Exhibitions and commissions 2023

Ayo Akingbade: Show Me The World Mister  
February 18—May 21, 2023 
An exhibition by Ayo Akingbade comprising two new film commissions shot on location in Nigeria. The Fist is a portrait of the Guinness brewery in Lagos, where histories of colonialism, industrialisation and labour collide; while Faluyi follows protagonist Ife on a journey tracing familial legacy and mysticism in ancestral lands. Building on Akingbade’s interests in history, placemaking, legacy and power, these films are her most ambitious productions to date. 

Howardena Pindell: A New Language 
February 18—May 21, 2023 
An exhibition surveying Howardena Pindell’s six-decade-long career, from early abstract paintings to more overtly political works that tackle subjects including slavery, violence against Black and Indigenous people, and the AIDS pandemic. The show takes its title from an essay written by Pindell in the 1980s, in which she calls for “a new language” for people of colour working in the arts—one which “empowers us and does not cause us to participate in our own disenfranchisement.”

Engagement Commission: Rachal Bradley: Forecast  
February 18—May 21, 2023 
An Engagement commission by Rachal Bradley, developed over the past year in collaboration with emerging West of England-based artists and Creative Youth Network alumni Carlo Hornilla, Tommy Howlett, Lauren Jaffrey and Calum McCutcheon. Reflecting upon the underlying functions of the psyche, the body and where these meet the reality around us, Forecast comprises a video work exploring the collective consciousness of crows and a mirrored pavilion sculpture suspended from the gallery ceiling. 

Flo Brooks
June 10—September 10, 2023 
A new commission by Flo Brooks exploring autobiography, memory and speculative history painting. Paintings on canvas, vinyl flooring and collaged textiles interweave fragments of the lives of transmasculine figures from history—such as the 18th century English “female husband” Charles Hamilton—with memories of Brooks’ own adolescence, tracing queer connection and complication across time and space.  

Asmaa Jama with Gouled Ahmed: Except this time nothing comes back from the ashes 
June 10—September 10, 2023 
A new film commission by Asmaa Jama, developed in collaboration with artist and costume designer Gouled Ahmed. Shot in Addis Ababa, the film follows ghostly, glitchy presences haunting a city. Inspired by African photography studios, the work explores self-portraiture, archive and memory to consider who is excluded from institutionalised national narratives.  

Olu Ogunnaike
September 30, 2023—January 14, 2024 
A site-specific commission by Olu Ogunnaike transforms Spike Island’s eight-metre-high gallery space, continuing the artist’s exploration of the social and historical properties embedded in the materiality of wood. This monolithic structure combines handmade OSB (oriented strand board) made from offcuts that reference species of wood growing locally with mud collected from the river Avon, which flows along the building’s façade.  

Ofelia Rodríguez
September 30, 2023—January 14, 2024 
The first major survey exhibition by Ofelia Rodríguez, bringing together paintings, prints and sculptures made over the last five decades. Though based in London for most of her adult life, Rodríguez’s work is influenced by memories of her native Barranquilla, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. She combines found objects and images rich in symbolism to construct humorous yet critical tableaus and “magic boxes” that examine cultural and gender identity.

Spike Island is a registered charity and part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio. All our exhibitions and the majority of our events are free. Our current exhibitions Rosemary Mayer: Ways of Attaching and Lawrence Abu Hamdan: 45th Parallel continue until 15 and 29 January 2023, respectively. 

Acknowledgements
Ayo Akingbade: Show Me The World Mister is produced by Spike Island, Bristol and Chisenhale Gallery, London, and commissioned by Chisenhale Gallery, London; Spike Island, Bristol; the Whitworth, The University of Manchester; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead; and John Hansard Gallery, Southampton. 

Exhibitions and commissions by Ayo Akingbade, Rachal Bradley, Flo Brooks, Olu Ogunnaike and Ofelia Rodríguez are part of the West of England Visual Arts Alliance programme, supported by Arts Council England.

Howardena Pindell: A New Language is organised by the Fruitmarket, Edinburgh in collaboration with Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge and Spike Island, Bristol. 

Rachal Bradley: Forecast marks the culmination of the first Spike Island and Creative Youth Network Engagement Fellowship for Artists and is part of the West of England Visual Arts Alliance programme, supported by Arts Council England.