Backlit Gallery

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Backlit Gallery Backlit is an artist-led gallery and studios based in Nottingham. BACKLIT Gallery is an independent, three-storey art space in the heart of Nottingham.

We support early-career and emerging artists through affordable studios, exhibitions, and a dynamic public programme. We work closely with universities and organisations across the region and are committed to community-led projects and critical support for artists in the city.

👋 Our gallery spaces are available to hire for exhibitions, pop-up shows, photoshoots, workshops, and more. Learn more and enquire on our website.

A new chapter for BACKLIT. More at BACKLIT.We're celebrating a major milestone in BACKLIT's history!After years of plann...
21/10/2026

A new chapter for BACKLIT. More at BACKLIT.

We're celebrating a major milestone in BACKLIT's history!

After years of planning, fundraising, and collaboration, we're preparing to open the ground floor of our historic Sneinton building to the public for the first time.

Since 2008, BACKLIT has grown from an artist-led initiative into an established independent arts organisation. Now, following an £884,000 fundraising campaign to support the purchase and redevelopment of our building, we're creating more opportunities for artists, visitors and our local community.

Here's what's coming:

🎨 Gallery 1: A new exhibition space, opening with Lands of Uncertain Shape by Xin Chen and T’kya Xavier

☕ Kanvas: A new café and bar from the team behind 31K, Skein and Yolk

📚 Public Archive: A dedicated space exploring BACKLIT's heritage and Nottingham's contemporary art history

💡 Learning Centre: A new space for workshops, creative activities and collaboration

🖼️ From the Studio: A rotating display celebrating the work of BACKLIT's artist members

Shaped through consultation with artists, local communities and disabled people, the redevelopment will make more of BACKLIT accessible to the public, creating new ways to experience art, meet people and get involved.

A huge thank you to our artists, neighbours, supporters, partners, and funders, including Arts Council England, for helping make this possible.

And now, we can't wait to welcome you in!

Join us for our Grand Opening on Friday 6 November, 6–9pm to explore the new spaces, visit our Open Studios, and experience the preview of our brand-new exhibition Lands of Uncertain Shape.

📍 BACKLIT, Ashley Street, Nottingham

Find out more and RSVP on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/backlit-grand-opening-new-floor-new-cafe-new-exhibition-and-open-studios-tickets-2002747919941

Lands of Uncertain ShapePreview Event 06 Nov, 18:00-20:00Exhibition continues: 07 November - 28 NovemberThursday, Friday...
13/10/2026

Lands of Uncertain Shape
Preview Event 06 Nov, 18:00-20:00

Exhibition continues:
07 November - 28 November
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 10am - 4pm
Ground Floor, Gallery 1

Presented in BACKLIT’s new ground-floor, Gallery 1, Lands of Uncertain Shape brings together the imagined worlds of Xin Chen and T’kya Xavier.

Working across ceramics, painting, collage, textiles, film and performance, the artists use materials to explore personal experiences. Memories, dreams and feelings take shape through colour, form and storytelling. Their distinct approaches meet through a shared interest in imagination and play.

Xin draws on memories of growing up in a hilly urban Chinese landscape. Elements of nature, architecture, craft and language appear throughout their ceramics, paintings and collages. Familiar surroundings are reimagined through fluid shapes and combinations of colour. Experiences of living across cultures inform this process, bringing together memories of different places and moments in time. Taoist ideas of spontaneous action guide Xin’s approach to making, with materials encountered by chance often becoming starting points for new work. T’kya develops narratives through found and recycled fabrics. These take shape as textiles and extend into film and performance, where characters and stories emerge through materials, gesture and movement. Their work draws on experiences of q***rness, mental health and belonging. Humour and play offer ways to explore and express the feelings connected to these experiences.

The exhibition’s title suggests worlds that are still taking shape. Forms move between abstract shapes and recognisable figures, leaving space for different readings. Connections in colour and material bring the works into conversation. A collaborative work gives the artists a further opportunity to explore how their approaches meet.

Presented in BACKLIT’s new ground-floor gallery, the exhibition includes new commissions supported by FABRIC, continuing the legacy of Rendezvous in supporting q***r people in the arts in Nottingham.

Curated by Jazz Singh Swali

In Practice: Cameraless Darkroom Workshop with Nottingham Centre for Photography and Social EngagementWednesday 14 Octob...
08/10/2026

In Practice: Cameraless Darkroom Workshop with Nottingham Centre for Photography and Social Engagement

Wednesday 14 October 2026, 6–8pm
Sequence Darkroom, BACKLIT | 8 places available

Join Dan Wheeler from Sequence for a cameraless photography workshop in the Sequence darkroom at BACKLIT.

Bring objects and ephemera from your own archive or collection to explore making photographic images without a camera. Work created during the session will contribute to THE DRAFT, an ongoing publication that will travel to the next locations of the touring exhibition Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive.

The workshop is free, with an £11.55 refundable deposit to secure your place. This will be returned when you attend the session. BACKLIT covers the full £50 cost of each place; the deposit helps ensure these limited spaces are used.

Book your place now via the link in our bio!

This workshop is part of the Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive programme.

You’re invited — save the date!Join us on Friday 6 November 2026 at 6pm to celebrate the opening of BACKLIT’s newly deve...
01/10/2026

You’re invited — save the date!

Join us on Friday 6 November 2026 at 6pm to celebrate the opening of BACKLIT’s newly developed ground floor, bringing together a new gallery, archive, café and learning centre, with new accessible toilets.

The evening will also include the exhibition opening of Lands of Uncertain Shape in our new gallery and Open Studios.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll share more about the exhibition, archive and café, alongside opening times and full accessibility information.

We’d love to see you there and you can RSVP now via the link in bio.

BACKLIT, Alfred House, Nottingham, NG3 1JG

Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive is now at BACKLIT.The exhibition brings Boffin’s work into conversation with ne...
28/09/2026

Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive is now at BACKLIT.

The exhibition brings Boffin’s work into conversation with new commissions by Sophie Mak-Schram and Leah Mclaine, work by Q***r Grounds and THE DRAFT, a publication growing throughout the tour.

Visit us until 17 October
Thursday to Saturday, 12–4pm
BACKLIT, Alfred House, Ashley Street, Nottingham
No booking needed
Access info on our website

BACKLIT is recruiting a Building & Operations ManagerThe Building & Operations Manager oversees the day-to-day operation...
25/09/2026

BACKLIT is recruiting a Building & Operations Manager

The Building & Operations Manager oversees the day-to-day operation of BACKLIT’s new ground-floor public facility and is responsible for the safe, efficient and well-maintained operation of Alfred House.

Location: BACKLIT Gallery, Nottingham
Hours: 28 hours per week, usually Tuesday to Friday with occasional weekend work
Salary: £30,000 FTE, pro rata (£24,000 actual salary)
Contract: Fixed term until March 2028
Application deadline: Midnight, Monday 26 October 2026
Interviews: Friday 13 November 2026

Link in bio to apply now or visit backlit.org.uk

23/09/2026

VIZITŲ PROGRAMA

Vilniaus galerijų savaitgalio metu Lietuvoje lankėsi kultūros profesionalai iš Jungtinės Karalystės, Prancūzijos, Belgijos, Lenkijos, Jungtinių Amerikos Valstijų ir Vokietijos:

Summer Guthery (JAV), times kuratorė
Suzanne Golden (JK), Backlit Gallery vadovė
Hannah Woods (JK), Whitechapel Gallery
Michael Raymond (JK), Yorkshire Contemporary kuratorius
Jean-Baptiste Delorme (FR), City of Paris Museum of Modern Art
Katarzyna Roj (PL), BWA Wrocław Šiuolaikinio meno galerijos vadovė
Godart Bakkers (BE), NW Aalst
Mariam Kamiab (DE), Basis Frankfurt e.v kuratorė ir programos koordinatorė
Martin Steffens (DE), Kulturstiftung Schloss Britz, kuratorius
Yolanda Kaddu-Mulindwa (DE), Galerie Neukölln
Klara Hülskamp (DE), Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof meno vadovė
Lena von Geyso (DE), Kunstraum München kuratorė
Lara Scherrieble (DE), KW šiuolaikinio meno instituto Berlyne kuratoriaus asistentė
Anne Christina Fleckstein (DE), Akademie Schloss Solitude direktorė
Janneke de Vries (DE), Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst direktorė
Franciska Zólyom (DE), Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig vadovė ir kuratorė

Tuo pačiu metu vyko ir Ukrainos instituto kartu Ukrainian Institute - Український інститут su EU National Institutes for Culture ir LKI organizuojamas fotografijos profesionalų vizitas.

Šis vizitas – dar vienas žingsnis stiprinant Lietuvos meno ir kultūros ryšius su tarptautine bendruomene.

Lithuanian Culture in the UK
Culture lituanienne en France
Lithuanian Culture in Belgium
Litewska kultura w Polsce
Lithuanian Culture in the USA
Litauische Kultur in Deutschland

22/09/2026

This artwork uses portraiture to think about who we might become.

Leah McLaine’s new commission responds directly to Tessa Boffin’s images, writing and politics, using portraiture as something future-facing.

The work considers how a photograph can test out a future self, becoming a kind of guidepost for someone who encounters it later.

Part of Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive.

21/09/2026

This artwork asks you to place yourself inside itself.

Sophie Mak-Schram’s new commission responds to the nuances and intricacies of Tessa Boffin’s archive, drawing from her writings, letters and other traces within the collection.

The work takes the form of a structure that you can physically enter and sit within.

Part of Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive.

19/09/2026

Tessa Boffin used photography to explore gender, sexuality, identity and representation.

Her work often drew on performance, staged imagery and q***r histories, creating photographs that challenged how bodies and identities are seen and understood.

This September, Tessa Boffin: Where We Touch the Archive arrives at BACKLIT.

Dates: 19 Septemer - 17 October
Days: Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Times: 12:00 – 16:00
Second Floor Gallery

Address

Alfred House, Ashley Street 1st Floor
Nottingham
NG32

Opening Hours

Wednesday 12pm - 5pm
Thursday 12pm - 5pm
Friday 12pm - 5pm
Saturday 12pm - 5pm
Sunday 12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+441158372426

Website

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