Meet the founder of the Brent Biennial
Brent Biennial is a two-yearly celebration of Brent’s vibrant visual arts scene.
Taking place in 2022 across 12 locations in Willesden, Harlesden and Kilburn including a tin tabernacle and an unused fish and chip shop, Brent Biennial 2022 explores ten years of the ‘hostile environment’ immigration policy bringing artists and community groups together around ideas of ‘home’. Brent Biennial first took place in 2020 as part of London Borough of Culture in Brent.
We spoke to Lois Stonock, director of Metroland Cultures about the ideas that came up creating the festival and how important it was to take place in Brent.
How did the idea for a biennial come about?
The first iteration of the Brent Biennial happened in 2020 when Brent was the London Borough of Culture. The pandemic meant we had to completely rethink many of the programmes we had planned to deliver and the biennial model in its simplest sense created a container for a series of exhibitions that were happening in Brent at the same time and talking to the central theme of community centred practice. The nature of a biennial also promised that it would happen again which was an important factor ––we were saying this is not just a programme for 2020 in Brent but a programme in perpetuity, and it is going to seek to on-going conversation with the many communities that live and work here.
Why is ‘home’ important in Brent?
Brent is a little microcosm of the world. It is the second most ethnically diverse borough in London, and one of the local authorities with the most first-generation migrants in the country. The history and legacy of the borough is one that is built on migration and movement, where many different communities have come and made this place their home. This identity of Brent as a home of migrants is really present everywhere in the borough, and it materialises in efforts of solidarity, care and hospitality that many individuals and communities have created for themselves and others to create a sense of home away from home. Home is very important in Brent because, despite it having many personal meanings, people continuously find ways of being together, of sharing space and of developing relationships with one another through different perspectives and experiences.
How did the works included surprise/challenge you?
The artists and community groups that participated in this year’s edition of the biennial explored various approaches to questions of home and belonging, reflecting on ten years since the implementation of the Hostile Environment policy in the UK – a damaging set of legislative and administrative measures that has made life in this country practically impossible for refugees and asylum seekers, as well as incredibly difficult for many migrant communities. What was really amazing was the way the works challenged the notion of belonging as something that we own, get given, we’re born with, or that we’re simply ‘naturally’ associated with. What was most surprising and beautiful was to experience the many worlds that the works invited us into; worlds where no human being’s life can ever be deemed as being ‘illegal’.
What are you ambitions for Metroland Studios and Brent Biennial?
The Brent Biennial happens every other year, with the first iteration happening in 2020. The second iteration happened this year over the summer. Curator Eliel Jones worked with us to deliver the biennial In The House of My Love which looked at the theme of making home. The next iteration of the Biennial will happen in 2024 and we hope to announce the curator in December this year.
Metroland Studios is one of the ways in which we support artists. We have a studio building in Kilburn which has a gallery, a social space and a screening room; alongside this we offer free studios to artists from the borough. The studios building is a meanwhile space so we are looking for a new permanent home for the organisation!
While the biennial exhibition is now over, In the House of my Love extends into the rest of the year through a series of community commissions that are currently in progress with Brent-based partners including: Asian Women's Resource Centre, SUFRA Foodbank & Kitchen and Young Roots.
Artworks at Brent Biennial
