Following an online screening and Q&A with artist Subash Thebe Limbu in 2022, we are delighted to present an in-person screening of Ningwasum (2021) and Ladhamba Tayem; Future Continuous (2023), followed by a live Q&A.
The screening (55 mins) will be followed by a discussion and Q&A led by Nicole Thiara where Subash will discuss how his work draws on and develops Indigenous Futurism as well as Adivasi Futurism.
Ningwasum (2021) is a Yakthung science fiction documentary film/video-work narrated by Miksam, a time traveller from a future Indigenous Nation. The film follows two time travellers, Miksam and Mingsoma, played by Subin Limbu and Shanta Nepali respectively, in the Himalayas weaving indigenous folk stories, culture, climate change and science fiction. The film explores notions of time, space and memory, and how realities and the sense of now could be different for different communities. Drawing from Adivasi Futurism and inspired by Afrofuturism and Indigenous Futurism, Ningwasum imagines a future from an Indigenous perspective where they have agency, technology, sovereignty and also their indigenous knowledge, culture, ethics and storytelling still intact.
The plot of Ladhamba Tayem; Future Continuous (2023) depicts a conversation between two indigenous figures from different historical timelines, the first a real 18th century Yakthung warrior called Kangsore fighting the colonial army, and the other an astronaut and time traveler from the distant future. They discuss the space-time continuum from their perspectives, and in doing so, ask the viewers — who exist between the past and future — to investigate their own relationship to the passage of time. The time traveller indicates what the future might look like for us or possibilities we want to strive for, while the warrior reminds us of the fight against colonialism and struggles we shall overcome.
In the future, the Indigenous nationalities will have created a technique called thakthakma – which literally means to ‘weave handloom’, a term inspired by our ancestors’ weaving practice – a technique of entering different timelines or in other words weaving time. So, Subash thinks of his works as weaving stories that are not linear but intricately interwoven. And along the same vein, this work plays with the idea of time as not something rigid but ductile or weavable, which in turn paves the way for questions like how we might want to weave the future.
This event is part of the third series of CADALFEST and organised in collaboration with Formations and the Bonington Gallery. CADALFEST (Celebrating Adivasi and Dalit Arts and Literature Festival) is an international festival series dedicated to the writing and performance arts by writers whose work creatively resists caste discrimination and social exclusion in India: Dalit Adivasi Text.
Happening in Nottingham during the time of this event, we recommend visiting the exhibition Kolam (கோலம்) that has been curated by Raghavi Chinnadurai at Primary, Nottingham. This exhibition explores themes connected to our event, and also features Osheen Siva who exhibited at Bonington Gallery in Spring 2024.
Image: Subash Thebe Limbu, NINGWASUM 2021, video still. Courtesy of the artist.
Subash Thebe Limbu (he/him) is a Yakthung (Limbu) artist from Yakthung Nation (Limbuwan) from what we currently know as Eastern Nepal. He works with sound, film, music, performance, painting and podcast. His Yakthung name is ᤋᤠᤱᤛᤠᤱ Tangsang (Sky).
Subash has MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins (2016), BA in Fine Art from Middlesex University (2011), and Intermediate in Fine Art from Lalit Kala Campus, Kathmandu. His works are inspired by socio-political issues, resistance and science/speculative fiction. Notion of time, climate change, and indigeneity or Adivasi Futurism as he calls it, are recurring themes in his works.
Subash is the co-founding member of Yakthung Cho Sangjumbho (Yakthung Art Society) and Haatemalo Collective. Based in Newa Nation (Kathmandu) and London. Follow Subash on Instagram.
Manish Harijan is a Nepal born artist who lives in Sheffield, UK. He was the recipient of the NAE Open Future Exhibition Prize in 2023, and the resulting exhibition, Untouchable Utopia, is currently showing at New Art Exchange until 11 January 2025.
The son of a shoemaker from the so-called lower caste or Dalit in Nepal, Manish questions the injustices inflicted upon minorities and the lived experiences of vulnerable populations in all societies around the world. His work traverses East and West, casting iconic images from religion to pop culture, smoothly embedding them in one canvas to create bold, beautiful and thought-provoking paintings. Inspired by Nepali art traditions of Thangka and Paubha, Manish also borrows styles from graphic novels, especially manga and popular superhero comics.
Manish’s compositions reference a variety of subjects from social issues of caste discrimination to art history, merging local stories with the global, fairy tales with current news pieces, mythology with facts — questioning both the portrayal and the portrayed. In 2012, for his first solo exhibition at Siddhartha Art Gallery in Kathmandu, Manish brought together these themes challenging the status quo of tradition, hierarchy, religion and beliefs in Nepal. Unfortunately, the gallery was vandalised and Manish was sent death threats and accused of being anti-Hindu for portraying Hindu gods in superhero costumes. The exhibition was shut down and a court cases were filed; UNESCO issued a press release to support the artist’s freedom of expression.
Deeply affected and saddened by the state of affairs, Manish moved to the UK, where he enrolled in a Master of Fine Arts programme at Sheffield Hallam University. While at University, he redoubled his commitment to explore the rights of marginalised people through art, participating in art projects that gave voice to the rights of populations that are vulnerable, stateless and at high-risk. He graduated in 2019 and was awarded the Dianne Willcocks Lifelong Learning award.
Manish is one of the artists whose paintings has been shortlisted and acquisitions for the UK’s Government Art Collection 2020/21. His works have also been exhibited at Welt Museum in Vienna, Museum of Communication in The Hague, Nepal Art Council in Kathmandu, Yorkshire Art Space in Sheffield, India Art Fair in New Delhi, CKU Copenhagen in Denmark, October Gallery in London, ROSL Gallery in London, Bloc Project Sheffield, Artist’s Journey #3 in the UK and Solo show at Yorkshire art space gallery 2022 at Sheffield UK. Besides paintings, Manish also experiments with installations, sculptures and multimedia. He works at his studio in Yorkshire Art Space
Neeraj Bunkar is a PhD Scholar at the Department of Humanities at Nottingham Trent University with a specific interest in Caste, Dalit, Rajasthani folklore, Oral History and Cinema. He is researching Rajasthan-based Hindi cinema from the Dalit standpoint. He published, ‘Spring Thunder: Adivasi Resistance for ‘Jal, Jangal, Jameen’’ (2022) and the book review, ‘Subalternity at the Centre: A Young Diary Demands Radical Change’ (2024) the Economic and Political Weekly. He regularly contributes to platforms such as Forward Press and RoundTable India.
Nicole Thiara (she/her) is co-lead of Nottingham Trent University’s Postcolonial and Global Studies Research Group and Principal Investigator on the AHRC-funded Research Network Series Writing, Analysing, Translating Dalit Literature and its Follow-on Grant On Page and on Stage: Celebrating Dalit and Adivasi Literatures and Performing Arts.
She teaches postcolonial and contemporary literature at Nottingham Trent University. Her area of research is Dalit and diasporic South Asian literature and her current research project is the representation of modernity in Dalit literature.
Mrigakshi Das, from Odisha, India, is a PhD candidate at the School of Arts and Humanities at Nottingham Trent University in the UK. Her research interests include Adivasi and Dalit literature, as well as decolonial and postcolonial studies. Her current research explores Adivasi literature and cinema, focusing on expressions of Adivasi identity and otherness through these mediums.
The CADALFEST series [Celebrating Adivasi and Dalit Arts and Literature Festival] has taken place in various locations in the UK and in India between October 2022 and February 2023, with the opening and final events taking place in Nottingham. These events included poetry, music, drama performances and films, along with Workshops, Masterclasses and public discussions with practitioners of both folk and contemporary performative art forms with the contribution of academic researchers who introduced performances, conducted interviews, contributed to the discussions, and more.
The aim, in the CADALFEST series, is to bring people from different walks of life together, sharing perspectives, enjoying themselves and learning from each other. Creativity and empowering energy channelled through the folk and performing arts productions takes centre stage— the horrors of casteism should not be ignored but the joy of togetherness, limitless creativity and social empowerment strategies should come to the forefront in a much more visible way.
Established in 2020, Formations is an event programme led by NTU’s Postcolonial and Global Studies Research Group in collaboration with Bonington Gallery. The series foregrounds the work of underrepresented writers, academics, artists, intellectuals and activists worldwide who address inequalities of all kinds, often bringing people from different places and working practices together for important conversations.
We’re delighted to invite Hull based The Aimless Archive to deliver the 26th instalment of our Bonington Vitrines programme.
Suggested Starting Points is an exhibition that builds upon a single afternoon The Aimless Archive (TAA) spent in the Bonington Gallery archives.
Each item selected operates as an invitation for the audience to contribute to the exhibition, which can be done via open apertures cut into one of the Vitrines on display. Within this format, TAA aim to question the things that grab attention and what those things can be a catalyst for – reimagining the archive as a place for quick decisions and instinct, and not a place of exhaustion.
This exhibition will expand to include the Bonington Archive Cabinet in the form of Notes Toward Suggested Starting Points, where a collection of papers and notebooks generated by TAA will lay bare the process behind the presentation in the Vitrines.
—
The invitation to TAA to make a project with us follows an extensive (and still ongoing) period of organisation of Bonington Gallery’s own 50+ year archive. By bringing external voices into this work, we hope to analyse, question and potentially disrupt inherited processes and attitudes towards the organisation of historical materials. We hope to explore methods for how archives can be activated in ways that better match their often more subjective origins.
The Aimless Archive works across text – conversation – performance – collecting. It questions what we keep and what we get rid of by generating starting points for new and collaborative work, building archives as places for reflection and evaluation, and presenting unfinished and ongoing work. Repeatedly working in the area where artists and audiences meet, outcomes often take the form of (a book – a box – a by-product) or (a workshop – a scanned doc – a re-drafted piece of writing).
The Aimless Archive on Instagram.
Donald Rodney (b.1961, d.1998) studied at Nottingham Trent Polytechnic, now Nottingham Trent University, between 1981 and 1985. Here, Rodney’s practice moved from painting to an experimental multimedia approach, through which he established an artistic language addressing subjects including racial identity, Black masculinity, chronic illness, and Britain’s colonial past.
Sketchbooks were an integral part of Donald Rodney’s practice from 1982 onwards. His sketchbooks contain: preliminary studies for artworks, records of past exhibitions and various writings; glimpses of Rodney’s diverse personal, cultural, social, and political influences. This vitrine exhibition collates archival material to present a snapshot of Rodney’s time as a student in Nottingham, amid his involvement with local, national, and global socio-political discourses. Rodney began using sketchbooks at the age of twenty-two as a student, and he filled forty-eight sketchbooks by the time of his death in 1998 from complications related to sickle cell disease.
Rodney met fellow artist Keith Piper at Nottingham Trent Polytechnic, and together they moved in with electronics student Gary Stewart. At their address — 3 Lindsey Walk, Hyson Green Flats — Rodney, Piper, and Stewart provided a meeting place for artists, writers, makers, and thinkers: fellow students, local community members, and persons from their national networks. The BLK Art Group was also formed by Rodney and fellow students in 1983, using 3 Lindsey Walk as its address. The BLK Art Group was a collective of young Black artists and curators who exhibited primarily in Birmingham and London. This was an important and necessary group, but BLK Art Group has also been retrospectively attached to activities by British artists in the 1980s who were not affiliated with the collective. This attachment has been critiqued as a reduction and conflation of an important reality: that there were many unique, different, and individual Black British artists working across the UK long before The BLK Art Group, throughout the 1980s, and, of course, far beyond and into the present day.
Rodney, and fellow students, also engaged in artistic activity outside of Nottingham Trent Polytechnic, by organising exhibitions, conferences, talks, and events across the midlands and nationally. These included The First National Black Art Convention of 1982, at Wolverhampton Polytechnic, and Pan-Afrikan Connection, which involved a series of exhibitions in Bristol, Nottingham, Coventry, and London between 1982-1983.
For further insight into Donald Rodney’s life and art, please visit Donald Rodney: Visceral Canker at Nottingham Contemporary until 5 January 2025. This exhibition includes all of Donald Rodney’s surviving artworks including painting, drawing, and installation, as well as sculpture and digital media.
This exhibition has been curated by Joshua Lockwood-Moran with the exhibitions team at Nottingham Contemporary.
Launch event
Join us for the launch of this exhibition and After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024 on Thursday 26 September 2024, 6 – 8 pm. Book your free ticket now.
Join us for a free guided tour of Bonington Gallery’s latest exhibition with BSL interpretation.
Book your free place and enjoy a tour of Bonington Gallery’s first exhibition of the new season, After The End Of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024, led by the Gallery’s Director Tom Godfrey.
Along with an introduction to the exhibition, Tom will give an overview of the Gallery’s programme this season.
This event will last up to an hour. Please meet inside Bonington Building in the foyer space outside the Gallery doors at 12.55 pm. Free and open to all, booking required.
After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024 is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition curated by Johny Pitts with Hayward Gallery Touring.
The Online Dalit Film Festival 2024 is a celebration of resistance, resilience, and the power of storytelling. It is a platform to amplify the voices of Dalit filmmakers who are challenging the status quo and redefining Indian cinema. For far too long, the visual narrative of Dalit lives has been dictated by an outsider’s gaze. This gaze has often perpetuated stereotypes, relegated Dalit characters to the margins, and failed to capture the richness and complexity of their experiences. We’ve seen Dalits portrayed as one-dimensional figures – the downtrodden, the villainous, or the comical sidekick. These depictions not only erase the rich diversity within the Dalit community but also reinforce the very caste prejudices the medium should strive to dismantle.
We believe that true representation comes from within. We need more Dalit directors, producers, actors, and storytellers at the helm. They are the ones who can bring authenticity and depth to the portrayal of Dalit lives, showcasing their struggles, triumphs, and the vibrant tapestry of their culture. Through screenings, Q&A sessions, and a panel discussion, the festival seeks to educate and engage audiences on themes of caste, social justice, and the Dalit experience. We hope to foster a dialogue that challenges discriminatory practices and promotes a more inclusive future in Indian cinema.
The festival kicks off on Thursday, July 4th, 2024, with a screening of The Discreet Charm of the Savarnas by Rajesh Rajamani. This film exposes the hypocrisies of the ‘upper caste’ filmmakers.
July 11th, 2024: Champaran Mutton by Ranjan Umakrishn Kumar is a film that underscores the themes of caste politics and discrimination. Yarigu Helonu Bayda by Ajay Tambe is a commentary on Brahmanical society, cultural biases, and the intricate dynamics of love, friendship, betrayal, and personal conflict.
July 18th, 2024: BR Ambedkar: Now And Then (BRANT) is a feature-length documentary film by Jyoti Nisha. Driven by Dr. Ambedkar’s philosophy, the film explores the representation and assertion of Bahujan people in contemporary India.
The festival concludes on Thursday, July 25th, 2024, with a panel discussion on the subject of Dalit or anti-caste themed films in India. We’ll be joined by distinguished scholars Harish S. Wankhede, Amit Kumar, Manju Edachira and Rajesh Rajamani to discuss the scope and limitations of such films, paving the way for a future of inclusive storytelling.
Neeraj Bunkar is a PhD Scholar at the Department of English, Linguistics, and Philosophy at Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, United Kingdom with a specific interest in Caste, Dalit, Rajasthani folklore, Oral History and Cinema. He is researching Rajasthan-based Hindi cinema from the Dalit standpoint. His write-up in the category of PostScript: ‘Spring Thunder: Adivasi Resistance for ‘Jal, Jangal, Jameen’’ (2022) and the Book review: ‘Subalternity at the Centre: A Young Diary Demands Radical Change’ (2024) published in the Economic and Political Weekly. He regularly contributes to platforms such as Forward Press and RoundTable India.
Bonington Gallery is pleased to present Knees Kiss Ground by London based artist Motunrayo Akinola (b.1992).
Motunrayo explores themes related to faith, migration, belonging, colonialism and postcolonialism using everyday materials, domestic imagery, historical imagery and text. His work manifests predominantly through sculpture, installation, performance, sound and drawing.
As a British-born Nigerian who is comfortable in both spaces, Akinola’s work investigates systems and subtle cultural codings that maintain a sense of othering. He creates environments that question societal positions on contemporary issues by re-contextualising familiar objects and materials – interrupting quick associations and creating points of access into othered perspectives.
Motunrayo’s interest in attitudes towards migration stems from his dual upbringing in London and Lagos, Nigeria. Work created during recent years explores postcolonial power dynamics and the psychology of ownership. By noting subtle gaps in cultural knowledge, his work encourages a new understanding about the possession of space.
Having studied both architecture and art, Motunrayo is interested in the impacts the built environment has on human experience. For this exhibition, Motunrayo will present works including a full-scale replica of a shipping container made from cardboard, a site-specific drawing that documents a private performance in Bonington Gallery, and several works that use light to explore the relationship between light and religious or spiritual rituals, such as the Biblical association of light as a revelatory presence.
This exhibition has been produced in partnership with South London Gallery where Motunrayo spent six months on the Postgraduate Residency programme in 2023/24, culminating in the solo exhibition Knees Kiss Ground. This iteration of the exhibition is an expansion on the works created during that period.
Motunrayo Akinola is a London-based artist who uses images of the home and everyday materials to explore comfort and belonging. He creates sculptures, installations, sound and drawings. He studied at RA Schools, graduating in 2023. As a British-born Nigerian who has spent time in and now feels comfortable in both countries, Akinola’s work exposes the nuanced differences between the two places.
Bonington Gallery have partnered with South London Gallery to deliver their 13th Postgraduate Residency, an open submission six-month residency that provides an early-career artist with a rare opportunity to produce a new body of work, which is then exhibited at the SLG and in this instance at Bonington Gallery. The residency is open to artists who have completed a BA, and have undertaken a period of self-directed, peer-led or postgraduate study in the year prior to the residency. This can include alternative, peer organised and non-accredited programmes from an institution, collective or art school in the UK as well as an MA, MFA, PGDip, MRes.
The SLG has an international reputation for its contemporary art exhibitions by established, mid-career and younger artists and programme of film and performance events. Its highly regarded, free education programme includes a peer-led young people’s forum; family workshops; artist-led projects and commissions on local housing estates; and a programme for looked after children.
The Postgraduate Residency is supported by The Paul and Louise Cooke Endowment.
Press
Floorr Magazine
Corridor8 review by Jade Foster
This event is now fully booked. Those without a ticket may not be admitted.
Join us for the launch of a new exhibition featuring over 120 works by contemporary working-class artists and photographers.
Curated by photographer, writer and broadcaster Johny Pitts, After the End of History emphasises the perspectives of practitioners who turn their gaze towards both their communities and outwards to the wider world. Find out more.
‘After the End of History: British Working Class Photography 1989 – 2024’ is a Hayward Gallery Touring exhibition curated by Johny Pitts with Hayward Gallery Touring.
Dr Paul Adey is a HE lecturer of Music Performance and Music Business at Confetti Institute of Technologies.
Performing under the artist name of Cappo, he has practiced hip hop lyricism for over two decades. During this time, he has had the privilege of appearing at many of Europe’s premier live music venues, performing alongside artists such as Public Enemy, Skepta, and The Sleaford Mods.
Throughout his career, he has released music on various record labels including Tru-Thoughts and Ninja Tune, and featured live on BBC Radio One (John Peel), BBC Radio 1 Xtra, and BBC Radio 6 numerous times.
Paul’s interdisciplinary research focuses on popular culture, literary devices and musical concepts such as intertextuality and allusion, and the semianalysis of song lyrics. The interdisciplinary nature of Paul’s research links his work to Music, English, Creative Writing, and media studies.
Instagram: @kafka_poe_murakami
X: @CAPPO_GENGHIS
Linktr.ee: @_Cappo_
Claude Money is a record producer and PhD researcher from Nottingham via Singapore and Spain.
Based at Sirkus Studios, he’s been known to work on projects of all genres, but is consistently influenced by the stylings and history of Library Music, Soul, Jazz and Hip-Hop, as well as the traditional folk music of his broad and eclectic cultural background.
Outside of the record industry, he produces music for the screen. He has created bespoke pieces for the BFI and Netflix as well as BBC’s Inside Out, London Fashion Week and the Sailing Grand Prix.
Since 2016, He’s produced a wide variety of tracks for artists including Pete Beardsworth, Emily Makis, Wariko, President T, Window Kid and Snowy. His breakout single was his remix of Misti Blu Two by Amillionsons featuring siblings Taka Boom, Chaka Khan and Mark Stevens, available now on vinyl via Amillionrecords.
Claude’s previous career as a journalist eventually led him to the world of live music. As a promoter he’s worked with headliners such as Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, Saul Williams, KRS One, Children of Zeus, The Pharcyde and Ghostface Killah.
His passion for the culture has now led him full circle. In October of 2024 Claude will begin a new role at the Nottingham Trent University Doctoral School as a researcher where he will be recording and transcribing the oral histories of Nottingham’s hidden Hip-Hop history, a previously unexplored and under-researched area of UK cultural history.
www.sirkus.co.uk
www.instagram.com/claudemoneyofficial
www.soundcloud.com/claudemoneyofficial
The Blue Description Project (2023) is a new experimental version of Derek Jarman’s seminal film, Blue (1993). It features expanded accessibility measures including audio description, creative captions and in-person British Sign Language interpretation.
“Moving beyond words.” – Time Out “Extraordinary“ ★★★★★ – The Times
In 1993, Derek Jarman released Blue, an epoch-defining account of AIDS, illness, and the experience of disability in a culture of repressive heteronormativity and compulsory able-bodiedness. Though often referred to as a feature film, Blue never existed exclusively in one medium. It was screened in theatres, simulcast on television and radio, released as a CD, and published as a book, creating opportunities for many different kinds of sensory abilities—visual, aural, and textual—to experience the work.
Conceived by artists and writers Christopher Robert Jones, Liza Sylvestre, and Sarah Hayden, The Blue Description Project creates a new, experimental iteration of Blue on the 30th anniversary of its release and Jarman’s death. Reflecting Blue’s standing as a foundational work of Crip* art, the project challenges ableist hierarchies in art while focusing on the generative possibilities of difference and interdependence.
In 1994, Jarman wrote in Chroma: “If I have overlooked something you hold precious — write it in the margin.” Taking up this invitation to write in the margin, The Blue Description Project builds on the multifaceted nature of Jarman’s work through newly commissioned and expansive accessibility.
*Crip—Cripistemology and the Arts.
The event is open to everyone and is intended as an immersive and collective experience for those who may benefit from accessibility provision or not.
The film screening will have creative captions and audio description that is edited into the main soundtrack of the film. It will also be British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted. The discussion afterwards will be live-captioned and BSL-interpreted.
During the screening, the space will be dim, with only the BSL interpreters illuminated via spotlights. The film soundtrack will play into the space at ‘cinema level’ volume.
The gallery is wheelchair accessible via a lift. Visit our website for general access information for our building.
Visit our YouTube channel to watch a video tour of the journey into our gallery from the street.
Invigilators and staff will be on hand throughout the evening to offer any assistance needed.
Accessible toilets are very close by to the gallery.
If you would like to discuss any further access requirements, or identify a way that we can make your attendance easier then please email us.
The Blue Description Project (BDP) is produced by Liza Sylvestre and Christopher Robert Jones (Crip*—Cripistemology and the Arts) in partnership with Sarah Hayden (Voices in the Gallery). BDP is made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with support from the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and additional support from the Southampton Institute for Arts and Humanities HEIF Research Stimulus Fund.
Liza Sylvestre is a transdisciplinary artist and research assistant professor within the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she has co-founded the initiative Crip*—Cripistemology and the Arts. Her work has been shown internationally at venues such as the Weisman Art Museum (Minneapolis), John Hansard Gallery (Southampton), ARGOS (Brussels), and Museum für Moderne Kunst (Frankfurt). Sylvestre has been the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, most recently a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship and a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship. She has been artist-in-residence at the Weisman Art Museum and the Center for Applied and Translational Sensory Science and in 2019, she received a Citizens Advocate Award from the Minnesota Commission of the Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing. Sylvestre’s work has been written about in numerous publications and books including Art in America, Mousse Magazine, Ocula Magazine, Art Monthly, and SciArt Magazine.
Christopher Robert Jones is an artist and writer based in Illinois. Their research revolves around the “failure” or “malfunctioning” of the body and how those experiences are situated at points of intersection between Queer and Crip discourses. They are a regular contributor to Art Papers magazine and their work has recently been exhibited at the Krannert Art Museum, Gallery 400, and the Weisman Art Museum. Jones is the co-founder of Crip*—Cripistemology and the Arts, a transdisciplinary initiative that is housed within the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where they are also a research assistant professor.
Sarah Hayden is a writer and Associate Professor in Literature and Visual Culture at the University of Southampton. From 2019–2023, she led “Voices in the Gallery,” a research, writing and curatorial project on intersections of voice, text and access in contemporary art, funded by the AHRC. In 2022, she developed slow emergency siren, ongoing: Accessing Handsworth Songs in partnership with LUX. Recent writings include as if […] wearing anklesocks (for Sarah Browne’s Buttercup) and essays on Charlie Prodger for Secession Vienna and captioning as “unvoiceover” for Angelaki.
Elaine Lillian Joseph is an audio describer based in London and Birmingham. She has a BA in Modern Languages (German) and English Literature and trained as a describer at ITV under Jonathan Penny. She is a founding member of SoundScribe, a global majority collective of audio describers and consultants and a member of Collective Text, an organisation supporting accessibility in art and film through creative captioning, audio description and interpretation. The question that galvanises her practice is how can we honour the labour of access work and create a service that powerfully resonates with users? Collaboration and anti-discrimination activism is key to her work.
A selection of recently completed projects include Eve Stainton’s Impact Driver at the Institute for Contemporary Arts in London, an online screening of Hofesh Shechter’s Political Mother and a newly commissioned audio described track for Black Audio Film Collective’s Handsworth Songs.
The producers of the project wish to thanks everyone who so generously contributed their descriptions to the Blue Description Project. Warm thanks to Elaine Lillian Joseph and Corvyn Dostie. Special thanks to James MacKay, Basilisk Communications, and Zeitgeist Films.
Image credit: Christopher Robert Jones, Liza Sylvestre, Sarah Hayden, Blue Description Project, film still, 2024. Digital movie, captions. 1:20:55. Courtesy of the artists.
This one-day symposium focuses on identity representation in the context of international, large-scale, survey exhibitions of contemporary art.
Identity Complex aims to provide new insights into the challenges involved in the staging of these exhibitions. The symposium seeks to bring together renowned artists, curators, academics, and researchers across the Midlands and beyond to contribute to a growing body of research and curatorial practice relating to the relationship between identity, contemporary art, and globalisation.
When it comes to the representation of nations and cultures beyond the Western canon, exhibitions have played a key role in the promotion of contemporary art in a global context. While mega-exhibitions such as biennials, triennials and the quinquennial documenta are rooted in the celebration of ethno-geographic diversity, many exhibitions, museums, and collections have also attempted to capture the essence of national identity, addressing the complexities behind the definition and reaffirmation of identity, as well as advocating for singular, nationalist conceptions of contemporary art.
Influenced by postcolonial theory and decolonisation processes, exhibitions have sought to reverse Western hierarchies of visual qualities and categories, shifting the attention to contemporary art practices of previously colonised and marginalised nations.
However, as argued by art historian David Joselit, ‘despite their undoubtedly good intentions, such exhibitions sever artists from their heritage in a superficial form of multicultural representation – or tokenism – that fails to do justice to their art’s histories’ (Joselit, 2020). Nevertheless, the question of identity remains relevant within global curatorial narratives, so much so that the title of the 2024 Venice Biennale is ‘Foreigners Everywhere’, alluding to the multiple ways artists can be considered foreigners.
How can we understand identity representation in a globalised world? Is it still sustainable to think about exhibitions grounded on a nation-based framework? How do we approach different epistemologies within global exhibition-making?
Drawing on these enquiries, the symposium aims to explore various perspectives on the subject while fostering debate among artists, curators, academics, and researchers.
Dr Shwetal A. Patel is a writer and researcher working at the intersection of contemporary art and its production, research practice, and development theory, and founding member of India’s first biennial, the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
Sunil Shah is an artist, writer, and PhD candidate at Central St. Martins, University of the Arts London (UAL) researching art and exhibition histories with a particular focus on Okwui Enwezor’s Documenta11 (2002).
Dr Yaiza Hernández Velázquez is a transdisciplinary researcher and lecturer in visual cultures at Goldsmiths, with a particular interest in the histories and theories of curating, archiving and museum-making and in the visual cultures of tourism.
Jessica Taylor is a curator and deputy artistic director at International Curators Forum and curator of the Diaspora Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale.
Abdulrazaq Awofeso is a UK-based Nigerian artist and sculptor working on the topics of migration and identity.
Ibiye Camp is an artist, architect, and fashion designer living between London and Freetown, Sierra Leone.
Co-convenors: Caroline Fucci (University of Leicester) & Claudia Di Tosto (University of Warwick)
This event is supported by AHRC Midlands4Cities and hosted by Bonington Gallery.
Alongside our current exhibition, Karuppu, join artist Osheen Siva for this free, in-person workshop rooted in Dalit history, focusing on the legacy of the Dalit Panthers.
This event utilises speculative fiction as a tool to explore a future in which multi-dimensional narratives are built, while being anchored through an anti-caste, anti-racist and intersectional feminist lens.
Things to note:
About the workshop:
During the workshop, we’ll look into the origins, history, legacy of the Dalit Panthers movement. Exploring how the call for action was manifested physically through art and design, through the means of newsletters, posters, typography, colours, and so on. In parallel, we also focus on the history of protest artworks throughout history such as the poster designs from the 70s punk movement, art practices of creatives like Keith Haring, Shiva Nallaperumal, Rajni Perera, Panther’s Paw Publications, and Octavia Butler amongst others.
With the knowledge of Dalit history and the universe of futurisms we’ll combine the two using speculative fiction to create our own empowering narratives. Using the Dalit Panther newsletter as the template, we speculate what the year 3000 would look like for the Dalit community.
This will be envisioned through:
Osheen Siva is a multidisciplinary artist from Thiruvannamalai, currently based in Goa. Through the lens of surrealism, speculative fiction and science fiction and rooted in their Dalit and Tamil heritage, Osheen imagines new worlds of decolonised dreamscapes, futuristic oases with mutants and monsters and narratives of queer and feminine power.