Walking Tour: Bhajan Hunjan’s studio visit and exploring public art in East London with Kuda Mushangi
Saturday 31st October 2026 , 11:00am to 1:00pm
A chance to meet and speak with Bhajan Hunjan in her studio and learn more about her ambitious and dextrous use of materials – such as silk-screen printed glass, laser-cut acrylic and metal, and stonework – within public art. Followed by a guided walk to discover Hunjan’s public art commissions in East London with artist and architect Kuda Mushangi.
The guided walking tour will begin with an introduction to Bhajan Hunjan: speaking through materials at Nunnery Gallery (E3 2SJ) and a visit to her studio at P1 (E3 2SP) where the participants will have a chance to meet and speak with the artist, before walking around the local area to explore her public art commissions, created in collaboration with local schools and communities in Tower Hamlets, as well as taking in sites that speak to East London’s histories of migration, settlement, activism and community-building.
Sites include:
- Stroudley Walk E3 3EW (2026) – a public art project with Poplar HARCA and Bow Arts as part of a new housing development at Stroudley Walk, celebrating the legacy of the Suffragettes in Bow
- Three Mills Pontoon E2 3DU (2011) – commissioned by British Waterways with London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, as part of newly developed Pontoon along the Lea Canal in East London
- 212 St Paul’s Way E3 4HL (2012) – Ten Bespoke designed granite bollards, designed with local women and students from St Paul’s Way Trust School and commissioned by Tower Hamlets Council Highways Team
- St Paul’s with St Luke’s E3 4LA (2006) – Inspired by Gaudi’s architecture, Bhajan invited students to create tiles using memorabilia brought in from home. From the collection of tiles made by the students, Bhajan created large concrete panel installations, which decorated the walls of the schools.
The walk encourages participants to consider how public space can hold multiple histories and how art can function as a form of cultural memory. Discussions connect local histories to the broader stories explored in Hunjan’s work, including empire, displacement, community resilience and cultural exchange.
Participants will be invited to share their own memories and reflections, creating opportunities for intergenerational knowledge exchange and community storytelling.
We will gather at the Nunnery Gallery (181 Bow Road, London, E3 2SJ) at 10.45am to start the walk at 11am.
More about Kuda Mushangi
Kuda Mushangi is an award-winning artist and architect based in London.
Working primarily in painting, his practice explores migration, memory, domesticity and belonging through architectural space and everyday interiors.
Mushangi studied Architecture at the Liverpool School of Architecture, graduating with a Master of Architecture in 2020 before qualifying as an architect in the UK. His background in architecture continues to influence the way he approaches painting, particularly in his interest in interiors, perspective and the spaces people inhabit.
In 2020, Mushangi was recognised as an emerging artist through an open call by Tate Modern and Tate Collective. In 2021, he was awarded the Holy Arts Gallery Prize, followed by a shortlist for the Ingram Prize in 2022. His work was exhibited as part of the London Design Festival in 2024, and in 2025 he was shortlisted for the East London Art Prize and received the New Emergence Art Founder’s Prize. In 2026, Mushangi was selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and presented his debut solo exhibition, Familiar Spaces, at Glasshouse Contemporary.
Mushangi’s paintings are rooted in his own experiences of migration and growing up between different cultures. Rather than depicting migration directly, he is interested in the experiences around it: the spaces we grow up in, the objects we live with and the memories that become attached to them. Domestic interiors often become a starting point for thinking about identity, family, absence and belonging.
His architectural practice influences how these spaces are constructed within his paintings. He is interested in perspective and the way a familiar room can change depending on where you are standing, looking or remembering from. Through these interiors, he explores the traces people leave behind and the ways personal and cultural histories can exist within everyday spaces.
While often drawing from his own experiences, Mushangi’s work leaves room for others to bring their own memories and associations to it. His paintings use familiar spaces and objects to explore broader ideas around home, identity and the things we carry with us.
Access Information
The route is entirely on street level.
The Nunnery Gallery has 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.
