What it means to take up space: a deeper look behind our latest exhibition, Be[loved]
Our Co-Directors, Jess and Euella, standing on stage with a mic in their hands
When we first moved into Arnolfini in February 2021, we did it quietly. As an agency that exists to question and challenge the sector from the edges or the outside, we knew it was a big statement to move into the building of an institution.
Up until 2020, we had been based at Spike Island sort of accidentally, as we grew out of Rising’s Founder, Kamina Walton’s, personal studio. When the pandemic hit we moved to working from home, but as we started to feel more comfortable in spaces together again and the team was growing, it felt necessary to put down new roots. The irony is that Rising itself was born out of Kamina’s frustrations of working in engagement and education departments of institutions like Arnolfini, and in fact many of the Young Arnolfini group she led are still involved in Rising’s work (Cai Burton was a board member until last year, and Emmanuella Blake Morsi is a Non-Executive Director).
So, we didn’t make a big statement about moving in. Gradually though, we’ve realised that Arnolfini is an organisation genuinely doing it for real. The whole Arnolfini team are bought into the mission of what it means to have a civic duty and be a gallery for the community of Bristol. Our name went up on the door as ‘Creators in Residence’ along with our studio mates, the amazing Let’s Make Art and slowly we’ve become more comfortable with making our partnership official. Rising has spoken at the opening of Arnolfini's exhibitions and hosted our community in the building. And then for the recent exhibition of Garry Fabian Miller’s work in ADORE, we were invited into the process of what it means to be true partners alongside Arnolfini.
Our Co-Directors, Jess and Euella, speaking to an audience
Euella Jackson and Jess Bunyan from Rising Arts Agency speaking at the preview for Garry Fabian Miller's Adore at Arnolfini. Image by Lisa Whiting Photography for Arnolfini. © Arnolfini
Fabian Miller had his first exhibition when he was nineteen at Arnolfini and so he wanted this landmark exhibition to be an invitation to the next generation of artists, to offer a platform to them in an institution that has meant so much to him. He also likes a bit of challenge – so me and Euella were invited to write the introduction to the exhibition guide for ADORE.
“At Rising Arts Agency we talk a lot about embodiment, which is just a fancy word for feeling something in your body. Like when you get to a place where you feel at home; it goes deeper than just a physical sensation. The spaces we try and create at Rising also aim to enable a sense of belonging in a world that can often feel unwelcoming of difference. We believe 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.”
We have definitely found a home in Arnolfini and been given a platform that not a lot of other institutions would give. As an arts institution that also strives to be a centre of wellbeing, Arnolfini recognises the value that Rising brings to the Arnolfini too. So, to celebrate our one-year anniversary as Creators in Residence we’re doing something a little more public; an exhibition of our own.
Preparation for BE[LOVED] outside Gallery 5 in Arnolfini
BE[LOVED] is a retrospective of Rising’s work over the last six years and a showcase of the breadth and talent of our creative community, open at the Arnolfini from 11th March - 7th May.
Supported by the Freelands Foundation’s Space to Dream fund, we have commissioned three artists from Rising’s community, Iman Sultan West, Manoel Bolutife Akuré and Daisy Hvnter, to create new work and take over the whole of Arnolfini’s Gallery 5 for three weeks at a time. Fabian Miller’s ADORE makes you want to return again and again (I still haven’t managed to watch every single second of every film, haven’t spent enough time with the tapestries) so we hope that, as Arnolfini’s audience come back to ADORE they also return to find another Rising artist and the world they’ve each created – a home within a home.
As Euella said at the opening of ADORE “This is just one example of the greatness that can come from giving young people agency and inviting them in.” What if more institutions worked with organisations like Rising in this way? Imagine the collaborations and real, embodied partnerships that could be created?
If you want to support us to share our ways of working across the sector and beyond, please consider joining the Rising Alliance or increasing your regular donation.
