'GATHERING', hosted by Arts SU, opens on Wednesday 7th May at the Bomb Factory in Holborn!
GATHERING
Private View: Wednesday 7th May , 6 - 8 pm (free soft drinks and vegetarian and vegan snacks)
Exhibition dates: 7th – 11th May 2025
Opening Times: Monday – Sunday, 12 - 6 pm
Where: The Bomb Factory, 99 Kingsway, London WC2B 6QX
Gathering brings together artistic practices from UAL students to explore the essential support needs of arts students today. The exhibition builds on Arts SU’s ongoing research into student wellbeing, focusing on three critical areas: sustenance and nourishment, creative materials and resources, and financial hardship.
The space showcases works by 10 UAL students who responded to our open call ‘What Sustains You?’ Through diverse mediums and perspectives, these artists examine what meaningful support looks like within arts education, revealing unique challenges faced by creative students in London.
Gathering serves as both a physical and conceptual space where connections are formed, resources are shared, and community is built. The featured artworks reflect deeply personal experiences of navigating material constraints, finding nourishment, and creating support systems while pursuing arts education.
The exhibition and events space functions as a meeting point, a community common, and a resource exchange where students can continue this dialogue through collaborative activities and events. By bringing these conversations into a shared physical space, we aim to make visible the often-overlooked support needs specific to arts education today.
Through this exhibition, we hope to generate meaningful discussion about how both the University and Arts SU can better support students balancing their creative practices with the practical challenges of daily life. We believe this exhibition will help map what meaningful support looks like for those studying art and design in the UK today, and inform more responsive and effective student support systems.
Visit GATHERING at The Bomb Factory in Holborn and join our ongoing conversation about sustaining creative practice and wellbeing in arts education.
Exhibiting Artists:
Tireni Adeniji, Sol Bulteel, Serena Zahra Coulthard, Jingshan Ding, Jade Emsley, Jacqueline Ito, Xi Li, Serena Mangiatordi, Karol Amrita Prakash, Theeratatt Tongbai.
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Space accessibility:
- The venue has step-free access.
- The closest toilet is an accessible public toilet; a visual guide to its location will be available at the venue.
- If you have any questions about this event or accessibility needs, please email: artsprogramme@su.arts.ac.uk
Things to do nearby:
The Bomb Factory gallery space is located in High Holborn and close to lots of London's free galleries, museums and green spaces.
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Event Programme:
All our events are free for all UAL students to attend. However, tickets are limited, so please book in advance to avoid disappointment. We are also offering all attendees a reimbursement for travel costs to the below events. More information will be provided after booking, but please keep a copy of any travel receipts/payments used to attend these workshops.
Gathering Private View - Book here
Wednesday, 7th May, 6 - 8 pm
Explore the space and see the works on display for our opening night! We will have free soft drinks and vegetarian and vegan snacks available from 6pm till they've gone.
How to D.I.Y Your Art Career with artist and filmmaker Ames Pennington
Thursday, 8th May, 3:30 - 5pm
An uplifting, playful, and, most importantly, practical way for you to learn how to keep making your art after graduating!
This workshop will cover:
- The power of D.I.Y (Do It Yourself) ways of working
- Collaboration over competition
- Tips on money making, the art hussle, and an opportunity to develop your dream artist residency.
Soft Armour: design and sew your own protective textile amulet with Ella Yolande (link to sign up coming soon)
Friday, 9th May, 2 - 4 pm
Create your own textile amulet embedded with dried medicinal and symbolic plants in this hands-on workshop. Using repurposed fabrics and dried plant matter, you'll craft a personal amulet that represents your vision of meaningful support and care.
This workshop explores:
- Translating your support needs into symbolic designs
- Learning basic hand-sewing techniques
- Creating plant combinations with healing properties
- Developing personal systems of care through craft
You'll leave with a finished textile amulet that embodies your reflections on community, resources, and self-care practices needed for sustained wellbeing.
All sewing experience levels welcome! Materials provided.
Gathering for a Future Self
Saturday, 10th May, 2pm - 4pm
Join this workshop to start to make sense of your internal compass, find your drive/location and create steps for where you want to go and how to get there. A dedicated time to design how you can make the most of what is available to you now, and how it might shape your future. Activities will include:
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About the Artists:
Tireni Adeniji (BA Architecture, CSM)
Tireni is a South London-based multidisciplinary artist whose paintings explore Black womanhood and identity. Her work investigates reality's complexities and cultural dynamics, challenging viewers to consider fresh perspectives while evoking nuanced conversations about representation and lived experience in contemporary society.
Sol Bulteel (BA Fine Art, CSM)
Sol, a Canadian artist raised in Qatar, is a third-year Fine Art student at Central Saint Martins. Their practice centers on ecological consciousness, interdisciplinary collaboration, and reimagining relationships between humans and the natural world. Through thoughtful material choices and immersive experiences, Sol explores themes of care, entanglement, and environmental responsibility. @fromtheground.up__
Serena Zahra Coulthard (MA Material Futures, CSM)
In a time of mass extinction, Serena Zahra Coulthard archives nature through multisensory experiences. Her work uses found objects, sounds, and scents to evoke environmental connections. A UCL and Slade graduate now studying Material Futures at CSM, she has curated for Tate Britain and RHS Wisley, with exhibitions including Tate's Queer and Now.
Jingshan Ding (MA Fine Art Drawing, Camberwell)
Small and insignificant elements are the foundation of Jingshan’s practice, upon which she builds serious monuments of the ordinary. With her background in Biological Sciences, she uses cracked tree bark as a metaphor for human fragility and resilience, probing the inner power of small individuals.
Jade Emsley (BA Fine Art, CSM)
Jade Emsley (b. 2002, Shanghai) is a British-Chinese painter based in London. While her practice predominantly focuses on creating vibrant dreamscape oil paintings that take inspiration from childhood imagery and personal motifs, it also includes drawing, printmaking, and sculpture. Emsley’s work largely focuses on the nature of memory, particularly its transience and unreliability. At the heart of her practice is the evocation of nostalgia, inviting viewers to reflect on how the past shapes their identity and why we cling so deeply to our memories.
Jacqueline Ito (BA Fine Art, CSM)
Jacqueline Ito (B.2003, Hong Kong) is a mixed-media Hong Kong artist based in London. She has recently co-curated and shown in group exhibitions such as ‘Walls of Anubis’ at the Crypt Gallery and ‘Body of Earth’ at Camberwell College of Art (2024 and 2023). Rooted in a fascination with organic ephemerality, Jacqueline aims to explore material metamorphosis, viewed through the lens of ecology. These narratives stretch across various techniques such as painting, photography, performance, film, embroidery, sculpture, and poetry. As she continues to craft her practice, Jacqueline strives to enthral the viewer into her in-between world where the mundane meets mythology.
Xi Li (MA Material Futures, CSM)
Xi Li is a contemporary jewelry and installation artist exploring materiality, cultural narrative, and sustainability. Born in a multi-ethnic region, she transforms waste into symbolic “gems,” using everyday fragments to reflect identity and ecology. Her works challenge traditional adornment through emotional connection and storytelling.
Serena Mangiatordi (MA Fashion, CSM)
Serena Mangiatordi is a designer and artist exploring slowness, imperfection, and emotional complexity through reclaimed materials. Her work draws on craft heritage, personal memory, and political awareness to reflect the fractured yet layered experience of being. She believes care and responsibility must shape both making and living.
Karol Amrita Prakash (MA Interior & Spatial Design, Camberwell)
Karol Amrita Prakash explores the subtle traces left by global shifts—both environmental and psychological. Their work examines the underlying tension and restlessness we carry. Prakash creates spaces of emotional security, inviting viewers to reconnect with themselves and their communities while setting aside accumulated burdens.
Theeratatt Tongbai (BA Fine Art Painting, Camberwell)
Theeratatt Tongbai's practice is an attempt to meditate on life's fleeting nature, contemplating on an abyss of emotions—loss, peace, and melancholy. Through acrylic he captures the unknowable vastness of the sea and the sublime in the ever-changing landscapes, exploring the void and uncertainty that permeates existence.