Part of the New Light Prize Exhibition 2020

Conor Collins is a self-taught Manchester based artist whose work focuses on society’s icons. With unconventional approaches, Conor finds ways to shine light on the good of this world whilst drawing attention to the crueller sides of our world’s community.

In 2014, Conor’s ‘Tom Daley’ portrait - made by gathering hate messages Tom received on Twitter - went viral overnight and even caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres whose article on it was shared over 100,000 times within 2 days of being posted. In 2018, Conor Collins made headlines again with his portrait of Princess Diana made using Diamond Dust and HIV Positive Blood in order to highlight the stigma and misinformation still rife with HIV and its transmission.

Conor continues to use his art as a platform for not only the progression of pop art, but as a tool to shape and persuade society around him.