Bonington Gallery is pleased to presentan exhibition of paintings by Nottingham based artist Shahnawaz Hussainwhich capture key buildings and landmarks across Nottingham and the wider county.
Based in Nottingham, Shahnawaz Hussain is a self-taught artist who has been practicing and making art for the past 8 years.
Mostly working in acrylic, oil and watercolour; Shahnawaz travels across Nottinghamshire visiting locally significant buildings and landmarks that either possess a Nottingham Civic Society plaque or are otherwise connected with a famous Nottingham personality or lost industry. Some paintings also depict places and locations that are personal to the artist, such as his house.
In his experimental artworks, form, colour and texture are interwoven and applied via a broad range of perspective techniques, in turn exploring meaning, scale and depth-of-vision to reveal in great detail the underlying nature and composition of his subjects.
Shahnawaz has a particular interest in buildings from the ages of high architecture, particularly those from Victorian, Georgian, Tudor, Arts and Crafts and Baroque styles.
Having lived in Nottingham for most of his adult life he has observed the evolution of the city and wider county over many years, witnessing heritage architecture being irreplaceably lost, or used for purposes different to what was originally intended.
Shahnawaz is an Alumni Fellow at Nottingham Trent University, graduating in 1999 in MSc Multimedia Engineering. His personal website can be visited here, and more information about his practice can be read via this downloadable PDF document created by the artist.
Dame Laura Knight's House and Peter Pan HouseBestwood Winding Engine HouseNottingham Arts Theatre, Lenton Hurst House, and Royal Concert HallInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewNottingham Central Library, Angel RowInstallation viewThe Addams BuildingInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation view
Dame Laura Knight's House and Peter Pan HouseBestwood Winding Engine HouseNottingham Arts Theatre, Lenton Hurst House, and Royal Concert HallInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewNottingham Central Library, Angel RowInstallation viewThe Addams BuildingInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation view
Alongside our current exhibition, history is a living weapon in yr hand, join us for a free online In-conversation event between our current exhibitor Onyeka Igwe and Dr. Jenni Ramone, Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Global Literatures at NTU.
Together, they will explore topics related to Igwe’s wider practice and the ideas, research and development that informs both the exhibition and Igwe’s 2023 film, A Radical Duet, that is central to the installation.
On the evening there will be the opportunity to pose questions.
Jenni Ramone is Associate Professor of Postcolonial and Global Literatures at NTU, where she directs the Postcolonial and Global Studies Research Group. She is also managing editor of the Journal of Postcolonial Writing. Her forthcoming book is Global Literature and Gender: Twenty-First Century Perspectives, and recent books include Postcolonial Literatures in the Local Literary Marketplace: Located Reading, and The Bloomsbury Introduction to Postcolonial Writing. Her current project is on breastfeeding in literature and art.
Onyeka Igwe is a London-born and based moving image artist and researcher.
Her work is aimed at the question: how do we live together? Not to provide a rigid answer as such, but to pull apart the nuances of mutuality, co-existence and multiplicity.
Onyeka’s practice figures sensorial, spatial and counter-hegemonic ways of knowing as central to that task. For her, the body, archives and narratives both oral and textual act as a mode of enquiry that makes possible the exposition of overlooked histories.
She has had solo/duo shows at MoMA PS1, New York (2023), High Line, New York (2022), Mercer Union, Toronto (2021), Jerwood Arts, London (2019) and Trinity Square Video, London (2018). Her films have screened in numerous group shows and film festivals worldwide.
Currently, she is Practitioner in Residence at the University of the Arts London and she will participate in the group show ‘Nigeria Imaginary’ in the national pavilion of Nigeria at the upcoming 60th Venice Biennial in 2024. She was awarded the New Cinema Award at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2019, 2020 Arts Foundation Fellowship, 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize and has been nominated for the 2022 Jarman Award and Max Mara Artist Prize for Women. Onyeka is represented by Arcadia Missa Gallery.
Presented alongside Onyeka Igwe’s solo exhibition history is a living weapon in yr hand, discover a selection of materials selected by the artist, that highlight key women who embraced creative activities to challenge imperialism and imagine new Pan-African realities.
In looking into the history of Pan-Africanism from the 1930s up until Howard Macmillan’s famous Winds of Change speech in 1960, many famed and celebrated men emerge as having spent time in the UK before rising to prominence in Africa, the Caribbean and South Asia as political leaders. The women are lesser known and celebrated, but figures like Amy Ashwood Garvey, Katherine Dunham, Una Marson, Sylvia Wynter and Funmilayo Ransome Kuti played their part using music, poetry, dance and theatre to challenge imperialism and imagine new Pan-African futures.
Exhibition launch
Join us for a first look round the exhibition on Friday 12 January from 6–8 pm. Book your free ticket
Installation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewDetail of a newspaper clipping which features an article about Funmilayo Ransome-KutiCut out from the casting magazine 'The Spotlight' with Sylvia Wynter's headshotSigned copy of a play-text for London Calling, by Una MarsonProgramme for the Palace Theatre for a show of Kathrine Dunham and her company
Installation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewDetail of a newspaper clipping which features an article about Funmilayo Ransome-KutiCut out from the casting magazine 'The Spotlight' with Sylvia Wynter's headshotSigned copy of a play-text for London Calling, by Una MarsonProgramme for the Palace Theatre for a show of Kathrine Dunham and her company
Images by Jules Lister
Onyeka Igwe is a London born, and based, moving image artist and researcher. Her work is aimed at the question: how do we live together? Not to provide a rigid answer as such, but to pull apart the nuances of mutuality, co-existence and multiplicity.
Onyeka’s practice figures sensorial, spatial and counter-hegemonic ways of knowing as central to that task. For her, the body, archives and narratives both oral and textual act as a mode of enquiry that makes possible the exposition of overlooked histories. She has had solo/duo shows at MoMA PS1, New York (2023), High Line, New York (2022), Mercer Union, Toronto (2021), Jerwood Arts, London (2019) and Trinity Square Video, London (2018). Her films have screened in numerous group shows and film festivals worldwide.
Currently, she is Practitioner in Residence at the University of the Arts London and she will participate in the group show ‘Nigeria Imaginary’ in the national pavilion of Nigeria at the upcoming 60th Venice Biennial in 2024. She was awarded the New Cinema Award at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2019, 2020 Arts Foundation Fellowship, 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize and has been nominated for the 2022 Jarman Award and Max Mara Artist Prize for Women. Onyeka is represented by Arcadia Missa Gallery.
Join us for a free, accessible tour of history is a living weapon in yr hand led by Onyeka Igwe (artist) & Elaine Joseph (audio describer), and accompanied by a BSL interpreter.
This event is open to all, plus additional accessibility provision for D/deaf & Hard of Hearing, Blind and Visually Impaired visitors.
Booking is encouraged, but not compulsory.
Please meet in the Bonington Foyer at 12.55 pm for a prompt start.
The walkthrough will last up to an hour, within the gallery.
Refreshments will be provided, and a breakout space will be available afterwards for socialising till 3 pm.
General access information to the building can be found here Accessibility information for the exhibition can be found here
Onyeka Igwe is a London-born and based moving image artist and researcher.
Her work is aimed at the question: how do we live together? Not to provide a rigid answer as such, but to pull apart the nuances of mutuality, co-existence and multiplicity.
Onyeka’s practice figures sensorial, spatial and counter-hegemonic ways of knowing as central to that task. For her, the body, archives and narratives both oral and textual act as a mode of enquiry that makes possible the exposition of overlooked histories.
She has had solo/duo shows at MoMA PS1, New York (2023), High Line, New York (2022), Mercer Union, Toronto (2021), Jerwood Arts, London (2019) and Trinity Square Video, London (2018). Her films have screened in numerous group shows and film festivals worldwide.
Currently, she is Practitioner in Residence at the University of the Arts London and she will participate in the group show ‘Nigeria Imaginary’ in the national pavilion of Nigeria at the upcoming 60th Venice Biennial in 2024. She was awarded the New Cinema Award at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2019, 2020 Arts Foundation Fellowship, 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize and has been nominated for the 2022 Jarman Award and Max Mara Artist Prize for Women. Onyeka is represented by Arcadia Missa Gallery.
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.
We are delighted to welcome Birmingham based artist-educator Shannon Thomson for a ‘micro-residency’ during John Beck and Matthew Cornford’s exhibition, The Art Schools of the East Midlands. Shannon will explore Nottingham School of Art & Design’s architectural, social and cultural history through the process of personal and collective collage making.
For two days, Shannon will be working within the gallery, cutting and splicing source material from our archive with photography and ephemera gathered by the artist herself.
Visitors to the gallery will be welcome to join in with the activity and create their own collages, contributing to a collective dialogue about the subject of art school pasts, presents and futures.
Shannon will return to the gallery on Saturday 25th November, 10 am – 1 pm for a session with our Saturday Art Club group. Visitors to the gallery that day will be able to observe this activity taking place inside the gallery.
As an artist and educator, Shannon Thomson‘s current body of work delves into the intricate relationship between pedagogy and creative expression, shedding light on the transformative power of arts education.
Thomson’s work currently draws inspiration from art school archives, most recently Birmingham School of Art.
Through examining archival material, Thomson seeks to unravel the complex narrative of educational systems and their influence on shaping artistic identity.
Don’t miss the first UK exhibition by multidisciplinary artist Osheen Siva,entitled ‘Karuppu’ (கருப்பு – meaning darkness/black in Tamil). The exhibition includes drawings and paintings, collaborative tapestries crafted with local woman artisans, and the incorporation of leather, laden with political and caste contexts in India.
Originally from Thiruvannamalai in South India, and currently based in Goa, Siva is an acclaimed artist whose practice encompasses painting, drawing, performance and public art. As a digital illustrator they have collaborated with leading global brands including Apple, Gucci, and Meta.
Taking a cue from Afrofuturism, Siva’s work brings together science fiction, mythology, heritage, their love of comic books, and the vibrant, joyful colours of South India to create fantastical characters and dreamscapes, reclaiming and reinventing Indian folktales and myths to imagine a decolonised future.
Siva’s work is rooted in their Dalit and Tamil heritage. Dalit translates as ‘broken, divided, split, shattered’ and Dalits are among India’s most marginalised citizens, condemned to the lowest echelons of society by a rigid caste hierarchy. Karuppu – meaning darkness or black in Tamil – carries associations with ‘evil’ in Hindu mythology and is often used in reference to the lower caste and the ‘untouchables’. Siva navigates the complexities of Dalit history, offering a powerful and evocative exploration of identity, resistance, and the quest for a liberated future.
A self-taught illustrator and muralist from Thiruvannamalai, India, Osheen Siva imagines a brave new world of decolonized dreamscapes and narratives of queer power
Siva’s Dalit Futurism reclaims the word Karuppu, seeking to invert and transform the arbitrary structure of caste through a narrative of mutation and hybridity. The beautiful mutant characters serve as a metaphor, challenging assigned social status and established histories with non-binary fluidity, championing bodily autonomy, and highlighting queer and feminine power.
Central to the exhibition is the reclamation and reinvention of Indian mythologies. Siva’s work critiques Hindu scriptures and ancient Sanskrit texts that perpetuate the discrimination of lower-caste individuals. Deliberately countering the lack of positive imagery associated with Dalit communities, Siva creates progressive depictions, envisioning a future that transcends existing stereotypes.
Exploring their heritage in the farming communities of Tamil Nadu, nature is a recurring motif in Siva’s work. Acting as a dual symbol, the natural world conveys fruitfulness and abundance and also highlights the trauma associated with labour and bondage, creating a complex dialogue between nature and social hierarchy.
Images by Osheen Siva, 2024.
எதிர்காலம் நம்முடையது (Ethirkalam Namathathé), 2022, Embroidery on cotton.எதிர்பார் (Ethirpar), 2023, Embroidery on cotton fabric.இணைInai (Inai), 2021, Ink, acrylic and on canvas.நண்பர்கள் (Nanbargal), 2024, Acrylic on canvas.வளர்ச்சி (Valarchy), 2024, Acrylic on canvasInstallation detailInstallation detailInstallation detailபரிணாமம் (Parinaamam), 2023, Ink and acrylic on canvas.கற்பனயுலகு (Karpanaiulagu), 2023, Ink on lokta paper.ஒற்றுமை (Wottrumai), 2021, Ink and acrylic on paper.வணக்கம் (Vannakam), 2021, Ink and acrylic on paper.எதிர்காலம் (Ethirkalam), 2023, Ink and gouache on lokta paper.அழகு (Aḻaku) 01, 2023, Ink and gouache on paper.Installation viewInstallation viewஅழகு (Aḻaku) 01, 2023, Ink and gouache on paper.Installation viewInstallation viewInstallation view(Left to right) அமர், (Amar) 04, 2024, Acrylic on canvas.; நெருக்கம் (Warmth), 2021, Ink, acrylic and aerosol on paper; வலிமை (Valimai), 2021, Ink and acrylic on paperInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation view(Left to right) கற்பனயுலகு (Arcadia), 2023, and உருவம் (Uruvam) 01, 02, and 03, 2023Installation viewInstallation view(Left to right) அழகு (Aḻaku) 02, 01, and 03 2023, Ink and gouache on paper(Left to right) உருவம் (Uruvam) 03, 02, and 01, 2023, Ink and gouache on paper(Left to right) இளவரசி (Elavarasi) 1, 2, and 3, 2023, Acrylic on canvas.
எதிர்காலம் நம்முடையது (Ethirkalam Namathathé), 2022, Embroidery on cotton.எதிர்பார் (Ethirpar), 2023, Embroidery on cotton fabric.இணைInai (Inai), 2021, Ink, acrylic and on canvas.நண்பர்கள் (Nanbargal), 2024, Acrylic on canvas.வளர்ச்சி (Valarchy), 2024, Acrylic on canvasInstallation detailInstallation detailInstallation detailபரிணாமம் (Parinaamam), 2023, Ink and acrylic on canvas.கற்பனயுலகு (Karpanaiulagu), 2023, Ink on lokta paper.ஒற்றுமை (Wottrumai), 2021, Ink and acrylic on paper.வணக்கம் (Vannakam), 2021, Ink and acrylic on paper.எதிர்காலம் (Ethirkalam), 2023, Ink and gouache on lokta paper.அழகு (Aḻaku) 01, 2023, Ink and gouache on paper.Installation viewInstallation viewஅழகு (Aḻaku) 01, 2023, Ink and gouache on paper.Installation viewInstallation viewInstallation view(Left to right) அமர், (Amar) 04, 2024, Acrylic on canvas.; நெருக்கம் (Warmth), 2021, Ink, acrylic and aerosol on paper; வலிமை (Valimai), 2021, Ink and acrylic on paperInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation viewInstallation view(Left to right) கற்பனயுலகு (Arcadia), 2023, and உருவம் (Uruvam) 01, 02, and 03, 2023Installation viewInstallation view(Left to right) அழகு (Aḻaku) 02, 01, and 03 2023, Ink and gouache on paper(Left to right) உருவம் (Uruvam) 03, 02, and 01, 2023, Ink and gouache on paper(Left to right) இளவரசி (Elavarasi) 1, 2, and 3, 2023, Acrylic on canvas.
history is a living weapon in yr hand is a solo exhibition of new and reconfigured work by London-based artist Onyeka Igwe.
The exhibition will be centred around a new two-screen adaptation of Igwe’s dual timeline experimental film A Radical Duet (2023). The film imagines what happened when two women of different generations, but both part of the post-war independence movement, came together in London to put their fervour and imagination into writing a revolutionary play. The film depicts this process, and envisages what that play would look like, if staged today.
1947 London was a hub of radical anti-colonial activity. International intellectuals, artists, and activists like Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, Sylvia Wynter, C.L.R. James, Kwame Nkrumah, and George Padmore were all in London at the eve of the end of British colonialism. Individually, they were agitating for their respective countries’ national independence, but did they meet? And if they all did, what did they discuss? What did they conjure?
The film will be accompanied by elements of the set design and props from the making of A Radical Duet, taking inspiration from Sylvia Wynter’s ideas on theatrical adaptation. Wynter builds on Brechtian principles of modern epic theatre and advises on how set design can support a theatre to ‘explode [social] fears by bringing them out into the light of day’.
For this exhibition, Igwe will be working with Collective Text, an organisation supporting accessibility in art and film through creative captioning, audio description and interpretation.
A Radical Duet was commissioned by FLAMIN Productions through FILM LONDON Artists’ Moving Image Network with funding from Arts Council England.
history is a living weapon in yr hand is produced in collaboration with Peer Gallery, London, where it will be presented in autumn 2024.
A Microsoft Word version of this information, including floor plan of space is available to download here.
Accessibility Guidance
This accessibility guidance was written in collaboration with Onyeka Igwe, Bonington Gallery and Collective Text.
Exhibition Information
history is a living weapon in yr hand is captioned and audio described. The two-channel film in the exhibition has animated captions which include sound descriptions.
There is an audio described introduction to the exhibition that can be accessed here.
There is an audio described introduction accompanied by imagery from the exhibition that can be accessed here.
At the gallery, audio description can be accessed via radio frequency headsets with two channels. A switch beside the volume slider enables you to flick between channel 1 which plays the audio described introduction linked above and channel 2 which plays the exhibition audio description synced to the film and props. There will be two listening stations for audio description, at the front entrance to the right of the stairs and at the back of the gallery next to the accessible lift entrance. An invigilator will provide you with headphones, you can remain at these listening stations or can be assisted to the viewing benches in front of the screens by an invigilator. There are tactile pathway guidelines that direct you to the props in the exhibition, assistance can also alternatively be provided by an invigilator.
Please note that the exhibition space is dark. The film and/or spotlights are the primary light source. Sound plays in the space at a high volume. Let us know in advance if you require the room to be brighter or a lower volume.
The props in the exhibition are illuminated by a timed lighting system. Each prop has a distinct lighting colour and is accompanied by the sound “ACTION” which is captioned on the screens the first time it happens in the sequence, afterwards you are encouraged to move around the space.
The total running time of the exhibition is 32 minutes. There will be large print exhibition guides available through the invigilators.
The gallery is wheelchair accessible. General Access Information for the gallery is available here
For any additional questions or access needs contact Tom Godfrey: tom.godfrey@ntu.ac.uk
Onyeka Igwe is a London-born and based moving image artist and researcher.
Her work is aimed at the question: how do we live together? Not to provide a rigid answer as such, but to pull apart the nuances of mutuality, co-existence and multiplicity.
Onyeka’s practice figures sensorial, spatial and counter-hegemonic ways of knowing as central to that task. For her, the body, archives and narratives both oral and textual act as a mode of enquiry that makes possible the exposition of overlooked histories.
She has had solo/duo shows at MoMA PS1, New York (2023), High Line, New York (2022), Mercer Union, Toronto (2021), Jerwood Arts, London (2019) and Trinity Square Video, London (2018). Her films have screened in numerous group shows and film festivals worldwide.
Currently, she is Practitioner in Residence at the University of the Arts London and she will participate in the group show ‘Nigeria Imaginary’ in the national pavilion of Nigeria at the upcoming 60th Venice Biennial in 2024. She was awarded the New Cinema Award at Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival 2019, 2020 Arts Foundation Fellowship, 2021 Foundwork Artist Prize and has been nominated for the 2022 Jarman Award and Max Mara Artist Prize for Women. Onyeka is represented by Arcadia Missa Gallery.
Peer is a not-for-profit free-to-access space for contemporary art, located in the neighbourhood of Hoxton in East London. They place artists, young people and local communities at the heart of their internationally recognised programmes of public exhibitions held in their street-facing gallery, an ongoing series of workshops, talks and events, as well as offsite artist commissions produced in the local area.
Join Bonington Gallery’s Director Tom Godfrey for an insightful gallery tour of our current exhibition, The Art Schools of the East Midlands by John Beck and Matthew Cornford, and the accompanying exhibition, Art [School] Histories in the Vitrines and foyer.
Find out how the exhibitions emerged as part of the Art School Project and uncover stories behind the work and its connections to Nottingham.
Free, open to all
Booking is required
Please meet in the Bonington Foyer at 12.55pm for a prompt start
The event will last up to an hour, within the gallery
