It’s December already, and you know what that means—First Thursdays is here again! This month’s self-led walking route includes three stops: Rich Mix, Ontrēp and Nunnery Gallery.
The first stop will be at Rich Mix for Letters for Palestinian Childhoods. Created to counter the dehumanising narratives about Palestinians, this exhibition shows solidarity by attending to their stories, experiences and dreams, set against the backdrop of the Western-backed Israeli war which is shaping their lives day-by-day. This exhibition was created by Rachel Rosen and Feryal Awan to draw attention to the full lives lived by young people in Palestine. The letters can also be listened to in English and Arabic.
The following destination is at Ontrēp, a space founded by London-based Lithuanian curator Milda Batakyte. The project presents international artists and designers’ work in periodical exhibitions and online. The objects on display in Aldehyde reflect the dual qualities of natural and synthetic, functional and aesthetic, portraying an attitude of emotive cleanliness, mechanical beauty and primitive earthiness. The artists invited are Josephine Baker, Arnaud Eubelen, Rokas Dovydėnas, and Lucas Dupuy. Aldehydes, naturally occurring chemical compounds, that are often synthesised for use in a broad range of industrial applications, aiding the manufacture of resins and dyes, pharmaceuticals and flavourings. Highly perfumed in their natural state, their presence in numerous organic materials gives rise to strong olfactory responses. The field of perfumery uses these molecules to enrich scents, giving powdery, clean and metallic characteristics.
The last stop will be at Bow Arts. Nunnery Gallery will present an exhibition exploring the past and present of east London, bringing together the historical paintings of the East London Group with their 21st century contemporaries. Inspired by the East London Group’s scenes of the old East End, 22 painters from the Urban Contemporaries group and invited guests, including David Hepher, Doreen Fletcher, Ben Johnson, Philippa Beale, Timothy Hyman RA and Harriet Mena Hill, have created new works to be shown alongside their historical counterparts. Exploring the artists’ shared passion for immortalising, celebrating, and unpicking the streets and scenes of east London, the show will explore the city across time – remembering long-demolished buildings, revealing hidden streets, and celebrating communities from the 1920s to the present day. A newly commissioned sound piece, made by artist felix taylor will also provide an atmospheric soundscape to the exhibition, a composition made up of bells, fog horns, pipe organ, piano, human voice, percussion and sounds recorded around Bow, East london.
