Opening Preview: Bordered Belonging

Friday 2 February 2024

5pm – 8pm 

The NewBridge Project Gallery space

Free – open to everyone 

Please join us for the opening preview of Bordered Belonging, a new exhibition, made in collaboration with writer, maker & social-tech activist Bhavani Esapathi.

Bordered Belonging platforms the voices and perspectives of those living in a system that does not always offer compassion, adequate care, or sanctuary. How do we decide which bodies are perceived to be a risk to society? Why is care from the state often conditional and policed?

Bordered Belonging offers a space to interrogate health inequalities, the role artists can play in creating solidarity, and mutual aid in (un)caring systems. It includes new work by artist and activist Bhavani Esapathi and ‘Sick Bed’, a film by Leah Clements, which uses virtual reality gaming to situate the viewer as someone who is stuck in bed with an unnamed illness. ‘Crip Quilt’ by Jamila Prowse, a large-scale, patchwork textile quilt, translating the individual and collective experiences of disability, will also be on show alongside Prowse’s moving image work ‘Spoons (After Carolyn Lazard)’. This film explores spoon theory, using spoons as a visualisation of the disparity in energy reserves between disabled and able-bodied people. Finally, Jamie Hale’s poem ‘I wish to be held by a river’ will be exhibited, painted directly on the gallery walls, with their poetry collection, ‘Shield’.

There will be a paid bar and we will be operating a strict Challenge 25 Policy. The first hour of the exhibition preview will be dry and we will be serving alcohol-free refreshments. From 6pm – 8pm, alcoholic and soft drinks will be available for purchase. All children must be accompanied by a responsible adult.  The event may be documented. If you want to opt out of being photographed, please speak to a member of staff.

Image: Jamila Prowse, Spoons (After Carolyn Lazard) (2023)

Access Information

The NewBridge Project is situated in The Shieldfield Centre on Clarence Walk (off Stoddart Street). Our Gallery is on the First floor and is fully wheelchair accessible via lift. The Gallery can be located by following large written signs and staff will be available to direct visitors.

Large print exhibition leaflets will be available.

All floors have accessible toilets and the First floor has gendered toilets and toilets for all genders. Baby change facilities are available on the Lower Ground floor.

When you arrive at The NewBridge Project, you will enter on the Lower Ground floor through NewBridge Books where a member of NewBridge staff will greet you. There are 2 accessible parking spaces in front of the main entrance. There are a further 8 parking spaces in the car park at the front of the building.

The NewBridge Project staff team can assist with accessibility, give information about our exhibitions, workshops and events, and provide other information about the local area and other art and community spaces. They can be located by their blue staff lanyards. NewBridge staff are aware of hidden disabilities and will provide assistance where possible. If you have any queries or require anything in advance of your visit, please contact Izzy Finch on izzy@thenewbridgeproject.com

You can find out more about Accessibility at The NewBridge Project on our website. We also have an Access Walkthrough video which shows you how to find the building as well as walks you through all our public spaces so you know what to expect when you arrive.