Bow Open Thursday Late: responses to belonging – young curators x Mile End Community Project
Thursday 6th August 2026 , 6:00pm to 9:00pm
An after-hours programme featuring a host of workshops and engagement activities led by our young curators in collaboration with Mile End Community Project, including a Islamic geometric and motif class Ali Akhtar, a token making workshop by Lydia Lott, and interactive zine-style making with Elizabeth Scott.
Our Bow Open exhibition to belong brings together work from 25 artists centered around the theme of belonging, selected by young curators Mara Ahmed, Justine Enyan, Eleanor Getting and Lydia Lott with Mile End Community Project. Showcasing artists from across Bow Arts’ community, the exhibition presents many artforms, including painting, print, sculpture and video, all a testament to how belonging is a practice, rooted in place, identity, memory and community.
Explore the questions ‘What does it mean to belong? What does belonging feel like? What does belonging look like?’ throughout the evening in interactive workshops and activities:
In the Nunnery Gallery, Elizabeth Scott will be hosting a relaxed area, where you can drop in to create artistic responses to the Bow Open theme ‘belonging’. Feel free to ask her questions about the artworks and themes, and explore her interactive guide to the objects on display to aid your own creativity. If you wish to share your response to the exhibition, you can upload your idea of ‘belonging’ to a collective exhibition of responses on a TV screen at the event.
Head across the alleyway to the Bow Arts Courtyard where Ali Akhtar will lead an introductory workshop to Islamic geometry and traditional North African / Andalusian motifs. You will learn how historic geometric patterns were constructed using simple mathematical principles and then create your own designs using compasses, rulers and ink/paint. The session will be relaxed, creative and beginner-friendly, encouraging everyone to engage with both the artistic and cultural side of Islamic geometric design.
In the Courtyard Room, Lydia Lott will lead a hands-on workshop making tokens inspired by our own homes, whatever that might mean to us. Beginning with mind-mapping things that we associate with home, we will use hard ground wax to etch designs into scrap aluminium that we can take home. The workshop is inspired by tokens left by mothers forced to surrender their children to the Foundling Museum between the 1740s and 1760s. These tokens were intended to be used to identify the children of these mothers in hopes of the possibility of reunion. The objects provided these displaced children with a sense of origin, identity and potential belonging.
No prior experience needed. All materials provided!
More about the Bow Open
Bow Open is Bow Arts’ annual exhibition showcasing new and innovative work produced by Bow Arts studio holders, artist educators, and guardians. This year, the exhibition is curated by young curators from Mile End Community Project and features the works of 25 artists exploring the theme of belonging. Find out more exhibition information here.
Access Information
The route is entirely on street level. The Nunnery Gallery and Bow Arts Courtyard have step-free access throughout from street level, including to the accessible toilet, and is service animal friendly. This venue does not have a hearing loop system. Accessible parking is not available on-site.
If you have any questions regarding accessibility at this venue or event, would like to make us aware of any access requirements that you have in advance of visiting, or would like this information in an alternate format including Easy Read, please email nunnery@bowarts.com or call 020 8980 7774 (Ext. 3)
Access requirements could include things like providing equipment, services or support (e.g. information in Easy Read, speech to text software, additional 1:1 support), adjusting workshop timings (e.g. more break times), adjustments to the event space (e.g. making sure you have a table near the entrance) or anything else you can think of!
Transport Information
Address: Bow Arts Trust & Nunnery Gallery, 181-183 Bow Road, London, E3 2SJ
Nearest stations: Bow Road (District and Hammersmith & City lines) is a 6-minute walk away, and Bow Church (DLR) is a 3-minute walk away.
Bus: 205, 25, 425, A8, D8, 108, 276, 488 and 8 all service the surrounding area.
Bike: Bicycle parking is located at Bow Church Station. The nearest Santander Cycles docking station is at Bow Church Station.
