Laurel Gallagher studied Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University and Art and Design Education at Oxford Brookes and the Institute of Education, London. She has an arts practice as Feral State and is a founding co-director of Urban Wilderness, an arts organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent.

A visual artist with a background in arts education, Laurel is passionate about young people’s rights to public space and creative autonomy which are realised through large scale events such as Longton's Pig Walk Parade.

Laurel’s artworks explore physical and psychological connections to family, land and nature through symbol, action and imagery. Her paintings and videos embody states of flux between illustration and abstraction, chaos and control, capturing moments of change, transformation and transcendence. Laurel works with materials and processes that purposely challenge creative control with disruptive techniques.