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Arnolfini - est 1961


A project imagining new futures. Commissioned by Arnolfini as part of our young persons creative studio Now or Never 2018, lead by artist Bryony Gillard.

Each of these flags is a call to arms or an act of protest for the artists who created them. All content is designed by students of Bristol Metropolitan Academy, in response to the issues that matter to them and an invitation to imagine new futures. Futures where we promote self-expression in schools rather than have rules to prohibit it; where policy is designed around compassion for the whole world rather than focusing on economic advantage; where people are not isolated from one another but brought together; and where effective rebellion is not just a dream.

Commissioned by Arnolfini as part of Now or Never 2018

Project devised and led by Bryony Gillard.

Photography workshop by Ailsa Fineron.

Source material from Arnolfini’s archive and Feminist Archive South.

With thanks to Sarah Durand.

From left to right:

EXPRESS YOUR STORY by Amelia Balasco, Ana-Maria Anghel, Rowan Cochrane, Tasmin Woodsmith, Thea Povey, Lara Cheal.

EQUALITY by Alex Klik, @halle.belle19, Zehra, Aneesa, Vlada Slynko.

COMPASSION FOR THE ENVIRONMENT by Eleanor Day, Sabina Rahman, Yunci Chen Zhang, Morgan Aylife.

GRUMPY TRUMPY’S WALL by Clive the roof tiler, Jayden Weyman, Otis.

Now or Never is a creative studio that exists to amplify incredible ideas that challenge the way things are.  Playful, serious, bold and public, Now or Never initiates cooperative spaces for 13–18 year olds to work with artists. Together they create impactful prototypes for new ways of living. Our aim is to create a free space to discuss what to do when the world is slow, freezing or responding incorrectly.

*the title of this project is taken from Audre Lorde’s seminal text, Poetry is not a Luxury (1985)