Svg patterns

We are delighted to be dedicating the final Vitrines instalment of our 2024/25 season to archive material, information and clothing that documents the dynamism of the independent fashion scene of Nottingham in the 1980s.

In the years following Beeston-born Sir Paul Smith’s ascendency from a 3x3m store on Byard Lane in 1974 – to bases in London, Paris and Tokyo – many local fashion brands were established, including several by graduates from ‘Trent Poly’, who bucked the moving-to-London trend by committing themselves to the city and starting a new generation of independent labels. Homegrown brands such as G Force, Olto (now One BC) and Cocky’s Shed, were a just a few…

These brands combined talent, style discernment, DIY attitudes and cheap rents to start labels, open shops, and form global influence and connection. At one point the city even gained its own style pages in the form of Débris and Despatch, providing content that ranged from photo montages of nights at The Garage, to signposting visitors to the shops and studios that were physically and ideologically a long way from the High Street.

The fashion scene that developed placed equal importance on both studio and social time, building a network of close-knit creatives who collaborated and supported one another. This community incapsulated many of the same qualities that gave rise to other significant, and perhaps more well-known cultural communities such as the city’s music, cinema and contemporary art scenes.

The aim of this presentation is to celebrate and help establish a legacy for this important period within the city’s [sub]cultural history. An open call for materials will run in the lead-up and during the exhibition, allowing anyone to submit related materials that will join an evolving noticeboard. A selection of garments by contemporary designers practising locally will be presented as part of this exhibition, showing the continuation of dynamic fashion practice in the city and region.

Accompanying the exhibition will be a specially commissioned essay by Ian Trowell, who has also provided curatorial consultancy and research to this project. Ian writes on subjects including UK subcultures, music, fashion, popular culture, art and media. His book Throbbing Gristle: An Endless Discontent was published by Intellect Books in 2023.

This exhibition has been co-curated with Dr Katherine Townsend, a researcher, educator, practitioner and Professor in Fashion and Textile Practice in the Fashion, Textiles and Knitwear department in the School of Art and Design at Nottingham Trent University.


Launch event
Book your free ticket to attend the launch event for this exhibition at 6 pm on Friday 21 March 2025.

Image: ‘Clockwork Orange’ collection by Olto (now One-BC). Photo by Paul Edmondson, circa 1984.

Join us for the launch of our final exhibition of the academic year, exploring tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs).

We’re delighted to be hosting experimental exhibition Weird Hope Engines, and this is your opportunity to come along for a first look around. Enjoy a free welcome drink, delicious food (first come, first served!) and music.

The first exhibition of its kind, this exhibition highlights the practices of innovative designers, artists, and writers in the field of independent game design, and brings their work into dialogue with fellow-travellers in the field of critical art practice.

We dedicate the final Vitrines instalment of our 2024/25 season – Nottingham Subcultural Fashion in the 1980s – to archive material, information and clothing that documents the dynamism of the independent fashion scene of Nottingham in the 1980s.

All welcome but reserve your free ticket to avoid disappointment.

Join us for the launch of a new solo exhibition by Motunrayo Akinola and our Vitrines collaboration with The Aimless Archive.

We’re delighted to be launching two exhibitions in January, and this is your opportunity to come along for a first look around. Enjoy a free welcome drink, delicious food (first come, first served!) and music.

All welcome but reserve your free ticket to avoid disappointment.

Motunrayo Akinola: Knees Kiss Ground
We’re delighted to present Knees Kiss Ground, a solo exhibition by artist Motunrayo Akinola, which explores faith and belonging through everyday objects.

The exhibition was produced during a six-month residency Motunrayo secured at South London Gallery (SLG) as part of their Postgraduate Residency scheme. The scheme provides early-career artists with the rare opportunity to produce a new body of work. Knees Kiss Ground was first exhibited at SLG in 2024 and tours to Bonington Gallery in 2025.

Vitrines #26: The Aimless Archive
Hull based The Aimless Archive delivers the 26th instalment of our Vitrines programme.

The Aimless Archive works across text – conversation – performance – collecting.  It questions what we keep and what we get rid of by investigating the processes used to build archives.  This approach attempts to be as open and collaborative as it can be.  Work often takes the form of a book – a box – a by-product.

A photo of archive material relating to Nottingham's fashion and style scene in the 1980's.
A montage of archival materials related to the fashion scene in 1980s Nottingham. Courtesy of Cocky’s Shed, G Force and Dr Katherine Townsend.

For an exhibition in March 2025, we are running an open call for materials that relate to Nottingham’s independent fashion scene in the 1980’s.

This period was an exciting time for homegrown fashion and style culture. Brands such as G Force, Olto, Cocky’s Shed plus others combined local talent & style discernment, with entrepreneurism & DIY attitudes to start labels, open shops and form connections and influence on a global level.

A group of people modelling clothes whist standing on the mezzanine walkway at Nottingham Train Station.
‘Clockwork Orange’ collection by Olto (now One-BC). Photo by Paul Edmondson, circa 1984.

Do you have any Nottingham labels in your wardrobe? Did you start/run/work for a local label? Did you shop at G Force? Do you have photos of you and your friends wearing garb to The Garage? Did you pick up copies of Nottingham’s style pages Débris or Despatch? etc etc! If so, we’d love to hear your anecdotes, see your photos and materials (Eg. photos of night out, flyers, receipts, magazines, brochures) that relate to the scene and time.

A photo of archive material relating to Nottingham's fashion and style scene in the 1980's.
A montage of archival materials related to the fashion scene in 1980s Nottingham. Courtesy of Cocky’s Shed and Dr Katherine Townsend

The intention is to build a collection of material that will become part of the exhibition, and if contributors are happy, have this preserved within a growing archive of material going forwards.

In the first instance please email boningtongallery@ntu.ac.uk with any information and digital copies of materials (just snaps on your phone is fine) and we can take the conversation from there.

Wednesday 4th December, 1-2pm. Book here (only open to NTU students)

Bonington Connect is a new series of get-togethers at Bonington Gallery where themes within our exhibitions can be discussed and explored in a friendly and informal setting. Led by MFA student Vidhi Jangra, this session will explore photography from a working-class perspective, drawing upon ideas from Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes.  

By students and for students, Bonington Connect invites the NTU student community to engage in thought-provoking conversations in response to Bonington Gallery’s exhibition programme. Aimed at creating an accessible atmosphere, this series encourages students at all levels of study to connect with each other and explore themes & ideas in an informal, open and engaging setting.

Each event in this series will explore specific themes and highlight influential thinkers in the arts. The inaugural session, led by MFA student Vidhi Jangra, will focus on working-class perspectives in the arts, drawing on the current exhibition After the End of History: British Working-Class Photography 1989-2024. Referencing theories from Susan Sontag’s On Photography and Roland Barthes’ Camera Lucida, the session will examine the layered dynamics between photographer, subject, and viewer. Engaging directly with the exhibited works and theoretical insights, the talks promise to be both informative and conversational.

A 30-minute talk in the gallery will be followed by refreshments in the Bonington Atrium, where you’re invited to continue the conversation in a friendly and informal atmosphere.

On the occasion of the Design & Digital Arts (D&DA) building launch in November 2024, Bonington Gallery partnered with Nottingham School of Art & Design to develop and present two specially commissioned art installations by design practice Foxall Studio and artist Matt Woodham – both working at the forefront of their respective fields and industries, and both past exhibitors at Bonington Gallery.

Whilst distinct in approach, each commission considered the technological potential within the D&DA building; the generosity it awards to different forms of creative practice; and the dynamic collaborative ethos that drives the student and staff community. This community was central to the realisation of both commissions, actively involved in the production of digital material that was visible across the building and in learning from professional practitioners, recognising the endless possibilities of collaboration and engaging with new equipment & methodologies.

Taking the approach of a ‘hack-day’, Foxall Studio ran three consecutive 1-day workshops in October 2025 with 40+ undergraduate students from 9 courses in the department. Working in small groups and supported by a technical team, students channelled their individual and collective practices through a variety of technologies to rapidly produce a diverse range of digital artwork and creative content. Foxall Studio then operated as magazine editors, utilising and framing this content to produce an expansive ‘digital zine’ that will be seen displayed on screens throughout the building.

Also inspired by the dynamic encounters between people and the spaces in D&DA, and working directly with staff and students from our new MSc in Creative Technologies, Matthew Woodham’s project in room 103 creates a simulated world of interacting organisms with unexpected possibilities. Woodham has created an interactive and immersive real-time installation to generate ‘novel dynamics’, by allowing visitors to alter parameters of a reaction-diffusion system in a specially created computer programme. The audience collaboratively constructs the projections in the space, adapting the experience for the viewer. Through doing this, visitors can consider the relationship between individuals, wider communities and the space they inhabit.

Two public tours of the commissions were be led by Bonington Gallery Director Tom Godfrey on November 12th & 14th.

Representing Lives was a conference that took place in July 1997. The theme explored the multiplicity of women’s identities through the medium of writing biographies and autobiographies, and was funded by the English and Media Studies department at Nottingham Trent University (NTU). 

Alongside the conference was an exhibition at Bonington Gallery titled Representing Lives, curated by Pauline Lucas. The exhibition showed four artists, who responded to an open-call which mirrored the themes of the conference, and showcased a mixture of sculpture, painting, photography, and fashion works. The motivation was to examine different perceptions of women in fact and fiction to create a female space within the gallery. To explore this idea, the exhibition featured Hilary Cartmel, Lubaina Himid, Sonia Lawson, and Denise Weston – a mixture of established artists and NTU graduates. Denise Weston studied alongside Donald Rodney, who is the focus of our Bonington Vitrines #25 exhibition.

In addition to the exhibition, Representing Lives was one of the first exhibitions to be documented on Bonington Gallery’s new website. The show lasted for a month in the physical space, but its legacy remained for much longer due to its online presence. In the words of exhibition organiser, Stella Couloutbanis, it was a show “enjoyed by visitors, and computer buffs!”.

On display in the Bonington Archive Cabinet (which can be found in the foyer space outside our main gallery) is the original exhibition proposal by Pauline Lucas, a call for papers for the conference, a memorandum from Stella Couloutbanis to Nick Freestone, a postcard from Pauline Lucas, and images from the original exhibition.

Curated by Alex Jovčić-Sas

about the artists

Bonington Archive is a revolving display of material drawn from the Bonington Gallery Archive. If you have any materials relating to the programme, especially before 1989, please email boningtongallery@ntu.ac.uk

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.

We are delighted to present Knees Kiss Ground, a solo exhibition by Motunrayo Akinola exploring faith and belonging through everyday objects.

The exhibition was produced during his six month Postgraduate Residency at South London Gallery, delivered in partnership with ourselves.

Motunrayo Akinola (b.1992) uses images of the home and everyday objects to explore comfort and belonging. He is interested in the function and materiality of these objects, and how they can trigger emotions and memories.

Akinola spent some time studying architecture before moving into art. He is interested in ideas around existing within different kinds of spaces. For this exhibition, Akinola will present works made during his residency, including an immersive installation constructed entirely from corrugated cardboard to replicate the exact dimensions of a shipping container, and several light works that explore the relationship between light and religious or spiritual rituals. These works also make reference to Biblical associations of light as a revelatory presence.

Akinola’s interest in attitudes towards migration stems from his dual upbringing in London and Lagos, Nigeria. His research throughout his residency has delved into post-colonial power dynamics and the psychology of ownership. By noting subtle gaps in cultural knowledge, his work aims to come to a new understanding about the possession of space.

Press
Floorr Magazine

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.