Our Story.

NOT CURRENTLY ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

We are Big Yin, a contemporary art gallery and retail store selling art, ceramics, clothes, greetings cards, plants and more in the heart of St-Leonards-on-Sea, UK.

We stock a stunning array of plants by Between Two Thorns.

A lot of galleries claim to show artists from diverse backgrounds and support emerging talent, but in reality, they do f**k all to change the culture, and instead pay lip service when it comes to showing underrepresented artists and makers.

Big Yin is born from the D.I.Y. juvenile delinquent spirit of needing to blaze one’s own trail, fiercely blending commerce with community action and a desire to challenge the way businesses are expected to operate.

Big Yin is people and planet before profits. A proudly black-owned, artist-led space from artist Euan Roberts & partner Ruth Spencer. Big Yin welcomes art fans, collectors, browsers, customers and followers from ALL backgrounds.

Origins.

The address of the space is number 1 - in Scottish dialect or ‘Scots’, one is often referred to as ‘Yin’. The comedian Billy Connolly is known as the ‘Big Yin’ (Big One), which originated so people could differentiate between him and his father - ‘the big yin’ or ‘the little yin’. Big Yin owner Euan is of Scottish and Bajan descent - so he liked the idea of bringing a wee bit of his heritage down to southern England.

Also, in ancient Chinese philosophy, ‘Yin’ is part of the dualism ‘Yin and Yang’ – the two opposing and complementary principles that govern the universe. ‘Yin’ is the female energy - with attributes such as cooling, creativity, stillness and more.

So it seemed fitting in a time of ‘Big Dick Energy', bravado, machismo, aggression we call upon Big Yin for balance and guidance.

And if you put ‘Big’ in your name, you’d better be damn good.