Announcing the artists for our inaugural studio residency

The Langham Estate has announced the six artists selected for its studio residency at 53 Great Portland Street, situated within the vibrant retail, dining and cultural hub of Fitzrovia Quarter in central London. Running from June to November 2026, the residency will transform the space into an active artistic community, providing six rent-free studio spaces within a 1,000 sq ft creative hub to support artists at different stages of their careers.

The residency forms part of The Langham Estate’s ongoing arts and culture programme for Fitzrovia Quarter, building on its 2025 cultural activations, including a commissioned permanent mural on Mortimer Street by Oliwia Bober and the Artist’s Corner group exhibition at 55 Eastcastle Street, designed to champion emerging and independent creative voices. Working to the theme of ‘What Holds Us Together’, the artists will use Fitzrovia Quarter as a starting point to explore ideas of community, belonging and identity, drawing inspiration from the area’s rich history of design, craftsmanship and commerce.

Applications were assessed on response to the theme, quality of work, engagement with place and community, and the strength of each artist’s practice by a judging panel comprising Aki Abiola (Hope 93 Gallery), Oliwia Bober (Artist), Kate Fensterstock (The Mandrake Hotel), Pernilla Holmes (Wedel Art), Alessandro Lorenzetti (Pontone Gallery), Bethany Woolfall (Arcarta), and Greg Hutcheson (The Langham Estate).

The six resident artists taking over the Great Portland Street studios are:

Purdey Fitzherbert
A London-based process painter who treats the city as both subject and material. Working on handmade Japanese paper, she builds layered surfaces using inks and found urban matter including ash, brick, chalk, rusted metal and dust, creating works rooted in material memory and urban transformation.

Esmeralda Conde Ruiz
A Spanish sculptor and Royal College of Art MA graduate whose installations combine light, sound, glass and bioplastics to explore perception and transformation. Her immersive works invite viewers into shifting sensory environments where stability is continually questioned.

Holly Keogh
A Goldsmiths MA graduate whose physically driven painting process bypasses traditional studio tools. Using upholstery foam and bodily pressure, she transfers fragile imagery onto canvas, creating works that explore intimacy, visibility and contemporary image culture.

Tabitha Wilson
A Royal College of Art MA Painting graduate whose luminous abstract works explore sound, motion and perception. Through shifting surfaces and layered colour, her paintings create rhythmic, immersive environments that respond to light and movement.

Jingshan Ding
A multidisciplinary artist whose practice blends a background in biology from Imperial College London with fine art training from UAL. Shortlisted for the Paul Smith Foundation Art Prize 2025, Ding explores the city as a living organism, mapping traces of natural and urban life through layered, evolving painted surfaces.

Monya Riachi
An interdisciplinary artist working across sculpture, installation and performance. Her research-led practice explores material as archive, interweaving political geographies, ecological transformation and personal narrative.

The residency will culminate in a group exhibition in October 2026, presenting new work developed throughout the programme.