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.
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.
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.
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
Hilary Cartmel graduated from Nottingham Trent Polytechnic in 1980 with a degree in Sculpture. Hilary’s juggler series created out of her customary medium of steel, represents the chaos of modern life. ‘The Clumsy Juggler’ is an androgynous figure which suggests the turmoil of coping with the demands of children, running a busy household whilst pursuing a career.
Hilary has produced sculpture for exhibitions and has shown her work in galleries all over the UK. She has exhibited many pieces of public sculpture on the street, including Carmen which resides outside Nottingham’s Theatre Royal. Hilary has recently completed the gates to the Nottingham Fashion Centre on Convent Street and has produced 27 screens for Rotherham’s Transport Interchange as part of the Interchange’s upgrading.
Denise Weston graduated with an honours degree in Fine Art. She then took an MA in Fine Art at the former Birmingham Polytechnic. Denise currently teaches at Basford Hall College in Nottingham and is a visiting lecturer at NTU. She has exhibited across the country since graduating and is proactive in nurturing artistic talent in Nottingham, notably, by helping to co-ordinate the ‘Oldknows Gallery Exhibitions’ from 1988 – 1993.
Using images of clothing, Denise illustrates her own personal experiences of being a woman whilst escaping the direction of the female form. Flaneuse is a multimedia work which incorporates an image of Denise’s own jacket.
Denise said: “The word ‘Flaneuse’ is the female equivalent of the french word ‘Flaneur’ meaning the spectator and depictor of modern life. The work was inspired by a walk home from the studio late one evening and the realisation that there are still avenues – quite literally – which women feel they cannot explore.”
She elaborated: “I am concerned with using the process of painting as a metaphor; taking the blank canvas and ‘injecting life’ in a similar way that one gives life to inanimate objects, such as toys.”
Lubaina Himid, is a prolific artist who has exhibited across the UK and abroad and currently teaches Fine Art at The University of Central Lancashire. Lubaina has chosen three sets of paintings which challenge the common stereotype of ‘the architect’. For each set there are three paintings – the architect, model, and plan. The series challenges preconceptions of the archetypal architect, by depicting a black woman as the architect in each of the paintings, expressing her vision of a particular building.
Sonia Lawson exhibited six emotive paintings which conveyed the themes of injustice, grief and dignity which are integral to the Representing Lives exhibition.
Her Grieving Women painting (1991) depicts two female figures, one white, one black, standing serenely together as if in mutual and mute understanding of perhaps some deep grief or irrevocable loss. A situation holding no age or time gap.
Lawson’s Boadicea and her Daughters (1991) employs rich and sombre colours which convey a sense of serenity and a monumental dignity in the face of pain, persecution and injustice which they were made to suffer. An earlier work, Homage to Emily Bronte/Night Writing (1982) (from a series of five), is a tribute to the author of Wuthering Heights whose spirited intellect and stout resolve created something so bold and outlandish for its time, a novel that shook, shocked and delighted its readers. When Sonia first read it at the age of 11 it made her feel “wildly liberated” – she didn’t realise it was because she was empathising with one of our early feminists. One of the most striking themes prevalent in the exhibition, is the exploration of the bond between parent and child. Sonia’s painting Gallant Child depicts a child reaching up to the mother figure in a gesture of reassurance.
Sonia explained: “This painting is partly autobiographical, but many people will empathise with the notion of the child as the protector or comforter of a parent.”
Pauline Lucas studied Fine Art at the University of Reading in 1960, and later undertook an MA in Arts Criticism at Birkbeck Collage. Lucas began her career teaching art and art history at at a variety of different institutions across Nottingham and the East Midlands, while also maintaining a career as a freelance curator and exhibition maker.
Lucas’ curatorial work covered many aspects of feminist practice, working primarily with women’s groups who were producing works in a number of different mediums. Her shows were hosted across a number of Nottingham galleries, including Nottingham Castle and Angel Row Gallery. Lucas also published works in a series of catalogues which and publications such as Artline Newspaper.
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.
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
As a legacy to our Art Schools of the East Midlands exhibition by John Beck & Matthew Cornford in Sept/Dec 2023, we invited Stella Couloutbanis who was Exhibition Organiser (later Exhibitions, Events and Festival Director) at Bonington Gallery between 1989 and 2007 to jot down memories of her time at Bonington Gallery & NTU.
This piece of writing is also shared on the occasion of our current Bonington Archive display entitled Stella’s Dilemma, that documents some of the process behind the creation of Tom Hackett’s 1991 solo exhibition Burst. This presentation is on show in the foyer of Bonington Gallery from 16 March – 4 May, 2024.
Memories of Bonington Gallery by Stella Couloutbanis
“In April 1989 I joined Trent Polytechnic as an Exhibitions Organiser for the Bonington Gallery, having left my previous role as Touring Exhibitions Officer within the Arts Division of Nottinghamshire County Council (NCC).
It was an interesting time to join the Polytechnic. Local authorities had relinquished responsibility and Trent Polytechnic was moved away from NCC – two years later becoming an independent university, first called Trent University and later changed to its current name, Nottingham Trent University. With its new statute a Vice Chancellor (VC) was appointed, Professor Ray Cowell. He had a passion for the arts and played a pivotal role in developing the art culture within the university.
The strategy was to transform the space into a public contemporary art gallery. The early years presented some significant challenges, with no designated office area, no staff, a limited budget, limited technical support, no funds to publicise the space, no doors to the gallery, no easy access, and no invigilation.
I initially shared an office within proximity to Professor Robert Ayres, Head of Visual Arts and Fine Art Department, who was my manager and led the vision for the space and the city.
Up to this point the gallery was referred to as ‘The Exhibition Hall’. It had an outline exhibition programme established by external bookings and by members of the Fine Art staff.
To reposition the gallery as a contemporary public gallery we needed to shift away from external bookings and use by internal staff towards a more public remit. Like any change it was initially tricky to implement, but after two years the switch was well underway. The gallery had been renamed to ‘The Bonington Gallery’ (later shortened to just ‘Bonington Gallery’), and a programme of contemporary artworks and performances was being programmed for up to two years ahead.
In the early 1990’s we successfully secured two significant grants which helped elevate the Gallery and establish its position as a public art gallery. We became clients from East Midlands Arts (now the Arts Council England) receiving an annual grant plus match funding from Trent Polytechnic.
The Henry Moore Foundation awarded us a grant to upgrade the gallery, allowing us to procure and fit doors, install a disabled access lift, install bannisters on the staircase, procure and install theatre lights and completely renovate the wooden floor.
We also managed to get a disabled toilet installed in the Bonington building with a grant from Nottinghamshire County Council.
The most amazing thing for me about the Bonington Gallery was its size. It was one of the largest, single room galleries in the Midlands with a ceiling height of 22 feet and 2153 square feet of flooring. It had a beautiful maple floor which was in stark contrast with its brutal concrete egg box ceiling – all these distinguishing features making the gallery iconic, in my opinion. I would often describe the space to artists as a space you walked down into and, “imagine you are at the bottom of an empty public swimming bath”. The vastness of the space also meant the acoustics were difficult to work with making public speaking sometimes a challenge.
Forming partnerships and collaborations with artists and art organisations was pivotal in the gallery’s development and helped create a robust programme. Over the 18 years the team worked with all the key organisations and festivals in Nottinghamshire, such as Dance 4, Now, Expo, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Djanogly Art Gallery, Wollaton Hall… and many more. Hosting some of the best talent in the arts.
I worked with some amazing artists and performers during my time, too many to count, who were based locally, regionally, nationally and internationally – I never did a head-count, but it must be over a thousand. One of our key success factors was our growing reputation for supporting artists where we would do all that was possible for them to produce their creative work. Mentoring was very important to me, to help artists develop their artistic ideas. We were always being flexible, understanding that work was fluid and the creative outcome could be very different to what was originally proposed.
Bonington Gallery was always a space for site specific and installation work. In 1991 John Newling installed his work, Lost. It covered the entire floor of the gallery with a map of Nottingham City Centre made from paracetamol laid on steel plates. It was a significant point for me – not only was the work powerful and thought provoking with a striking visual impact, it showed that the gallery was ideally positioned to commission site specific works for the space and not just hosting and housing wall and floor-based work.
Over the years we had some fantastic installations; David Wilkinson & Mary McIntyre, Ray Lee, Dunn & Dempster, Shelley Sacks, Ansuman Biswas (collaboration with NOW Ninety 9), Rosie Leverton, Tom Hackett, Lorna Green, Natasha Kidd, Lone Twins, Gobb Squad, Opera North, Bodies in Flight, Hancock and Kelly, Ivan Smith, Susie MacMurray, Mariele Neudecker, Richard Brown are just a few to name.
Dance was a significant aspect of our programme, and we held the first Dance Festival in 1991, organised by Nottinghamshire County Council. At this festival I was introduced to the company Salamanda Tandem. This was the beginning of a very long working relationship between us, lasting several decades. Isabel Jones, the director (a dancer, singer, musician and visual artist) worked in Bonington Gallery for many years and I became chair to the company in 2005.
The gallery was a host and collaborator for Notts Dance and Body Shape Image – two major dance festivals organised by Dance 4. We worked with Expo and Now (Nottingham City Council) presenting, co-commissioning and supporting performances.
Around this time the VC’s passion for the arts led to the establishment of a collection of artworks for the university, focusing on purchasing works from practitioners living and working in the East Midlands. Bonington Gallery was responsible for sourcing, hanging, caring and cataloguing the works.
With an increase in our Arts Council grant, Future Factory was created by Professor Rober Ayers who was appointed as the first Artistic Director ever established at a university. This funding allowed us to commission new work and host our own performance festivals, Celebration Nottingham, Sensitive Skin and Body Space Image. We also ran artist fellowships – giving support, mentoring, opportunities and bursaries to help further their practice. Future Factory’s exhibition and performance programme was housed at Bonington Gallery and Powerhouse, Victoria studios (the site for the new DaDA building). This included a multi-disciplinary contemporary exhibition programme involving photography, film, video, sound and multi-media plus a live art and performance season every year.
When Future Factory was established, Bonington Gallery had a team of eight, including a marketing officer, marketing assistant, technician, education officers, the director and myself. This was an amazing time as it was the start of a feasibility study for a new contemporary art and performance space in Nottingham which was awarded to Nottingham Trent University. The outcome was a success, which led to a further award from Arts Council England to continue with a more thorough and detailed feasibility study working in collaboration with Nottingham City Council and University of Nottingham.
In 2003, due to staff changes, I was promoted to Exhibitions, Events and Festival Director to programme and curate exhibitions, performances and events in Bonington Gallery and 1851 Galleries (Waverley Building), Powerhouse/Basement performance spaces and other University venues. In 2004 I was seconded part time to Nottingham Contemporary as a member of the development team, attending project and client team meetings, stakeholder/sub board meetings and Capital Network meetings.
I have so many happy memories at Bonington Gallery… In the 1990s it was one of the locations for the TV series Boon. We had students exhibiting work in the gallery, including Sue Webster and Tim Noble and we negotiated a fee of £50 per student and a fee for the gallery. In addition, we were allowed to use the catering wagon which was stationed outside the gallery. It took a week for the crew and actors to film a 1-minute-long scene which was a confrontation of a student and a lecturer with a slap on the face!
Having Tom Hackett’s Burst sculpture installation at the Gallery included sourcing, transporting and installing 70 industrial scale cable reels. I cannot remember how we got them in but I do remember the very long chats with the health and safety staff. The Gallery, over the years, has housed many other installations made from a wide variety of materials including bricks, books, fabrics, banana skins, radiators, and performances featuring bodily fluids, duration, audience participation and dancers performing with paintings and other media.
On one occasion an external booking for a flower show had been taken that I was not aware of which clashed with a show I booked in – we had to temporarily take the show down for the weekend to allow the flower show and then rehang it again (not to be recommended!).
We held a Guinness World Record Breaking event. Matt Hand in collaboration with Leif Alexis and Ben Mawson-Harris broke the world record for the longest table tennis rally on their 16th attempt over a 24-hour period, reaching 5 hours, 8 minutes and 22 seconds.
I worked with many students and graduates showing their work in the numerous associated spaces; from gourmet meals being cooked and served by two creative arts students in the Bonington Foyer, to tomato throwing in the gallery, to exhibitions, to awards (Margaret Bryan and Geoff Ball awards) and Expo which was started by NTU graduates.
In 18 years at Bonington Gallery we played host to many school and student placements and graduates. I enjoyed working with all of them, some as volunteers for specific events, others just working at the gallery as assistants supporting our staff and the programme.
I tried to give them an overall experience of what we did at the gallery, from curation, marketing, and education to the hang and finally the opening night. I am very grateful to all our volunteers without whose help it would have made our work much harder. There are so many of them I can’t remember all of them but you know who you are – a big thank you! I have been privileged to work with some amazing volunteers, many of whom have developed their own careers and I hope we played a part in it.
I feel strongly that the work we did at Bonington Gallery/Future Factory was the catalyst for what is now Nottingham Contemporary. Our input in getting the two feasibility study funds from ACE was initiated by us and NTU. Without the initial steer and the passion from Bonington Gallery and Future Factory, Nottingham Contemporary may never have happened.
It was extremely sad for me and my staff to close the doors of Bonington Gallery in August 2007, our Arts Council Grant England Funding had finally been diverted to Nottingham Contemporary which was well on its way in the build and had a new Director in place.
We left with our heads held high, knowing we had done our jobs well. I worked with some amazing people who contributed massively towards Nottingham Contemporary. Deborah Dean, friend and colleague showed outstanding passion and work. Professor Robert Ayres, friend and colleague demonstrated extraordinary vision and determination. NTU VC Professor Ray Cowell, for being such an advocate of the arts in all its forms.
And of course, my amazing team over the 18 years included Janice Britton, John Hewitt, Raif Killips, Stephen Fossey, Jenny Rainforth, Lisa Simmons, Haj Kaur, Sam Rose, Annette Foster, Geoff Litherland, Bo Olawoye… I hope I have not missed any names out!
Looking back, it is great to see Bonington has been repositioned back into the University and continues supporting research and development – something that we were also keen to support during my time at Bonington.
(It is to be noted this has been done by memory as I had no papers to refer to, apologies if I missed any names or organisations out, it was over 15 years ago!)”
Join us for a free tour of current exhibition, Karuppu by Osheen Siva, with BSL interpretation.
Alongside, discover more about Shahnawaz Hussain: My Nottinghamshire Perspectives in Watercolour and Peepshow: An Illusion Cut to the Measure of Desire in our extra gallery spaces.
Free, open to all