Have you spotted the hidden art exhibition around Bristol this weekend?
Posted on: 08 Sep 2023Artist Asmaa Jama has taken over Bristol with twenty billboards and posters exploring the sacred, healing – and the violence that threatens the destruction of both.
There is a quote from All About Love, a book exploring modern love from a critical standpoint by cultural critic and feminist theorist ‘bell hooks’, that goes as follows:
‘Whether it is the ongoing worldwide presence of violence expressed by the persistence of the man-made war, hunger and starvation, the day-to-day reality of violence, the presence of life-threatening diseases that cause the unexpected deaths of friends, comrades, and loved ones, there is much that brings everyone to the brink of despair. Knowing love or the hope of knowing love is the anchor that keeps us from falling into the sea of despair.’
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It’s this quote that has inspired All About Love – the new exhibition from artist Asmaa Jama named after the eponymous book. The exhibition, which runs until Sunday, is a collection of twenty stills photographs that are a love letter for “the communities that always discarded”.
Coinciding with the exhibition of Jama’s film Except this time nothing returns from the ashes at Spike Island, the exhibition uses quotes from the film and embraces self-portraiture as a method of preservation – and throws a hard glance at the spectator, questioning the complicity in the destruction of the subject.
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Tomorrow, September 9, at 13:00 Asmaa Jama will deliver an outdoor public reading of text from Except this time nothing returns from the ashes at West Street. They will be joined by a guest collaborator okcandice, a writer, artist-curator and musician based between Birmingham and Berlin. The performance will be followed by a group walk with the artist around the multiple sites in the local area.
All About Love runs for just this weekend, until Sunday 10 September. The work is being displayed across twenty billboards and posters, spread across locations like North Street, East Street, Temple Gate & Old Market. For a full map of locations, click here.
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Article by:
Patrick is a filmmaker with so much Bristol in his blood the white blood cells are graffiti'd. Educated at the Northern Film School in Leeds, he’s returned home to be a Videographer and Reviewer for 365Bristol and BARBI. When he’s not messing about with cameras, he enjoys playing guitar, spending far too much time on tabletop RPGs, and being an awful snob about cider. Have a look at his work here, or get in touch at patrickb@365bristol.com.
