We're delighted to announce the five artists selected for the Blast Creative Network (BCN) Residency Programme for 2025/26!
This year's cohort of artists are; Abraham Babajide Cole, Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak, Sonia Levesque, Bag Lord and Rumbidzai Savanhu. A huge thank you to previous artist in residence Chantal Pitts for joining us on the selection panel for this year's programme.
The BCN Residency Programme is funded by Multistory and we work in partnership with the Wolverhampton School of Art (WSoA). Each year, the programme provides five artists based in Sandwell and the wider Black Country support, advice, guidance and resources for development, research, testing out ideas and making new work. Each artist’s residency is for three weeks, with residencies taking place between October 2025 and March 2026.
Rumbidzai Savanhu
In residence: October 2025
Rumbidzai Savanhu is a Zimbabwean artist, writer and facilitator with an interest in other mediums such as animation, set design and textiles. She works primarily as an illustrator for children’s publishing, editorial publications, arts in health and comics. Recently she has been developing her socially engaged practice with community-led co-creation projects for schools, hospitals and community centres. As a multimedia artist she explores themes of identity and hidden histories, teaching drawing, painting, creative writing, music, animation and zine making. She has previously worked with; Royal Brompton Hospitals NHS Trust, The GAP Arts Projects, Hachette, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Little White Lies, Runner’s World, Sandwich Magazine, London Wildlife Trust, Poetry Birmingham, Pop Up Projects.
Bag Lord
In residence: November 2025
Bag Lordis an artist from Wolverhampton, with a focus on painting. His practice moves between social commentary, observations on contemporary life in the West Midlands and thought-provoking portraiture. He has a deep interest in local history, politics and folklore. His work is directly inspired by my immediate environment and experience of wider contemporary life via a phone screen, and often takes the form of large-scale paintings, drawings, sculptures and text art works. Past activity includes, a residency and solo exhibition at Stryx Gallery, a co-curated group show on Football and Art at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, group exhibitions at the RBSA gallery, Ikon Gallery and as part of the New Art’s West Midlands graduate programme for Coventry Biennial. He has also curated multiple group shows over the years celebrating artists from the West Midlands, most recently ‘Bostin Midlands Painters’ which included art works of 43 painters from across the region.
Abraham Babajide Cole
In residence: January 2026
Abraham Babajide Cole is a Nigerian-born, UK-based visual artist working across painting, drawing, and mixed-media installation. His practice investigates themes of migration, identity, and cultural heritage, weaving layered visual narratives that connect personal memory with collective history. Rooted in Yoruba philosophies of selfhood beyond the physical, Cole employs abstraction, fragmentation, and material experimentation to explore the unseen forces that shape human experience. His evolving practice incorporates sculptural elements such as clay and textured surfaces, creating multi-dimensional works that reflect the fluid nature of belonging. Cole has exhibited internationally, with solo presentations including Deep Introspection (ArtRooms Gallery, Birmingham, 2022) and Suns of Egypt (Blank Wall Gallery, Athens, 2024). His current series, Ijinlẹ Ara (The Depth of Self), on view at Omenka Gallery, Nigeria, continues his exploration of identity and memory through charcoal and ink. His upcoming exhibition Bound by Roots, Divided by Paths at Dudley Library (2025) expands this inquiry, examining migration stories as both personal and communal narratives.
Sonia Levesque
In residence: February 2026
Sonia Levesque is an Audio-Visual Artist, Thinker & Realtime Filmmaker (Unreal Engine). As someone from a non-traditional background who is forever in pursuit of truth, freedom and play - she appreciates programmes that opens up the art world to the wider public. She firmly believes that art and creative rebellion can make the world a better place, and as such strives to create artworks which inspire others to commit their own mini acts of creative rebellion, to self-express and to use art as a lens to think critically about their world. Recent work: A Walk In The Park - an experimental moving image artwork featuring a winged faceless woman, a posthuman fine dining establishment, and a piano playing heart. Previous highlights: ArtBasel Miami, Affordable Art Fair, Aesthetica Art Prize (longlisted), OpenAI featured artist, ACE DYCP recipient, BJP Edition365 Award, Forward Film Festival, Verve Poetry Festival, Flatpack Festival, and Fringe Arts Bath Festival.
Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak
In residence: March 2026
Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak is a Polish-born documentary photographer and mixed-media artist based in West Bromwich, UK. Her practice explores themes of migration, memory, identity, and motherhood, drawing on her personal experience of resettlement. Working across photography, collage, and sculptural installation, she investigates how personal and collective histories shape belonging. Since 2016, she has documented everyday life in West Bromwich, capturing candid, emotionally resonant moments that reflect resilience and transformation. Her work often includes self-portraiture and domestic scenes, delving into vulnerability and the emotional labor of motherhood. Recently, she has developed interactive photographic cubes, sculptural objects that invite touch and rearrangement, to express the fragmented, layered nature of memory and cultural adaptation. Through tactile materials and visual storytelling, her work offers immersive reflections on the complexities of identity and the evolving meaning of home.