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Bonington Archive #6: Representing Lives

Three large portrait paintings on a wall.
Exhibitions | Open to all

The latest archival offering from Bonington Gallery shines a spotlight on the 1997 conference and accompanying exhibition of the same name, Representing Lives. Curated by Alex Jovčić-Sas, this collection includes the original exhibition proposal by Pauline Lucas, a call for papers, and images from the  exhibition. Free and open to all.

  • From: Friday 27 September 2024, 10 am
  • To: Saturday 14 December 2024, 3 pm
  • Location: Bonington Gallery, Bonington Building, Dryden Street, Nottingham, NG1 4GG
  • Cost: Free
  • Download this event to your calendar

Event details

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 presented 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.

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. This Archive exhibition is curated by Alex Jovčić-Sas.

Visit the Bonington Gallery website for opening times and travel information.

NTU Arts

This event is offered by Bonington Gallery which is part of NTU Arts, the University's extra-curricular and public arts programme.

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Location details

Address:

Bonington Gallery
Bonington Building
Dryden Street
 Nottingham
 NG1 4GG

Travel Info:

Visit our travel pages for campus maps and detailed information on how to get here.

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NTU Arts