Second Lives x City Lit Open Call 2026
The inaugural Second Lives Open Call exhibition, presented in partnership with City Lit, will proudly showcase the work of nine artists whose practice has developed alongside - and been enriched by - alternative careers.
Following an incredible response, our judges Nicola Blake, Paula Lent and Héloïse Parke, faced the difficult task of selecting just seven successful artists whose work will be shown alongside two City Lit students.
The exhibition will be on view at City Lit Gallery, 1–10 Keeley Street, London WC2B 4BA, open throughout 18th to 28th November 2026:
Monday to Friday 10am – 9pm
Saturday to Sunday 10am – 6pm
Admission to the gallery is free.
Enquire here for a sales catalogue and available artworks.
Exhibiting Artists
Sophie Bayntun
Sophie’s career has evolved from working as a successful chef to pursuing her first love: painting. The artist’s lyrical works often depict women, dining or drinking, alone or in company; her protagonists are convincingly portrayed as enmeshed within their environments. Sophie perceives her work as channeling abstracted corporeal emotions, whether this manifests as feelings of longing, dreaming or nostalgia.
Jospeh Barry
Joseph’s work takes a critical view of social, political and cultural realities. Drawing on a rough, uncompromising punk aesthetic to express direct political commentary, over time it has expanded to include personal experiences and the natural world. Joseph has completed a two-year certificate course in Fine Art at City Lit.
Gina Beaton
Originally from the Orkney Islands, Gina moved to London to expand her artistic practice alongside a career within the prison service and family life. Gina’s work explores themes of constraint and the transformative, liberating possibilities found in sublime organic forms and seasonal light. Her quest to capture a sense of home recognises the transient nature inherent in belonging.
Isis Dove-Edwin
Isis developed a passion for clay during a career break from Medicine to care for her young children, which led to her studying Ceramics at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art. Isis is interested in the documentary power of clay and the way it holds and carries stories across time, from the present into the future, as archaeological trace.
Katya Granova
Katya’s work begins with mundane photographs of unknown people documenting ordinary moments – work, harvests, picnics, beach vacations – each carrying within it the texture of a forever-gone time. Katya uses gestural brushwork to capture these scenes and transform them into portals into a forever-gone time. Her background in social psychology fuels this fascination with memory and human interaction.
Arabella Greenhill
Arabella’s current practice explores the textures, forms, and emotional dimensions of fragility. Working primarily through ceramics, as well as paper and embroidery, her work emerges from lived human experience and examines how words, relationships, messages, and encounters can impact the human condition. Arabella studied for a diploma in Ceramics from 2023 – 2025 at City Lit.
Matthew Hilton
Following a successful career in furniture design, Matthew’s printmaking and sculptural work explores his interest in what remains when usefulness disappears and an object simply exists. Using industrial techniques and materials he is concerned with the reduction of structure, proportion, weight and space until only the necessary remains.
Jane Preston
Jane Preston is a ceramic sculptor whose work is informed by a lifetime of observing people as her professional life centred on telling human stories as an award-winning documentary filmmaker. In somewhat of a continuation of her career, Jane’s current practice gives physical form to experiences that are often difficult to articulate, creating works that resonate through material, form, presence and human connection.
Miguel Sopena
Originally from València, Spain, Miguel is a painter and photographer now based in South London. Feeling the pull of art whilst completing his doctorate in theoretical Physics, he re-trained as a portrait artist and more recently has evolved his practice to explore themes of memory, identity, and the passage of time through abstraction.
Longlisted Artists
We are thrilled to announce that our inaugural Open Call received over 300 submissions and we want to congratulate the artists listed below for being selected on our longlist of 35.
Patricia S Alías
Eva Bachmann
Lina Barouch
Sophie Bayntun
Gina Beaton
Marleigh Belsley
Vanessa Brassey
Matt Breen
Jane Cabrera
Mathieu Chaze
Chris Coombes
Julie Cuthbert
Isis Dove-Edwin
Gera Dunachie
Antonia Fiber
Azadeh Ghotbi
Srabani Ghosh
Katya Granova
Sue Haskel
Caz Hildebrand
Matthew Hilton
Orla Jackson
Lucy Homer Jones
Amelia Lancaster
Ross Loveday
Jane Preston
Erik Rokke
Nicole Rose
Miguel Sopena
Thelma Speirs
Sharon Taylor
Jodie Tomkins
Rebecca Tucker
Sophie Weyeneth
Ahuva Zeloof
Open Call FAQs
Selection
How many artists will be selected?
The exhibition will be small and carefully curated. We expect to select two to four Second Lives artists, shown alongside artists from City Lit's own open call. We also plan to feature a wider selection of shortlisted artists online.
Who chooses the work?
A judging panel appointed by Second Lives. The panel's decisions are final, and we are unable to give individual feedback.
When will I hear?
Selected and shortlisted artists will be contacted by email on Thursday 22 October 2026. Selected artists must reply by 23:59 (GMT) on Monday 26 October 2026, otherwise we may offer the place to another artist.
Will all my selected works be shown?
Not necessarily. We may exhibit some of your works at the gallery and offer the others for sale online.
The Exhibition
When and where is the exhibition?
City Lit Gallery, 1–10 Keeley Street, London WC2B 4BA. Work is delivered on Monday 16 November 2026. The private view is on Tuesday 17 November 2026, and the exhibition is open to the public from Wednesday 18 to Saturday 28 November 2026.
Terms and Contacts
Who runs the open call?
Second Lives, a trading name of Art Masters Design Solutions Ltd. By entering, you accept the Open Call Terms and Conditions, which include these FAQs.
Who do I contact with questions?
Please email info@secondlivesart.com before submitting.