In the lead up to our 2025 MA Shows, we’re celebrating the creativity and talent of our graduating masters students by sharing their stories and showcasing their incredible work. We spoke with Fine Art MA student May Qadoura about the course, their influences and advice to their younger self.

Please tell us a bit about your work and your influences

My practice is primarily process-led, rooted in autoethnography, and engages with themes of memory, trauma, displacement, and resistance, particularly through the lens of my identity as a Palestinian woman. I work with organic, recycled, and sustainable materials such as crochet, gauze, handmade paper, and found domestic items—beds, chairs, suitcases, and other personal artefacts—which serve as repositories of memory and political meaning.

Influenced by eco-art and feminist materiality, my work uses tactile, labor-intensive methods like papermaking, stitching, and casting to symbolise healing, survival, and embodied testimony. I’m particularly inspired by Mona Hatoum, who reclaims domestic space as a site of tension and resistance, as well as theorists like Judith Butler and Ariella Azoulay, whose writing on vulnerability and witnessing informs how I approach representation.

Conceptually, my practice explores ontology—the nature of being under occupation or exile—and critically responds to the legacies of colonial and imperial violence through an intimate, material vocabulary. Each piece is both a personal narrative and a broader political gesture.

What made you choose your course?

I chose the MA Fine Art course at Brighton because of its interdisciplinary nature and the space it gives artists to develop a personal voice. I was also drawn to the diversity of materials and methods supported by the course, and the critical engagement with contemporary theory and practice.

Can you tell us about your favourite part of your studies and how it helped the development of you and your practice?

One of the most meaningful parts of the course has been learning how to critically situate my practice within both theoretical and historical frameworks. The feedback sessions and tutorials have been incredibly supportive, encouraging me to take risks conceptually and materially. The open studio environment has also allowed for valuable peer exchange and collaboration.

Can you tell us about any staff who particularly inspired you?

Amy Cunningham has been an anchor throughout my MA experience. Her generous mentorship and insightful feedback have been pivotal in shaping both my research and material experimentation. I also want to mention Sean Dower whose tutorials helped me reflect more deeply on installation and spatial engagement.

If you did a placement or work experience, can you tell us about it and any support you received?

As part of my MA, I undertook a live, participatory residency titled Share Your Pain at Dorset Place Gallery, University of Brighton. This project invited visitors to press their hands into soft clay — a quiet, tactile gesture through which they could release personal pain into material form. Each participant selected the colour and number of their clay piece, contributing to a growing archive of collective touch, vulnerability, and emotional endurance.

This residency laid the groundwork for two installation works, Pain 1 and Pain 2, which explored grief and resilience through material transformation and collective gesture. The University’s support was crucial: Amy Cunningham helped me secure Dorset Place Gallery for the residency, and I received extensive technical support throughout — from using the kiln and firing over 450 clay hand imprints, to transporting the fragile pieces from my studio to the Grand Parade campus workshop. The project was also enriched by peer and tutor feedback, which helped refine both the conceptual framing and presentation of the work.

What does Brighton mean to you now?

Brighton has become a space of reflection, growth, and experimentation. As a coastal city, it holds a particular sense of openness and transience that echoes many of the themes in my work. I’ll always associate it with a time of artistic and personal transformation.

Can you tell us your plans after graduation?

I plan to continue developing my installation and sculptural practice, with a focus on exhibiting in spaces that support socially and politically engaged art. I’m currently applying to residencies and group exhibitions, and I hope to collaborate with collectives and curators working at the intersection of art, memory, and activism.

Finally, if you could give your younger self any advice about studying a masters, what would it be?

Trust the process. Embrace uncertainty as a fertile ground for growth and allow your materials to speak as much as your ideas. Make space for rest, reflection, and community — these are as essential as the work itself. And most importantly: don’t be afraid — you can do it. You are more capable than you think, and the journey will shape you in ways you can’t yet imagine.