Behind the Scenes: Artists Doyel Joshi & Neil Ghose Balser

Doyel Joshi and Neil Ghose Balser are the powerhouse couple behind Mumbai-based art studio Howareyoufeeling – and the masterminds behind the Brighton Festival 2025 brochure covers (four different ones, for the first time in history). They are also the creators of the mass city-wide art project and pop-up installation, How dark it is before dawn which runs across the Festival, inviting everyone to imagine their ‘New Dawn’.

We caught up with them to find out more...

Hi Doyel and Neil, tell us how you came up with the idea for your beautiful brochure covers!

Doyel: When we were approached by Anoushka, we spoke to her about her album, Chapter II: How dark it is before dawn, and really took the album and its music as inspiration to explore and further our own process. While listening to her album, we came to an emotional place where we could explore hope and renewal as a utopian impulse. As an active – not passive – creative force that propels individuals towards imagining new futures.

Neil: The idea was that we wanted to have a brochure cover to reflect the emotion, thought and ideology of renewal. Doyel and I started to explore that ourselves, in our own studio in Mumbai, to see what it feels like. Then we then took it to our team, our families, friends and beyond that. We asked everybody to ‘Draw your New Dawn’ and ‘What does your personal New Dawn mean for you’? A personal, subconscious rendering of hope, renewal and resurgence.

In the process, we noticed how all of these drawings captured the power and potential of the darkness before daybreak, and together formed a collective vision of possibility. When we put them all together, we saw that there is something about everybody’s individual idea of a ‘new dawn’ coming together as a collective, which then creates something much bigger than the sum of its parts.

We worked with the wonderful team at Brighton Festival and suggested that, rather than a single cover, we wanted to take the idea of having multiple covers, which is a first in the festival’s history. This resulted in not just four different brochure covers – but actually hundreds and thousands. Hence, everybody can be part of the brochure cover and what it communicates.

As part of Brighton Festival, the concept extends beyond the brochure. We’re creating different workshop sessions to run before the Festival in India, and during it in Brighton, across Brighton’s public spaces and festival venues, allowing people to reflect and create their own personal New Dawn. This evolving, participatory act will culminate in a major exhibition from 23-26 May at The Old Courtroom and expand internationally, with workshops and in a global online canvas, bringing together drawings from India to Brighton.

What can people expect from the art installation, How dark it is before dawn?

Doyel: We wanted to bring this idea outdoors, so there will be a pop-up installation travelling around the city - alongside the main art exhibition at the end of the festival at The Old Courtroom. Keep an eye out for our Red Chairs: we invite you to take a seat and watch the horizon.

Throughout the Festival, there will also be different indoor workshop sessions with colouring tools and paper where everyone is welcome to approach the idea on their own – drop in to the Brighton Dome Welcome Area and keep an eye out for more locations here. We’re really excited for you all to be able to join in! You can bring your family, bring your friends, or just have a quiet moment with yourself to reflect on and draw your own New Dawn.

Neil: As mentioned, we are also creating a physical space at The Old Courtroom in Brighton on the last weekend of the Festival. We’ll collect everyone’s drawings and display them in a large-scale installation. You’re invited to come along, sit in it and feel what it’s like to be around all these drawings.

Where can people drop off their creations?

Neil: Bring your drawings to the Brighton Dome Welcome Area...

Doyel: And you can take a picture and upload it on Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #NewDawnBF – the hashtag will be picked up and your drawing will be featured on the Brighton Festival website!

And finally, what are you excited about for Brighton Festival 2025? 

Neil: I’m really excited about the people that Anoushka has brought together and to see and hear the work that they do. We've already heard about a couple of projects and they seem very interesting. I’m also very excited to see, now that the Festival is finally starting and after working on this project for over a year, what it’s going to become. It’s one part of the process for us of working on everything beforehand, but then there’s a whole other process creating the work in itself; because it’s participatory. I’m excited to see it happen in Brighton.

Doyel: I think there’s also an intersection of India and the UK, and a sort of crossover of geography and really having the visualisations of New Dawns brought together, which to me feels emotionally very charged and exciting. Like Neil said, I think there’s something about the project creating itself which removes ego and hierarchy.

Fallen in love with this year's Brighton Festival brochure cover? Buy a print of Doyel and Neil's New Dawn artworks, or your favourite classic Brighton Festival artworks here. 

Every purchase will support our charity and help us continue to offer a joyous and diverse festival programme, support our work with the community, and offer accessible creative opportunities to all.