BE[LOVED] an exhibition

~ noun ~ the simple act of existing, living and being in your truth is the ultimate, most radical act of love

To celebrate our one-year anniversary as Creators in Residence at Arnolfini, we are taking over Gallery 5 for three months.

BE[LOVED] is inspired by Garry Fabian Miller’s exhibition ADORE (on the ground, first and second floors). Rising believes in a future where anyone can be an artist and find a 'home' for their art. Just like Fabian Miller, who found a home for his art at Arnolfini when he was just nineteen.

This exhibition draws on the themes of Rising’s work over the last six years by inviting our community of young creatives to share their own dreams for this space. We have selected three of Rising’s incredible artists to create and exhibit new work, and share their radical re-imaginings for the world we live in with Arnolfini’s audiences.

Take stock, take notice and take care. This is just one example of the greatness that can come from giving young people agency and inviting them in. One movement, three artists, infinite love.

THE ARTISTS

IMAN SULTAN WEST

11 March - 26 March

Iman Sultan West is an artist, poet and curator based in St. Paul’s, Bristol. West’s work often explores how communities can be brought together through creativity and the understanding of heritage. West has toured a specially curated kitchen set within the St. Pauls area of Bristol, and is now displaying it in the gallery. By doing so, West invites you to think about your own connections to home.

MANOEL BOLUTIFE AKURE

1 April - 16 April

Manoel Bolutife Akure is a musician and multi-disciplinary artist of Nigerian origin, based in Bath. His work focuses on the human experience and potential of individuals to make change. In this work he explores his own role in the protests that surrounded the toppling of the colston statue in Bristol in 2020 and addresses how an image of him on the empty plinth took on its own symbolism. This is one of his first large-scale paintings as a long term collaborator of Arnolfini.

DAISY HVNTER

22 April - 7 May

Daisy Hvnter is an artist specialising in digital collage and mixed media sculpture. She became an artist as a form of escapism. Hvnter often uses her work to create conversations around what it means to be invisibly disabled and to destigmatise and question perceptions of disability. In this exhibition her work invites the audience to interact with a magical box (decorated in her signature style) and to start conversations in the space.

WE ARE RISING ARTS AGENCY

“Young people are leaders NOW”

We are a radical youth-led community and social enterprise, supporting underrepresented young people (aged 18-30) to fulfil their creative ambitions and mobilise to create wider social change.

We do this through co-creating meaningful, paid opportunities for young people to lead in the creative sector as commissioned artists, consultants, facilitators and trustees. We use our resources and expertise to support lasting and positive change in the sector by delivering sector-facing training, youth-led campaigns and research and consultancy.

Round the corner you can see more about what we have been up to since we were founded in 2016 and opposite you can see newly commissioned artwork by our community.

Love and rage

Rising xx

THIS IS THE WORK

Below are some of the significant moments of our work that we featured in the exhibition:

RISING IS BORN

2016

Out of conversations with young people, Kamina Walton goes from working in institutions to creating a place where young people truly have agency.

#WeAreRising

*photo of kamina walton at a lab exploring the idea of leadership, prince taylor and cai burton are sat either side of her*

WHY A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?

2016

Rising is a lot of things – a Community Interest Company (CIC), a not-for-profit, a social enterprise – all of that basically means we are independent and have freedom to advocate for well paid work for ourselves and our community.

#SocialEnterprise

BUILDING A MOVEMENT

2017

We create ‘All in the Mind?’, an exhibition exploring mental health through art. We also start building a community of industry mentors and young creatives, planting seeds and hire our first employee!

#AllintheMind

RETHINKING GOVERNANCE

2018

We launch OnBoard, a programme born out of the sector’s need for more young people in governance. OnBoard supports organisations to embed young people at the heart of organisations, to set the strategy and be heard.

#OnBoard

ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS

2018

We take over Spike Island’s Test Space for Spike Open with the exhibition ‘Why are we not here?’. Curated by Stacey Olika and Anika Deb, the exhibition of young artists of colour was hugely provocative, successful and showed truly that We Are Here!

#WeAreHere

*Screenshot of news article with the headline “Bristol project accuses arts of ‘institutional racism’*

WHOSE CULTURE IS IT ANYWAY?

2018

Our ongoing creative action research project, Whose Culture, officially launches - challenging inequality in the sector and creating community with young creatives of colour in Bristol. It creates a new framework for how we question the sector and reinterpret what ‘culture’ means for us.

#WhoseCulture?

*A group of young people of colour posing for the camera, on a bright winters day*

TRANSFORMING LEADERSHIP

2019

We begin our radical Transforming Leadership programme ‘BE IT’ to support 20 young leaders over two years to reshape the creative sector for everyone, funded by Arts Council England.

#BeIt

WHOSE FUTURE ARE WE BUILDING?

2020

While the world stops, we mobilise. We fill over 370 posters and billboards of unused advertising space with our community’s art and voices tackling racism, climate justice and accessibility.

#WhoseFuture

*The Rising team stand in front of billboards that read "we are rising", "young people are leaders now". Credit Alexie Segal*

COLLECTIVE CARE

2021

We’re publicly focusing on rest as THE revolution. Engaging with those underrepresented in our community, we are going deeper with how we resource the racial justice work we do to feel good.

#ResourcingRacialJustice

*photo of a young woman and man holding each other and smiling. Behind them is a poster that says ‘to care for you is to care for me’*

YOUNG LEADERS NOW

2021

We continue to model new ways of being and leading. Kamina steps down as Director and hands over to two young Co-Directors, Jess and Euella who are supported by a board of young creatives aged 30 and under.

#CoLeadership

*Two women standing in from a hung tapestry. They are both laughing and one is holding a microphone addressing an audience*

CREATING DREAMSPACE

2022

We take an intentional ‘August of Rest’ to LIVE our values and centre reflection. No emails, no delivery, just one month of dream space and reading, research, reflection and spending time together as a team and individuals.

#AugustOfRest

*Image of a blue sky through green leaves of a fern like tree*

LETS TALK ABOUT POWER

2023

We explore power dynamics in the sector and how we can dismantle the structures that lead to burnout for smaller organisations delivering work with and for larger organisations.

#Collaborate

*The word PODCAST hand drawn in different colours weaving in and out of the Rising logo. Artwork by Fyona Finn*

WHAT'S NEXT?

Inspired by our past? Be part of our future! Join the Rising Alliance to be part of what we're building

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