Lu Fraser's illustrations of microbes and infodumps are driven by a culture of DIY possibilities

"Starting in an interest in making comics and zines, Lu brought these sensibilities into everything from gallery spaces to noise shows. Noise, sonically and visually, plays a large influence in Lu's textural gestures, utilising the heavy grains of risograph and walls of speckled ink from print outs and blow-pens - "They're so bad but I love when my spit has a part to play in my process," says Lu."

""I really see the world as a big network, extending between the internet and root systems and nervous systems, and the cycles that keep everything whole," says Lu. "From this I feel a great deal of kinship with the here and now and the then and there." Lu's work wonderfully merges the cartoon with the hyper-specificity of informational systems, using them to represent the concept of ruin - trash, death and compost as aesthetics of collectivity and growing together."

""A real pushing point for me to start creating was paying regular visits to stores in London like Gosh! Comics, Waste Store, Books Peckham and archives like 56a Infoshop and seeing the wild stuff that the self publishing world is churning out," says Lu. Energised by the DIY efforts of the local London scene, Lu was further inspired by artists like Leomi Sadler and Stefanie Leinhos,"

Lu Fraser is a UK-born, Iceland-based artist whose practice blends comics, zines, illustration, gallery work and noise performance. The work embraces tactile imperfection through risograph grain, speckled ink and blow-pen marks, treating grime and bodily traces as material. Fraser conceptualizes the world as interconnected networks—internet, root and nervous systems—and combines cartoon imagery with informational systems to explore ruin, trash, death and compost as collective aesthetics. Gender transition shapes the political urgency of the practice, using art as a vessel for strong emotions and ideas. Early engagement with London's DIY self-publishing scene influenced Fraser's move to Iceland's noise and queer photographic scenes.

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