Frame of TENure – BWA Link Collective.

The Frame of TENure brings together the work of TEN Brighton Women Artists with deep and varied connections to the city. All live, work or were born in Brighton, and their practices are shaped by its cultural, political and social landscape. Presented at the Fishing Quarter Gallery on the seafront, the exhibition is grounded in a site associated with labour, resilience and collective identity, offering a fitting context for a show rooted in shared experience and mutual support.

The exhibition has grown out of the wider Brighton Women Artists (BWA) group, a network formed to empower and uplift women artists by creating more opportunities for exhibiting, networking and professional support. Through collaborative projects, rolling programmes and gallery initiatives at the Sussex Innovation Centre, BWA provides a platform for women artists to be seen, heard and supported on their own terms. Within this framework, The Frame of TENure acts as a focused, time specific collective gesture that foregrounds ten individual practices while asserting the strength of solidarity.

At its core, The Frame of TENure is a critical response to systems of access, visibility and validation within the contemporary art world. It challenges the subtle forms of gatekeeping that shape artistic careers, where opportunities are often framed as supportive yet remain restrictive or conditional. The title reflects this tension. Tenure suggests security, recognition and belonging, while simultaneously implying expectation, limitation and control. This duality underpins the exhibition.

Working across sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, painting, textiles and mixed media, the artists present works that question who defines artistic value, whose voices are amplified and which practices are legitimised. Rather than seeking external validation, the artists collectively reclaim the frame itself, both literally and metaphorically, exposing and reimagining the structures that attempt to contain them.

The collective format is central to the exhibition. While each artist maintains a distinct practice, the exhibition resists hierarchy in favour of shared authorship and mutual advocacy. The Frame of TENure is not simply an exhibition, but an act of presence, asking what becomes possible when women artists choose to frame themselves collectively and boldly.

4th – 8th February 2026 11am – 4pm
Private View – Wednesday 4th February 6.30 – 8.30 pm (everyone welcome as free walk in – no ticket required)

Free event – no tickets required for entry