We’re launching three new creative commissions to disrupt loneliness in unique and interesting ways in Liverpool.
Created by artists, each selected project features ideas that will bring moments of laughter and connection, in ways which are incidental and that might go on to be long-lasting. These three projects have been chosen by a citizen-led panel, made up of Liverpool residents from different walks of life across the city, and are part of The Unlonely City project, a programme taking place at Metal’s other sites as well. The Unlonely City programme is funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation as part of the Arts Award.
Learn more about how we trialled a new way of commissioning artistic work with our citizen-led creative action panels here.
At Metal Liverpool, we’re working with Dora Colquhoun, Mark Brogan and Omima Hasbelrsoul Ahmed Mohamed in collaboration with Asylum Link and Tool/Toy Projects. Find out more about each of the ideas and the artists below.
Make Scouse with a Scouser with Dora Colquhoun
Dora will be hosting a series of Making Scouse with a Scouser cooking sessions, a chance to learn how to make Scouse and share stories with friends old and new.
Dora Violet Colquhoun is a theatre-maker and multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans performance, devising, writing, and facilitation. Her work often invites audiences to participate, blending humour, music, and heartfelt storytelling.
She is the founder of Violet Arts CIC and has spent the past ten years collaborating with a wide range of artists and communities. Through these projects, she has developed a toolkit for devising and writing performance, with a focus on making work that is funny, moving and memorable.
Wall Mural with Mark Brogan and Omima Hasbelrsoul Ahmed Mohamed in collaboration with Asylum Link Merseyside
Mark and Omima will be working with a group of people seeking asylum and refugees to create a large wall-painting/mural for the main recreation hall at Asylum Link Merseyside.
Mark Brogan graduated from the Fine Art department at Goldsmiths College in the late 1990s and the Masters Fine Art programme at the same college in 2019. He has been an active participant in many different art scenes, from the East London art scene of the 1990s and later in Germany and Serbia where he lived for the past twenty years, pursuing his career as a painter and working as a translator of cultural, socio-historical and psychoanalytical publications.
Omima Hasbelrsoul Ahmed Mohamed is a visual artist, painter, and sculptor from Sudan. She is a graduate of the College of Fine and Applied Arts, Sudan University of Science and Technology, and in 2017 gained an MA in Sculpture. For over 20 years, she worked as a restorer of antiquities in the National Museum of Sudan, and has held 5 solo exhibitions as well as over 40 group exhibitions, including works in Lebanon and Germany. Her paintings blend expressionist techniques and warm colours with motifs from Sudanese folklore and other ancient civilizations. The central subject and theme of her work is the enduring spirit of women and children, and the many ways in which they manage to express beauty and balance, even as they continue to struggle and yearn for justice in this world.
‘Spinning Yarns’ with Tool/Toy Project
Tool/Toy Project will be hosting a series of creative fibre-spinning parties designed to disrupt loneliness and foster connection among those living with chronic illness and pain.
Tool/Toy Project is the shared practice of two Welsh designers, Rachel Jones (social researcher and artist based in Norwich) and Maegan Icke (architect and artist based in Liverpool). As the objects of work and play, tools and toys tell us something about their societies of origin. Using these devices, they tell stories of speculative worlds and reimagined futures.
The commissions, including events and projects will take place in Liverpool between January and March 2026. Watch this space and join us to disrupt loneliness in the city.
