The NewBridge Project is an artist-led studio, gallery and bookshop housed in a former office building in Shieldfield, Newcastle. The project was established in 2010 by two Newcastle University fine art students (Will Marshall and Will Strong) who wanted to address the lack of affordable studio spaces for graduates and early career artists. The project was originally conceived of as a pop-up space and occupied several redundant buildings before moving into its current premises in autumn 2021.
As well as housing approximately 120 studio members the NewBridge Project serves as a resource for the local community. The gallery hosts a programme of exhibitions and events that reflects both the diversity of contemporary art practice and is responsive to the local environment, building solidarity with marginalised communities and placing community-centred, experimental, collaborative and socially conscious programming at its heart.
Lintukoto
One of the practising studio artists is Finnish-born Henna Asikainen who uses a variety of mediums to explore our relationship with the world, particularly in relation to nature and the environment. Recently Henna has been developing participatory projects involving the creation of artworks and installations from foraged natural materials working alongside refugees and asylum seekers. She often draws on her Finnish heritage for inspiration and her current exhibition, ‘Lintukoto’, at NewBridge Gallery is no exception.
The word ‘Lintukoto’ derives from Finnish mythology and describes a paradise at the edge of the world where the sky and earth meet. It is held to be a mythical refuge where birds were believed to migrate for the winter. The metaphor of migrating birds resonates strongly with experiences of human migration, an issue that continues to dominate the headlines, whipping up anti-migrant rhetoric and creating fear and uncertainty for our migrant communities.
Entering the NewBridge gallery space you encounter a soft-hued room with subdued lighting and muslin curtains, a meditative environment where voices and birdsong emanate from bird nests hidden in stands of ash and bamboo casting atmospheric shadows on the walls. Henna has been collecting nests for a while. One day, about 20 years ago, she found a beautifully made tiny bird’s nest on her doorstep. She showed it to me in the gallery, letting me hold it in my hands, the interior lined with white fluffy down. It was so well made yet many different bird species typically remake their nets each year.
Most of the nests in the gallery installation were found abandoned locally at the end of summer. However, a collection of nests woven from coloured plastic waste were sent to Henna from Kenya by ornithologist Jumaa Abdillahi. These extraordinary creations were made by the black-necked weaver bird and speak to a growing ecological crisis.
Henna’s long history of engagement with sanctuary seekers has resulted in relationships of trust whereby people with lived experience of forced displacement are invited to contribute to creative processes. In ‘Lintukoto’ they share stories in response to questions about the meaning of ‘sanctuary’ in the current context. Their poignant (and sometimes trembling) voices are edited into a 35 minute looped soundscape along with dawn and dusk chorus’ and recordings of Japanese Knotweed as it grows exponentially taking root far from its natural home.
Henna is a generous collaborator, spreading her net widely beyond her own practice. In this particular project she worked with the landscape architect Usue Ruiz Arana and composer Ben Ponton as well as local diasporic communities to help realise the installation. It’s worth spending some time in the gallery, imagining you are in ‘Lintukoto’ with our avian cousins. You can settle on giant bean bags, close your eyes and listen to the stories and sounds of the natural phenomena that is migration. It’s worth remembering that we all come from ‘somewhere else’ and if we were facing unsustainable lives due to conflict, poverty or climate change we would also embark on long journeys to find a safe place to create a home, however temporary.
The exhibition runs until 29 November and in an adjoining room visitors can watch a 17 minute film essay – ‘The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing’ – created by Palestinian filmmaker Theo Panagopoulos who recently unearthed rare footage from the 1930s and 1940s of Palestinian wildflowers in the Scottish Library archive. This discovery led him to reflect on the ongoing post-colonial cultural erasure of Palestinian identity, especially in the context of recent atrocities and current narratives.
Full marks to the NewBridge Project for continuing to be a beacon of contemporary socially-engaged practice.
NewBridge Gallery
The Shieldfield Centre
4-8 Clarence Walk (via Stoddart Street)
Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 1AL
The Gallery and NewBridge Books are open:
Wednesday – 1pm – 5pm
Thursday, Friday and Saturday – 12pm – 5pm
