Late Opening & Curator Tours: Bhajan Hunjan: speaking through materials
Thursday 15th October 2026 , 6:00pm to 9:00pm
Join us for an after-hours chance to explore Hunjan’s work with a curator’s tour with Sophie Hill, Director of Arts & Events at Bow Arts, at 7pm and 8pm, respectively. Refreshments will be available throughout the evening at our on-site Nunnery Café.
A solo exhibition from artist and long-time studio holder Bhajan Hunjan. Bhajan Hunjan: speaking through materials will, for the first time, bring together works from Hunjan’s rich and various career to date, spanning over 40 years of practice.
Hunjan’s ambitious and dextrous use of materials has tied together her practice both in and outside of the gallery. The exhibition will take us on a journey to explore this dexterity, bringing together print, painting, sculpture and collage from across Hunjan’s career. The show will also bring to light Hunjan’s innovation with materials within public art – such as silk-screen printed glass, laser-cut acrylic and metal, and stonework – together with documentation of the closely collaborative working process behind her public artworks.
Guided by a unique visual language of line, rhythmic pattern and symbols, Hunjan’s work pushes the boundaries of meaning as well as materials, often speaking powerfully for women and diaspora communities. Drawing on her Kenyan upbringing, Sikh heritage and experience of moving to the UK in the 1970s, Hunjan’s work plays an important role in the history of women artists. She participated in the Black British Art Movement, exhibiting and curating alongside contemporaries, and has been included in numerous exhibitions and publications exploring the movement since, most recently in Tate Britain’s 2023 touring exhibition Women In Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990.
Access information
The Nunnery Gallery and Café 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 seat near the entrance) or anything else you can think of!
Transport Information
Opening hours: Wed-Sun, 10am to 4pm
Address: Nunnery Gallery, 181 Bow Road, London, E3 2SJ
Nearest station(s): Bow Road (District and Hammersmith and 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.
