Hi! I’m new at the gallery, I’ve been here for a month now. Although I was born in Manchester, I’ve only just moved back here; I grew up in Malaysia and France, and studied landscape gardening in the sunny south of France, so I am eager to discover and learn about the city I was born in and lived in as a young child. I love soul, hip hop, bossa nova, and Manchester sunsets, and I’ve always loved and practiced visual art (especially landscape sketching recently).

What made you want to volunteer here?

I want to learn to know Manchester more intimately, and also get a glimpse into the art world. I chose to volunteer here in the aim of getting a chance to know the kind of people involved, from the artists to the coordinators, having a chance to be immersed in the artwork, and seeing what makes the exhibitions happen, as well as getting insight into how I can contribute.

I’ve particularly enjoyed being able to witness how such a seemingly small space can be drastically transformed from one exhibition to the next, manoeuvred to give such a different feel to the different areas of the gallery.

I like being able to see the different types of people that come in and how they interact with the space and art in surprisingly many different ways.

The people here are lovely and a pleasure to be around, and I absolutely love the location, there are so many visually appealing things to see just from the street corner where the gallery is.

What would you say to someone who’s thinking of volunteering with Castlefield Gallery?

Do it! It’s fascinating to get an inside view of what goes into running the gallery and making the exhibitions happen, as well as meeting the people behind it all. And it’s so convenient to get to, there’s really no excuse…