Bold and lush detailed illustrations by Molly Hankinson that celebrate Glasgow and its women

Visual artist Molly Hankinson has just launched Your Space Or Mine, a vibrant street art exhibition on display across Glasgow to celebrate women and the city.

In collaboration with Jack Arts Scotland, the free show features sixteen colourful artworks that are typical of Molly’s honest and unapologetic representation of women and non-binary people, with incredible detail of architecture and interiors surrounding her subjects, offering hints at their personalities and own stories. “I have considered certain themes running through the collection which I think underpins my values of championing inclusive representation, creating powerful celebrations of contemporary femininity with a bold colour aesthetic to match,” she tells Creative Boom.

There is also a strong Glasgow theme running throughout “where possible”, with the majority either set in particular place in Glasgow or incorporating tongue-in-cheek nods to Scottish identity. Three of the pieces are from a recent collaboration with another female-led independent business, celebrating Glasgow and highlights some of its most famous locations.

Two further artworks were created during lockdown, one being a self-portrait, This Must be the Place, and another called At Arm’s Length, “It’s a piece about looking after your mental health during lockdown,” Molly explains. “Whilst they don’t specifically refer to the pandemic I think that they are a nice subliminal nod to the experiences we’ve collectively been facing and they look at how to grow and adapt in times of crisis.”

Of the exhibition, art critic Adrian Burnham says: “Hankinson’s figures project dispositions that are variously distinctive, powerful – her subjects clearly own their space – and at the same time often exude warmth as well as supreme self-assurance.”

The full selection of 16 illustrations can be seen on a site takeover at 121 Eglington Street, G5 8DL. While 10 of the selected works can be seen at SEE Hydro, G3 8YW. Some are also dotted around Glasgow on billboards and art drums.