Artist and actor Heather Agyepong on her latest exhibition at New Art Exchange

When did you first start out as an artist and photographer?

 I bought an entry level camera from Jessops when I was nineteen and started experimenting with photography from there. However, I wouldn’t have called myself an artist back then, it was probably only in my late twenties when I started to think about myself in those terms.

Your exhibition is inspired by and takes its name from Nickel Boys, the 2024 film by RaMell Ross. What was it about that film that inspired you?

I saw it when it first came out in the cinema. I’d had so many of my friends telling me that I needed to watch it and they obviously knew my taste quite well. I was completely blown away and it awakened something in me. I was fascinated that they’d filmed it all in the point of view of the characters. It felt like something I'd never seen done in mainstream film before because all the characters were Black and there was a deep level of care depicting their humanity. It was a really delicate, humane and beautiful film. I felt really connected to it, particularly its themes of work and rest, which have often been part of my own thoughts and work. 

You’ve been diagnosed with ADHD. How did that change your perception of your own identity and your subsequent art work?

I was diagnosed this summer. My therapist spoke to me about ADHD burnout and thought that was something I was going through. Obviously I'd been aware that I might have ADHD earlier than that, because some of the characteristics I'd read about felt similar to things I had or was going through. However, the diagnosis was a Eureka moment for me. I'm still kind of discovering how it shifts and changes my work. It's really early days but it's given me an insight of how my brain works. I think I now understand myself better, but I'm definitely still only at the start of the journey. 

You’re dressed as a bride in various bits of the exhibition, playing with the idea of being ‘betrothed to oneself’. What do you mean by that?

The work centres around taking back something that capitalism has drained out of you. There’s this idea in society that being overworked is good. It conflates the idea of working yourself flat out with being successful; even if it takes everything from you including any space to rest or celebrate oneself. My work is a reaction to that. I felt this idea of being in a relationship with myself and having a duty to myself. 

What does this exhibition mean to you personally?

I can't explain how proud I am of this work. I just want to go back to the exhibition and sit in it and absorb it myself. More than any other exhibition I've had it feels very alive. I called it Part 1 because it’s not a full stop or a full reflection of a period of time. I’m still going through it and still learning new things. I’ve made myself some A3 versions of the pieces and they’re in my house right now. I feel particularly connected to them. They’re telling me something.

You were a winner at the 2024 NAE Open competition. What did that acknowledgement mean to you?

It’s the dream! Any artist who applies for an open exhibition dreams of getting their own show. It’s also really exciting for me to have a show outside of London. I think I was in shock for a while after it was announced. I’d been thinking about the project for a long while, but winning the open contest really spurred me on and I guess I was like ‘Oh, I've really got to do this now.’ There’s a part of me that was avoiding making the work because a lot of it was about confronting myself and knowing I had to examine my own relationship with work. So, yeah, I was really excited but, even though I knew it would lead to positive outcomes, I also knew it was going to be a challenge.

As well as art, you have an increasingly successful career as an actress. How did you first get into acting?

I always wanted to be an actor for as long as I could remember and felt really switched on when I was performing. I didn't go to drama school, but I always trained in some sort of acting methodology whenever I could. The big shift that happened for me was when I went to see a young people’s theatre program called Show by Talawa – a Black-led theatre company. The programme was for people aged between eighteen and 25.

I was 25 when I went to see that show and I immediately applied to join their company and basically begged them to accept me because I knew it was the final year I could get on their programme. Thankfully I got on it and did a show, which went well. I became really confident and eventually I got an agent. I also became an Associate Artist with Talawa for a year. They really helped to shape my acting career.

In 2024 you starred in Amazon Prime’s series The Power. Tell us about your experiences working on that series…

Yeah, it was a wild time because they were filming pretty much all over the world, with my parts in South Africa. It was an incredible experience, but it was all done during the pandemic so covid was in the background. It was really strange being isolated and not at all a traditional way of making a TV show.

I really resonated with Naomi Alderman's book which it was all based on, which broadly asked the question ‘what would the world be like if the dominant gender was female?’ I’d previously been in a play called Noughts and Crosses, which was similar but asked what the world would be like if the dominant culture was African. That sort of role reversal of power can be a useful exercise and makes you think a lot about gender, race and power and control.

You’ve done a few stage plays but Shifters, written by Benedict Lombe and directed by Lynette Linton, got you lots of attention. What were your experiences working on that?

If I'm honest, they might have set the bar too high for such an early piece of work in my career. It was a really meaningful project and challenged me as an actor. I grew and it felt important for the culture. It was everything that you would want as an actor in a play. It inspired me in a lot of ways.

For Shifters you were nominated for the award of ‘Best Actress’ at the 2025 Olivier awards. That’s a pretty big deal! How did it feel to be acknowledged like that?

I was in shock for a while and to some extent I still am. I find it quite difficult to receive praise and acknowledgement like that. I’d put my heart and soul into that play. I was more excited about us getting the nomination for best play, which felt like it belonged to all of us. It took me a while to process my own nomination and I'm still processing it if I'm completely honest. It’s an honour to be acknowledged, but I also realised that it’s true what people say and I'm not really chasing for awards – I'm chasing for the process. I'm doing it because I’m really in love with what I do.

From Sunrise to Sunset, She Worked to Reform Herself: Part 1 is showcased at the New Art Exchange until 24 January 2026. Heather will be in conversation with curator Lisa Anderson on Wednesday 12 November. 

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