Panel Discussion: Bhajan Hunjan in Conversation with Dr. Alice Correia and Sophie Hill
Tuesday 20th October 2026 , 6:30pm to 7:30pm
Join us for a panel discussion bringing together artist Bhajan Hunjan and curator and art historian Dr. Alice Correia in conversation with Sophie Hill, Director of Arts and Events at Bow Arts, for an in-depth conversation examining Hunjan’s artistic practice and social engagement.
The discussion will explore the influences of artist Bhajan Hunjan’s childhood in Kenya as well as her meaningful contribution to the Black British Art Movement.
Hunjan traces her family’s migration history from India to East Africa in 1933 — both then part of the British Empire. Her arrival in the UK to study Fine Art was a result of the Kenyan government’s Kenyanisation polices which prohibited her studying in Kenya.
Speaking through materials is the first retrospective of Hunjan’s artwork in the UK, bringing together work that contributed to the Black British Art Movement: this talk will touch upon how Hunjan’s work addsto the important narratives of Black British art and the role of solidarity between African, Caribbean and South Asian artists during the 1980s.
It will also reveal lesser-known histories of collaboration personal to the local area, such as her working with local school and community groups, such as Mohila Creations in Tower Hamlets which was formed through the St Paul’s Way public art project in 2012.
Alice Correia is a specialist in late twentieth-century British art with a focus on Black and South Asian diaspora artists. She has interviewed Hunjan previously for SADAA (South Asian Diaspora Arts Archive) and written about her work for numerous publications, including the newly published accompanying catalogue to the exhibition.
Sophie Hill has worked with Hunjan over the years at Bow Arts and is the exhibition curator. She will speak about the social aspects of Hunjan’s practice which have had such a positive impact on communities in Tower Hamlets through public art commissions, workshops and engagement.
The Nunnery Gallery will be open from 4-6pm so you can visit the exhibition beforehand. The panel discussion starts from 6:30pm at Bow Church, 230 Bow Road, London, E3 3AH.
More about Bhajan Hunjan
Born in Kenya, Bhajan Hunjan moved to the UK in the mid-1970s to study at Reading University and the Slade. From the 1980s onwards she exhibited at spaces including the Indian Artists (UK) Gallery, Aspex Gallery, Brixton Art Gallery, Horizon Gallery and through the collective she co-founded, Panchayat.
Hunjan’s work forms part of a wider search for visibility among South Asian and Black women artists in 1980s and 1990s Britain. Her experiences working at a South Asian women’s refuge in Reading deepened her focus on women’s interior lives and the dignity of representation. “My work at present is about my experiences, women, and in particular Asian women”, she stated in 1986.
From the 1990s onwards, Hunjan turned increasingly toward public commissions – murals and large-scale floor works developed in collaboration with women’s and community groups, such as floorscapes in Leicester town centre and The Town Square, Slough, and the St. Paul’s Way Transformation project with Bow Arts in Tower Hamlets, London. Alongside, Hunjan worked extensively as an artist-educator across east London.
Hunjan’s contribution to feminist and diasporic art histories has gained renewed recognition through ‘Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990’ at Tate Britain, from which her work entered the Tate Collection, and through her shortlisting for the Max Mara Art Prize for Women. Her work is represented in major public collections including Tate, the British Museum, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery (Bradford), and Reading Museum & Art Gallery.
Hunjan’s relationship with Bow Arts has been a long and collaborative one. Hunjan has worked as an artist-educator with Bow Arts since its inception and took part in one of the charity’s early Live Work spaces in 2007. She has developed numerous commissions for public artwork with Bow Arts and has held a studio in their P1 building since 2014.
Please click here to visit Bhajan Hunjan’s website.
More about Alice Correia
Dr Alice Correia is an independent curator and art historian. Her research examines late twentieth-century British art, with a specific focus on artists of African, Caribbean, and South Asian heritage. She has worked at Government Art Collection, Tate Britain, and Touchstones Rochdale, and the Universities of Sussex, Salford and Manchester. She has held Research Fellowships at the Paul Mellon Centre for the Study of British Art and the UAL Decolonising Arts Institute. With Derek Horton, she curated A Tall Order! Rochdale Art Gallery in the 1980s at Touchstones Rochdale, 2023. She is Chair of Trustees of the journal Third Text. She has contributed essays to exhibition catalogues for Hamad Butt, Jasleen Kaur and Barbara Walker, and her articles have appeared in Art History; British Art Studies; Journal of British Visual Culture; Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art and Wasafiri. In 2022, her edited volume, What is Black Art? Writings on artists of African, Asian and Caribbean Heritage in Britain, 1981-1989, was published by Penguin Classics. Alice is currently working on a book provisionally titled, South Asian Women Artists in Britain.
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.
