, February and March 2024, culminating in a day of presentations and the launch of a group exhibition at The Wolverhampton School of Art on 11 April 2024.