The Blue Shop Story

Ocki Magill has made it her mission to nurture emerging artists, providing a space to showcase their work to a wider audience and connect with other artists and collectors - without the stuffiness that often accompanies commercial galleries. Opening her first art space Blue Shop Cottage in Camberwell, south London in 2016, she's been working with fresh artistic talent ever since, curating sold out solo and group shows including a series of wildly popular online open calls for 'Works on Paper' exhibitions, in reaction to the pandemic. Realising there was potential for more, but limited by space, Ocki recently threw open the doors to her new larger Blue Shop Gallery nearby on Brixton Road in November 2022, christening it with an opening show by painter Jess Allen.

Blue Shop Galleries is proud to have a female artist focus and has launched the careers of many including Li Hei Di, Catherine Repko, Mary Herbert, Georg Wilson, Sophie Vallance-Cantor, Jess Allen, Liorah Tchiprout, Alexis Soul-Gray, Plum Cloutman, Alice Hartley, Amy Beager, Nettle Grellier, Sarah Cunningham, Kemi Onabule, Charlie Boothright and many more.

"Ocki from the brilliant young gallery Blue Shop Cottage, who are doing such great things... If you are an artist or someone looking to get connected to the South London art scene I highly recommend getting to know this gallery and Ocki who is going places."

- Kate Bryan, Art Historian/Presenter

In 2016 Ocki Magill found and renovated a derelict shop in Camberwell and named the building Blue Shop Cottage. The building initially opened with a programme of arts and music events which, under the creative direction of Ocki, organically grew into a gallery and central hub for arts, community and culture in South East London. In 2018 Blue Shop Cottage opened with it's very first, total sellout show ‘The Difference Between Things’ by Rose Electra Harris.

Five years later, Blue Shop Cottage is a thriving gallery showing original artwork by emerging and mid-career artists. By supporting and nurturing artists, we help them and the local community here in South London to grow.

We think it's important to preserve physical arts spaces in order to open discussion, encourage collaboration and give life to new endeavours, relationships and ideas. However we also host online exhibitions to extend our support networks to artists who work outside of London and internationally based artists.

We believe that open calls should be free, art residencies should be affordable and that emerging artists should never have to donate 100% of their work.

In 2020 Soho House acquired 19 works by 12 different artists for 4 of their houses that we had bespoke framed and delivered.

In 2021 We took 8 female artists to Sotheby’s, exhibited 107 artists, 11 artists on artist residencies, over 400 artworks sold, took 5 emerging artists to Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, 55 live artist interviews, 15 shows at the gallery.

In 2022 Blue Shop Gallery opened in November 2022 with our second solo show by Jess Allen and the gallery has been thriving ever since with 2023 exhibitions by 12 artists including Alice Neave, Charlie Boothright, Connie Harrison, Josh Raz and in 2024 Orla Kane and our first BSG group show ‘All This Wrath’ in February. The gallery regularly hosts artist talks that are broadcast live to all their followers and continues to grow it’s own permanent collection by predominantly female artists.

Blue Shop Galleries has been featured in: The Modern House, Elle, Elle Decoration, House & Garden, Living Etc, The Daily Telegraph, Art Plugged, Lecture In Progress, The Independent, It’s Nice That, Wrap Magazine and Creative Boom