Monique Kaur Kellay is a participatory artist whose practice centres on learning through making. Working with families, children and communities, she creates welcoming spaces where creativity feels accessible, playful and open to everyone.
Through ACAVA’s Flourish programme, Monique has recently explored South Asian textile traditions with families in Brent, inviting participants to discover techniques such as block printing, Bandhani tie-dyeing and charpai weaving through hands-on making and collective creativity.
In this Q&A, Monique shares more about her practice, the value of community-centred arts programmes and the ideas currently shaping her work. This interview is part of a series featuring artists from ACAVA’s studio and community network.
Your name
Monique Kaur Kellay
Your art practice in a few words
Participatory artist with a practice focused on learning through making.
Where can we find your work?
You can find my work at:
https://www.moniquekellay.com
Tell us a bit about yourself
I’m still trying to work this out! Honestly, I have worked with families and children for the past eight years and have loved sharing simple, messy, playful ways to be creative and support everyone to feel like an artist. To create and make through exploring different materials and processes.
It’s hard not to get stuck trying to use the right terms. Recently, I’ve been trying to work out: am I an artist? If so, am I socially engaged, participatory or an artist educator? What’s the difference, and how do these intersect?
So at the moment, I’m in a transitional stage, and I’m really enjoying trying to figure this out with different communities, young people and children.
What Flourish programmes have you worked on recently and what did you do?
I worked on Winter Flourish 2025 in Barham Park, Brent. It was a wonderful three days of activity centred on South Asian textile production.
Having been inspired by a project I led at the London Transport Museum, which looked at the design and manufacturing processes of moquettes, I decided to learn more about design processes in South Asia, specifically block printing, Bandhani tie-dyeing and charpai weaving.
I wanted to share this learning with families in Brent and end the project with a charpai that everyone contributed to making.
What interests you about being a Flourish facilitator, and/or has it influenced your practice, or your way of thinking about art?
I love the fact that the Flourish programme brings people from the local area together, opening up artists’ studios to the public and sharing these spaces. In this way, it feels like it’s trying to demystify what it means to be an artist and the spaces they use.
Most of my work happens in museum or gallery spaces, and I’m often responding to their collections. It’s great feeling embedded within local communities and creating workshops that are personal to my interests.
What themes or questions are central to your work right now?
I’ve been thinking a lot about unique and culturally specific methods of making, for example, Kantha embroidery and Bandhani tie-dyeing. How we can keep hold of these forms of creating and share them. How traditional crafts become artworks and how we can simplify processes to make art.
For example, I’ve been really interested in using a sewing needle and thread as a drawing tool, making the process of embroidery seem less scary. I’m also interested in how these processes travel and how knowledge is shared across the world.
What materials do you work with most often, and why?
Most of the time I draw or use watercolours. This has been because they feel the most accessible for small spaces when I haven’t had a dedicated place to work.
More recently, I’ve been able to explore making with clay, textile works and natural dyeing. For Flourish, I created a wooden daybed frame, my first time woodworking in 15 years.
I thought it would come naturally, as I’ve always been interested in it, but it was definitely more frustrating than I’d hoped, which means I need to keep working on it!
Can you share a memorable moment from your time as a Flourish facilitator?
Overhearing a parent talk about how their children had been explaining what they had done during the previous day at Flourish.
When working with participants, it’s likely that you won’t meet again, so it’s hard to know whether your workshops had any impact. Hearing first-hand that these young people were excited about what they had learned and created, so much so that they were talking about it hours later, was really exciting.
Also, seeing everyone get really into their Bandhani designs, working together while concentrating on their own creations.
What’s unique about creating alongside families and children at Flourish?
Flourish feels unique because many of the children and families who come to sessions in Brent are repeat participants. They feel comfortable in the space because they’ve taken part in lots of different sessions.
They know it and own it, which is amazing. They also take it upon themselves to support new members of the group and work together. This creates an incredibly warm and welcoming environment and immediately nourishes everyone’s creativity.
Do you have any upcoming projects or exhibitions you’d like us to platform?
I will be running workshops at the London Transport Museum during the May half-term.
You can also check out a co-designed display between myself and young people at the National Maritime Museum in the ReThink Space.
Complete the sentence: “Flourish is…”
Nourishing!
Monique’s Flourish workshops draw on her interest in making, learning and sharing creative knowledge across generations and communities. Through textiles, craft traditions and collaborative making, she encourages participants to explore creativity together while discovering new skills and cultural histories.
This summer, families can continue their creative journey with ACAVA’s Flourish programme at Barham Park Community Studio. Upcoming workshops will be led by artists Anna Reading (4–6 August), Nick Murray (10–12 August), Amelia Tan (17–19 August) and Jon Rees (24–26 August), offering free opportunities for children and families to make, explore and create together.
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