Ikon’s Year in Review: Celebrating Impact and Looking Ahead

As we reflect on the past year, we are filled with gratitude for the incredible support from our visitors, donors, Patrons and Benefactors, Exhibition, Project and Corporate Supporters, sponsors, hirers and funders. We also extend a heartfelt thanks to our voluntary Board of Trustees and our dedicated staff team – including casual and freelance colleagues – whose commitment makes everything possible. Your generosity enables Ikon to connect more people with art and makes you an essential part of our story. Together, we’ve achieved milestones that truly make a difference.

Here’s a look back at what we accomplished—and what’s next.

Mahtab Hussain: What Did You Want To See? (March–June)
Co-commissioned with Photoworks, Mahtab Hussain addressed themes of diversity and surveillance culture for Birmingham’s Muslim communities. The exhibition received critical acclaim, including a 5-star review from The Guardian.

Htein Lin: Escape (March–June)
A powerful solo exhibition by the Myanmar artist, featuring works created during his time as a political prisoner, with sculpture, video and new work.

Seulgi Lee: SPAN (June–September)
Celebrated Korean artist Seulgi Lee brought “a fluid universe of skills and materials” (Financial Times) to Ikon.

Thread the Loom (June–September)
A group exhibition celebrating the art of weaving. Six resident weavers activated an AVL Studio Dobby Loom loaned by Birmingham City University Fashion and Textiles.

Donald Locke: Resistant Forms (October–February 2026)
Organised by Ikon in collaboration with Spike Island, Bristol and Camden Art Centre, the first major UK survey of Guyanese-British artist Donald Locke, featuring over eighty works spanning five decades.

Art has the power to transform lives—and in 2025, Ikon’s Education team proved it. Through bold, inclusive programmes, we connected people of all ages and backgrounds, sparking creativity, dialogue and discovery across schools, communities, and beyond.

Ikon Youth Programme (IYP)
In Spring, IYP partnered with GRAIN Projects to engage young people in art activities on board Slow Boat in Stoke-on-Trent. In Autumn, IYP collaborated with Harun Morrison on Remember Nature 2025, reviving Gustav Metzger’s visionary art project.

Art in Schools
Ikon collaborated with Creative Connections Primary Consortium on Workshop of the World, delivering heritage craft sessions with resident artist educators to 800 pupils in 16 regional primary schools.

Photographers Mahtab Hussain, Ayesha Jones and Vic Moyosola had residencies in inner-city secondary schools, commissioned by the University of Birmingham, School of Education.

Art in Prisons

Alongside Simon Harris’s residency at HMP Grendon, Ikon launched two new art studios with Jessica Ostrowicz at HMP Spring Hill and Niki Gandy at HMP Birmingham. The artists’ responses to the carceral environment were exhibition at Ikon Gallery in Waiting ‘til next year for another year.

Creative Health

Jaskirt Dhaliwal-Boora’s Green Spaces toured to grounded. Hall Green, who are funded by NHS England to promote mental health awareness. Ikon also partnered with Changing Our Lives on Front and Centre, a photography project celebrating individual personalities of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities.

We couldn’t do it alone. Our heartfelt thanks to partners, local businesses, and funders who stood with us. Together, we’ve fostered creativity, strengthened communities, and created lasting impact. Highlights include:

• Extending our creative partnership with Birmingham City University (BCU) after a landmark first year of impact, offering free BCU Tuesday visits and a powerful new platform for students, staff and communities, while enriching Ikon’s public programme with new ideas, emerging talent and expanded opportunities for cultural engagement.
• Clipping the Ikon with artist Tereza Buscova as part of Birmingham Light Festival 2025.
• Showcasing artwork by Htein Lin in collaboration with prisoners at HMP Grendon.
• Hosting our first Iftar during Mahtab Hussain’s exhibition.
• Joining A Good Thing charity to repurpose materials, donating timber for community gardens in Handsworth, insulation for a homeless woodwork project in Edgbaston, and plinths to Dudley Canal & River Trust for historic displays.
• Continuing our partnership with Disability Arts Shropshire (DASH)
• After eight wonderful years together, Yorks Café bid farewell to Ikon Gallery.

• Delivered an offsite residency for Robert Zhao Renhui at Wigwell Lodge, Derbyshire, exploring human impact on ecosystems—new work to feature in a future Ikon exhibition.
• Commissioned a site-specific artwork by Birmingham-born artist Richard Hughes, in partnership with Kier Property and Associated Architects, symbolizing the passage of time through rising and setting suns.
• Ikon and Transport for West Midlands unveiled You Are Here, a new public sculpture in Halesowen by artist Tom Hicks, co-created with the local community to celebrate the Black Country’s cultural heritage and encourage sustainable travel

Behind every visit there is a story, of the different ways in which Ikon is valued by you. Thank you for sharing these with us, as comments like these remind us why we do what we do.

“An exceptional mind, body and soul experience.”

“I love Ikon Gallery. I learn so much here and as someone with little money, I feel places like this are extremely important and hope this place always has a space in Birmingham.”

“Ikon is a fantastic gallery which often has thought provoking and/or beautiful exhibitions. It’s why I come back to Brum no matter what. Love the place and its great staff.”

“We often bring our children here. It’s a wonderful experience for family and friends and it’s important to absorb cultural messages.”

The journey doesn’t stop here. In 2026, please show your support by visiting us in person or exploring our exhibitions online.

January – June 2026 at The Library of Birmingham 

What are the Odds? – Showcasing Ikon’s Creative Health research, exploring how art supports health and care systems through immersive installations and community-led projects.

March to September 2026 at Ikon

Break the Mould – A vibrant celebration of the art of ceramics, showcasing innovative techniques and bold expressions that redefine the possibilities of clay.

Angela de la Cruz, UPRIGHT – An intimate presentation of rarely seen works by the Turner Prize-nominated artist, inviting deep reflection on resilience, adaptation, and the complexities of the human condition.

Art at HMP Aylesbury – In partnership with Discover Bucks Museum (DBM), Ikon is engaging a ceramicist to run a new art studio at HMP Aylesbury.

September 2026 – February 2027 at Ikon

Balraj Khanna – The first major survey of the self-taught artist, writer, and curator, featuring a rich range of works that illuminate his distinctive vision and creative journey.

Ikon is proud to hold National Portfolio Organisation status with Arts Council England. We would like to thank our major partners and supporters who make our Ikon’s artistic programme possible:

Adger Kunstakademi; ai. gallery; Alison Jacques; The Ampersand Foundation; Art Fund; Bagri Foundation; Balraj Khana Estate; Bangkok Art Biennale Foundation; Birmingham City Council; Birmingham City University; Birmingham Hippodrome; Birmingham Royal Ballet; Bloomberg Philanthropies; British Council; Changing Our Lives; Cotton Textiles Research Trust; Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation; Esmée Fairbairn Foundation; Estate of Donald Locke; Freelands Foundation; Grantham Yorke Trust; Henry Moore Foundation; Hospital Rooms; Jerwood Foundation; Jameel Arts and Health Lab; Jewellery Quarter Development Trust; Jhaveri Contemporary; John Feeney Charitable Trust; Keir Property; Korea Artist Prize Promotion Fund, from SBS Foundation and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; Living Well Consortium; Library of Birmingham;  Marie Louise von Motesizcky Charitable Trust; Museums Association; Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art; Rothschild Foundation; The Saintbury Trust; Trampoline Association; Transport for West Midlands; The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust; University of Birmingham; University of Staffordshire; University of Wolverhampton; W.A. Cadbury Charitable Trust. 

None of this would be possible without you. Thank you for being part of our story—your support makes everything possible. Here’s to another year of impact and hope.

Help us make next year even better – visit, donate, post a review, complete our audience survey, or share this story.

If you’re in Birmingham over the festive period, do drop in—we’re open every day except Mondays, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Ian Hyde, CEO Ikon; Melanie Pocock, Artistic Director (Exhibitions); and Linzi Stauvers, Artistic Director (Education).