‘The Other Side’ is an exhibition of graphic responses to the ten years following Brexit

It’s exactly a decade since the epic foot-shooting exercise of Brexit was set in motion. A new design exhibition, ‘The Other Side: Ten Years after the Referendum’, features the work of ten creative practitioners, including graphic designers, type designers, artists, architects and product designers, offering up a graphic view of the current state of play.

Curated by GraphicDesign& and designed by LucienneRoberts+, a team consisting of Lucienne Roberts, John McGill, Rebecca Wright, the show is at Pentagram's Osh Gallery in London’s N1 until Friday 26 June 2026.

The raw material is of particular interest. As Lucienne Roberts explains, ‘In 2020, GraphicDesign& published The Other Side: An Emotional Map of Brexit Britain. The book reads ‘Remain’ in one direction, flip it over and the focus is ‘Leave’. Included are the voices of 26 Leave and 24 Remain voters from throughout the UK. Every MP received a copy.’

It’s safe to say the publication didn’t rock nearly enough boats. Hence the existence of a number of unsold copies. ‘Our distributors got in touch, asking if we would like the few remaining copies of the book pulped,’ Roberts continues. ‘[We decided] we’d like them to become something new. Here are the results of this decision. We sent ten designers, ten (or more) copies of the book, inviting them to make a personal response to this poignant anniversary. “Feel free to draw or write on them,” we said. “Do cut, shred or pulp them.” Here is what happened next.’

Here are the results, and the creatives’ personal insights on Britain ten years post-Brexit.

‘The Other Side: Ten Years after the Referendum’

Hugh Miller: The works draw on post-Brexit financial data, referendum statistics and political contradiction to explore the consequences of separation and nationalism. The paper suit is made in collaboration with Harris Elliott – it’s a symbolic stand-in and a surface for statistics, headlines and contradictory political narratives.

How do I feel about Brexit now? Brexit still feels like a bad dream come true. A decision shaped by false promises that left us worse off, still burdened by red tape. It exposed the corruption of those meant to serve us. In today’s political landscape, hope and optimism feel increasingly distant.

Michael Marriott: [My work is] a small side table for a cup of tea / glass of wine / etc. My first thought was how to make something useful, something that would extend the life of the book, too. A small side table seemed like a good idea. It’s made using offcuts that I had in the studio already, so it’s all 100 per cent recycled – which is more sensible than Brexit!

How do I feel about Brexit now? Still amazed it was seen as a reasonable thing to do. Still annoyed by the complete stupidness of it.

Stefanie Posavec: For Leavers, achieving Brexit must have felt like birthday and Christmas rolled into one. Riding high on hubris and fantasies of ‘British sovereignty’, everything seemed possible. Ten years on, reality has set in and the party’s over, leaving the rest of us (and future generations) to clean up the mess.

How do I feel about Brexit now? I became a UK citizen only four years before Brexit began. I still have a red EU passport (my first UK passport) and, when I look at it while waiting in long EU border queues, I feel both bereaved and cheated.

Lucienne Roberts, John McGill: Our ten books carry the message ‘HELLO HELL’, legible from both sides of the table. The incisions into each book reveal some of the more poignant pages within. Glimpses of Farage, Boris and an SOS projected onto the White Cliffs of Dover, trigger feelings as powerful now as they were then.

How do we feel about Brexit now? We felt sad then and even sadder now. In the book, writer on human behaviour Ian Leslie describes the vote as akin to a marital breakdown, with neither version of the UK hearing the other. Ten years later, no one is unscathed and, if anything, miscommunication prevails.

STORE: With this work, we represent those too young to vote in 2016. Facilitating in-depth conversations with other young people, we want to give them a voice. We are exploring paper pulping and paper pressing to construct spaces that can facilitate these conversations. Shown here are seats used to give voices and space to this overlooked group.

How do we feel about Brexit now? In the last ten years, three million people have become eligible to vote. We are three of those people. Our opinions weren’t sought at the time of the vote. Now, we face the repercussions of Brexit and the disproportionate effect it will have on our lives.

Sarah Boris: Remain Together is a series of ten artworks using the words ‘Remain’ and ‘Together’ found in the books. The pages are painted in colours from various European flags, leaving only the chosen words visible. These pieces act as tokens of hope in these divisive times.

How do I feel about Brexit now? I was born in London to French parents, so I feel European. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the EU stood for peace and togetherness. The UK left, nothing positive materialised, division grew. Now, we must listen to each other and vehemently oppose the far right.

Marianne Mueller, Mia Mueller Kneer: Eurotrash shows the five prime ministers connected with Brexit operating a standard office shredder. Like these pieces of legislation, The Other Side’s deliberation – to remain in or leave the EU – has become redundant in the face of ‘Brexit done’. Reduced to shreds, the remains of the books now lie discarded like trash on the gallery floor.

How do we feel about Brexit now? Brexit has affected us deeply, both personally and professionally. It has been a catalyst for many significant shifts, from becoming dual nationals to moving countries, opening a new office and shifting school systems to remain within the EU. For us, Britain was the ultimate model for a cosmopolitan society, a sentiment spoiled by Brexit.

Ella Krispel: I use weaving to reinsert what has been lost, or deliberately stripped away, from charged subjects like Brexit. For this project, I wanted to explore the aesthetic attributes of historical artefacts, of relics from another time. As it developed, I wanted to situate Brexit in history, to see it at a distance. The imperfect documentation, fragmented narratives and incomplete framing of the piece mirror the fragility of memory and knowledge over time.

How do I feel about Brexit now? I challenge people when they claim Britain has been harmed by immigration. The response is often, ‘But you're not an immigrant!’ They are unaware this reveals misguided beliefs about the identities of immigrants and definitions of immigration. Brexit didn’t create such views, but it did solidify them, with current media and policymakers deepening the damage.

Rebecca Wright: Using the cut-out letterforms from HELLO HELL, the companion piece by GraphicDesign&’s Lucienne Roberts with John McGill, I have sought to take something left behind and turn it into something hopeful. Brexit changed how I felt about and understood my sense of home. It shattered my belief that we were a country where all of us could feel welcome and where we were welcoming to others. But, ten years on, despite everything, a stubborn hope of home remains…

How do I feel about Brexit now? Still sad but also determined. I do not believe that Brexit accurately reflects or should define who we are as a nation, or our core values.

YiMiao Shih: I wrinkled pages [of the book] with watercolour – a literal soaking – as I depicted a variety of British scenes. Then I used torn pages to make paper pulp reliefs embedded with stitched imagery. In these, I revisited the fictionalised Rabbit Referendum of my project Rabbrexit Means Rabbrexit (2019), tiny embroideries that draw on myth.

How do I feel about Brexit now? My version of post-Brexit reality doesn’t scream positivity. In the aftermath, the right wing gathered traction. I fear they will continue to stoke division, while differing echo chambers deepen it further.

‘The Other Side’ runs until Friday 26 June 2026, 11am-4pm, Osh Gallery, The Old Sorting House, 46 Essex Road, London N1 8LN

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