Ocean Baulcombe-Toppin
b. 1996. London, UK
Ocean Baulcombe-Toppin is a multidisciplinary artist centring slow praxis. Her work engages connectivity, temporality, ecology and memory through a lens of Afro-Caribbean diasporic consciousness. Via coded forms of communication, she works across installation, print, language, light and nuanced interactions towards a kind of solace. Collecting and assembling, she works with the poetics of placing, staging and site.
Exhibitions & Interventions
2026 Duo Show 4, EUCA annex, London (Two-person exhibition with Élise Legal)
2026 The Outpost Question Centre, Workshop & Exhibition, OUTPOST, Norwich
2026 Site Conditions, 57 Gorst Rd, Manufactory, Park Royal Design Festival, London
2026 Possibility of Tenderness, Container Works, Hull
2026 Bling!, Colours of Art School at Soup, London
2025 Bones, Stones and Calling the Four Elements, Brent Biennial 2025, Metroland Cultures, London
2025 Hydromancy, Sainsbury Centre, Norwich
2024 In Contiguity, Sherbet Green, London
2024 Experimentica: Call to Spring, Chapter, Cardiff
2024 Constellations, NEVEN, London (Two-person exhibition with Ebun Sodipo)
2023 Loops Made 2 Hold Us//Take Care 2gether.wav, Metroland Cultures, London
2023 Encoding / Decoding, Studio 27, Milbank Tower, London
2022 Piece of Mind, Gallery 31, Somerset House, London
2022 Dub Inna Babylon, Harlesden High Street, London
2021 Extraterra, 36 Great Russell Street, London
2021 This is for the Jeeps, Harlesden High Street, London
2020 Made in the other realm, 200 years' time, Deptford Cinema, Online
2020 Working Progress, South London Gallery, London
Awards & Residencies
2027 Magnetic Residencies #5, Fluxus Art Projects, Bétonsalon, Paris (Apr - July 2027)
2024 The Gathering Legacy Bursary, iniva
2023 a-n Artists Bursaries 2022-23
2022 Metroland Cohort: Peer-to-Peer, Metroland Cultures (Jun - Dec 2022)
2022 G31 Residency, Somerset House Studios (Dec - Apr 2022)
2019 Studio membership awarded by the London Print Studio
2019 Artist-in-Residence, Cove Park, Scotland
2018 Rossi Asiaghi Art Award, second place
Talks, Workshops & Events
2027 IN YOUR PROSE, Evening of Spoken-Word, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (Upcoming)
2027 Writing Workshop (TBA), Workshop, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (Upcoming)
2026 Coming into contact with a river you cannot touch, Conference / Confluence, Metroland Cultures, London
2026 With Language (There in Spirit), Workshop, Whitechapel Gallery, London
2024 Clear Water (Moving), Water Divinations: Collective Enquiry, Workshop, Metroland Cultures, London
2024 Permit to Dream: Touch Method, Workshop, Cell Project Space, London
2023 Unseen Forces, Panel Discussion, Tate Late, Tate Modern , London
2023 Language Matters: Social and Environmental Justice in Creative-Critical Practice, Symposium, Critical Poetics Research Group at Nottingham Contemporary
2021 On Disruption, Artist Talk, MA Design for Art Direction, London College of Communication
Press & Publications
2026 28.0000° N, 45.0000° W (TIDAL ARCHIVE), Visual Thinking, Ibraaz
2025 Brent Biennial 2025: Critical Perspectives, Asia-Art-Activism
2024 Constellations at Neven Gallery, émergent magazine
2022 'Creating from Home...', Financial Times
Education & Alt. Education
2026 Syllabus VIII, Wysing Arts Centre in partnership with Eastside Projects; Spike Island; Ps²; New Art Exchange; SITE Gallery, and Studio Voltaire (Jul 25 - Mar 26)
2022 PgCert Academic Practice in Art, Design and Communication, University of the Arts London (2020 - 2022)
2018 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London (2015-2018)
Lecturing
Associate Lecturer, BA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts (2020 - Present)
Visiting Lecturer, BA Fine Art Drawing, Camberwell College of Arts (2024)
Co-Lead, Healthcare and Public Art Research Project, Chelsea College of Arts x King's College Hospital NHS Trust (2023-2024)
Visiting Artist, Insights, University of the Arts London (2020 - Present)
Contact
b. 1996. London, UK
Ocean Baulcombe-Toppin is a multidisciplinary artist centring slow praxis. Her work engages connectivity, temporality, ecology and memory through a lens of Afro-Caribbean diasporic consciousness. Via coded forms of communication, she works across installation, print, language, light and nuanced interactions towards a kind of solace. Collecting and assembling, she works with the poetics of placing, staging and site.
Exhibitions & Interventions
2026 Duo Show 4, EUCA annex, London (Two-person exhibition with Élise Legal)
2026 The Outpost Question Centre, Workshop & Exhibition, OUTPOST, Norwich
2026 Site Conditions, 57 Gorst Rd, Manufactory, Park Royal Design Festival, London
2026 Possibility of Tenderness, Container Works, Hull
2026 Bling!, Colours of Art School at Soup, London
2025 Bones, Stones and Calling the Four Elements, Brent Biennial 2025, Metroland Cultures, London
2025 Hydromancy, Sainsbury Centre, Norwich
2024 In Contiguity, Sherbet Green, London
2024 Experimentica: Call to Spring, Chapter, Cardiff
2024 Constellations, NEVEN, London (Two-person exhibition with Ebun Sodipo)
2023 Loops Made 2 Hold Us//Take Care 2gether.wav, Metroland Cultures, London
2023 Encoding / Decoding, Studio 27, Milbank Tower, London
2022 Piece of Mind, Gallery 31, Somerset House, London
2022 Dub Inna Babylon, Harlesden High Street , London
2021 Extraterra, 36 Great Russell Street, London
2021 This is for the Jeeps, Harlesden High Street, London
2020 Made in the other realm 200 years' time, Deptford Cinema, Online
2020 Working Progress, South London Gallery, London
Awards & Residencies
2027 Magnetic Residencies #5, Fluxus Art Projects, Bétonsalon, Paris (Apr - July 2027)
2024 The Gathering Legacy Bursary, iniva
2023 a-n Artists Bursaries 2022-23
2022 Metroland Cohort: Peer-to-Peer, Metroland Cultures (Jun - Dec 2022)
2022 G31 Residency, Somerset House Studios (Dec - Apr 2022)
2019 Studio membership awarded by the London Print Studio
2019 Artist-in-Residence, Cove Park, Scotland
2018 Rossi Asiaghi Art Award, second place
Talks & Workshops
2027 IN YOUR PROSE, Evening of Spoken-Word, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (Upcoming)
2027 Writing Workshop (TBA), Workshop, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (Upcoming)
2026 Coming into contact with a river you cannot touch, Conference / Confluence, Metroland Cultures
2026 With Language (There in Spirit), Workshop, Whitechapel Gallery, London
2024 Water Divinations: Collective Enquiry, Workshop, Metroland Cultures, London
2024 Permit to Dream: Touch Method, Workshop, Cell Project Space, London
2023 Unseen Forces, Panel Discussion, Tate Late, Tate Modern
2023 Language Matters: Social and Environmental Justice in Creative-Critical Practice, Symposium, Critical Poetics Research Group at Nottingham Contemporary
2021 Artist Talk, MA Design for Art Direction, London College of Communication
Press & Publications
2026 28.0000° N, 45.0000° W (TIDAL ARCHIVE), Ibraaz
2025 Brent Biennial 2025: Critical Perspectives, Asia-Art-Activism
2024 Constellations at Neven Gallery, émergent magazine
2022 'Creating from Home...', Financial Times
Education & Alt. Education
2026 Syllabus VIII, Wysing Arts Centre in partnership with Eastside Projects; Spike Island; Ps²; New Art Exchange; SITE Gallery, and Studio Voltaire (Jul 2025 - Mar 2026)
2022 PgCert Academic Practice in Art, Design and Communication, University of the Arts London (2020 - 2022)
2018 BA (Hons) Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts, University of the Arts London (2015 - 2018)
Lecturing
Associate Lecturer, BA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Arts (2020 - Present)
Visiting Lecturer, BA Fine Art Drawing, Camberwell College of Arts (2024)
Co-Lead, Healthcare and Public Art Research Project, Chelsea College of Arts x King's College Hospital NHS Trust (2023-2024)
Visiting Artist, Insights, University of the Arts London (2020 - Present)
Contact