Laura Lulika is making work that can return to the Earth

In this studio tour, Laura Lulika invites us into the space where they make their work.

Hi, I'm Laura Lulika. I'm an artist based in Leeds, and I'm a recipient of the Axis Community Bursary. I've been invited by Axis to share a studio tour.

I've never been able to afford a conventional artist studio. I've always worked from home. Right now, I have a space in the corner of my bedroom where I work, but to be honest, I work in bed as much as possible so that I can stay glued to my heat pad.

As you can see, I use a lot of scrap materials, materials from nature, and eco-building materials, whatever I can find and as non-toxic as possible. I don't have anywhere to store work, so I'm trying to make more compostable works that can return to the Earth via our allotment. 

I'm disabled and neurodivergent, and I'm also the full-time carer and home-ed teacher of my five-year-old. Being disabled and being a parent has guided my practice and the way I work. Everything I do has to be done in crip time and fit with the needs of a young child. And this has shifted how I think about my practice and what a studio is and can be.

Care and accessibility are integrated into everything I do, and so I consider all of my daily activities to be a part of my practice, whether that be doing medical admin, becoming bed bound for days, or meeting bugs in the garden and doing home-ed activities.

My studio is here, but it's also here, and here, and here.

I do get sad sometimes that all of this activity and hard work very rarely results in time to be independently creative or to make something to the point of completion.

 

Here I am hoovering a sculpture that I hadn't touched in a few months that had gotten pretty dusty.

But this year, I feel good about following the flow of what is happening around me and creating as part of my roles as a parent and caregiver. I have some exciting projects happening this year, and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you.

 Thanks for watching.

Transcript taken from Laura Lulika's Studio Tour, June 2026