TanOren
Wrexham
Cross platform visual artist, writer & film maker
My work is rooted in lived experience—as a disabled, working-class woman from a small mining village in North Wales—and shaped by a need to challenge the way stories are told and received. I create figurative and mixed media pieces that draw from memory, fantasy, and personal history, but I never aim to illustrate a fixed narrative. Instead, my work serves as an open invitation: a visual space where viewers can connect, interpret, and construct their own meanings.
I explore themes like body image, stereotypes, and cultural identity, often using collage and text to merge the visual with the verbal. This layering reflects the complexity of individual and collective experience. I’m interested in the tension between past and present, and how one image can hold multiple truths depending on who is looking and when.
As a self-taught artist, I am constantly experimenting—with materials, ideas, and perspectives. My practice is both a form of personal expression and social engagement. Nothing pleases me more than hearing a viewer’s interpretation of a piece—it is in these exchanges that I learn, evolve, and find new purpose in the work.
TanOren
Artist | Writer | Filmmaker | Podcaster
Based in North Wales, UK
Contact: ging3r_rog3rs@hotmail.com
Instagram - @tanoren
Website - www.tanoren.co.uk
Education
BA (Hons) History & Media, 1996–1999
PGCE Education, 2003–2004
BSc (Hons) Science, 2005–2008
Mentorships
Jo Marsh & Karen Whittingham (Tŷ Pawb),
Anthony Shapland (g39), Letty Clarke & Melissa Hinklage (Artes Mundi),
Ruth Fabby MBE, Lisa Carter-Grist, Rachel Gadson, Soroya French, Jake Spicer
Selected Exhibitions & Commissions
FANATIC, g39 Cardiff, 2025
Disabled Artists Commission, Disability Arts Cymru, 2024–25
The Power of Two, Eleanor & Sarah, the ladies of Llangollen, Celf ar y Cyd, 2025
Galeri Open, Galeri Caernarfon, 2024–25
Tŷ Pawb Open, Tŷ Pawb, 2024–25
The Bridge That Connects (Portrait Commission – Chirk), 2024
Solo Exhibition, Royal Cambrian Academy, 2024
F A T (New body of work), Galeri Caernarfon, 2026
Panopticon (Commission), Celf ar y Cyd, 2024
Aildanio Touring Exhibition, DAC, 2023
The Body and I, Keele University, 2022
Three Counties Open, Keele University (People’s Choice Award), 2021
Qube Arts Open, Oswestry (2nd Place), 2021
Oriel Lockdown, Aberystwyth Arts Centre, 2021
Awards
Charles Bracken Award for Art, 2022–23
DAC Aildanio Prize – 2nd Place, 2022
Jerwood Arts 1:1 Fund Recipient, 2021
People’s Choice – Keele Three Counties Open, 2021
Finalist – Qube Arts Open, 2021
Finalist – Aberystwyth Arts Centre Oriel Lockdown, 2021
