Featured Exhibitions
The Ultimate Service Girl
Iris May
Shift Gallery
Installation view (all), The Ultimate Service Girl, Iris May, Shift Gallery, 05.06 – 21.06.2026
The Ultimate Service Girl
Iris May
Shift Gallery
05.06 – 21.06.2026
In her latest exhibition The Ultimate Service Girl, Glasgow-based artist Iris May explores the conditions and experiences of hospitality work in an immersive mural piece. Within this project, the conflict between hospitality work and sustaining an artistic practice instigates this examination of labour and human interaction in the contemporary service-based economy.Fluid and exaggerated human forms populate the gallery walls, painted in vivid colours and recalling modernist figuration. The work represents a culmination of over six years of May sketching the customers, coworkers, and environments that rapidly circulate and substitute one another in hospitality’s neoliberal fluctuations. Many distinct moments inhabit the mural’s narrative, presenting an arresting portrait of the service industry which moves between absurdity, ennui, and incisive commentary.
Iris May is a multi-media artist based in Glasgow and graduate of The Glasgow School of Art. She was recently selected for RSA New Contemporaries 2026 and her work has been featured in publications such as The Skinny and The Herald. Recent exhibitions include ‘A Dark Pool of Water’ at The Colour Factory, London and a solo presentation at Rumblehouse Gallery, Calgary.
These concerns have also influenced May’s curatorial practice, in which she co-runs the project ‘Stuck?’. Stuck? helps to develop spaces and opportunities for artists from underrepresented communities through partnerships with local businesses, most recently focusing on artists working in hospitality.
Photo credit: Shift Gallery