“Liberate”, a new art gallery showcasing pieces by artists from marginalised communities, opened in Phineas last Thursday.
The initiative was spearheaded by Equity & Inclusion Officer Eda Yildirimkaya in an effort to “drive meaningful change” in the world of student art, she said in her opening speech.
The gallery explores a wide variety of topics, from misogyny in Christian ideology to the need for belonging and acceptance. Collage, photography, digital art and many more mediums are displayed.
The gallery was initially supposed to open in October but the date was pushed back for logistical reasons.
But the new opening date was fittingly chosen, said Yildirimkaya, as we come to the end of Black History Month in February and the beginning of Women’s History Month in March.
The featured pieces were selected by a panel of student officers, who reviewed 25 works from an open submission – “a friendly art competition”, said Yildirimkaya – and settled with 10.
The chosen artists represent a wide range of marginalized groups across the student body, including people of colour, disabled students, and the LGBTQ+ community.
Yildirimkaya said the gallery would restore Phineas’s “spark”.
As an art student herself, she expressed her understanding of the struggles of becoming an artist in London, adding: “I know the struggle… I can’t help myself, but I realised I could help others.”
One of the most impactful pieces of art featured is striking feminist collage portraying how “the Christian ideological construction of the socio-political roles of women and the female identity” leads to the marginalisation of women in organised religion.
Another, Longing for Belonging, explores the artist’s marginalization in London as part of the queer community. It reads: ‘Knowing that the city I love may never fully accept me’.
While the gallery is permanent, the pieces will be rotated once submissions re-open in term one next year.
