Brighton Women Artists (BWA) CANcELLEd - Adjust the Focus Exploring resilience, refusal, and redefinition. We are not cancelled, our presence is our art, and instead, we will adjust the focus to amplify what we create.

CANcELLEd : Adjust the Focus 

She Can : See Us

We are inviting Brighton women artists to respond to the theme of CANcELLEd : Adjust the Focus - in any medium, any style that speaks to celebrating women in the spotlight.

Let's challenge erasure, make it LOUD, and show the world what Brighton Women Artists can do.

Brighton Artists Asia Nowicki and Charlotte Esposito met through a curatorial pairing at Mid Street Lab Art Gallery.

This is where the conversation started and where BWA was formed, and so we would like to honour the birth of BWA via our launch exhibition which will take place at the same space. 

BWA was founded on April 19th 2025 and has already begun making waves in Brighton with a recent feature in Discover Magazine, and more to come.

Mid Street Lab Gallery prides itself in exhibiting Contemporary Art with Purpose.

It is a Brighton based Artist led organisation, championing non-mainstream local practitioners, community wellbeing and mental health through contemporary art exhibitions, visual awareness campaigns and fundraising initiatives.

The BWA mission is to form a space for local women artists to connect in Brighton and beyond. To meet, create, flow, combine, collaborate and exhibit together...

We particularly encourage women of modest economic backgrounds who may have faced additional barriers in accessing traditional art institutions and galleries, or in maintaining professional artist status. Your work tells a unique story of resilience and we want to see it!

How to apply:

·         You must be living and working as a Woman Artist in Brighton right now.

·         New or existing artwork that relates to the theme, created in any year of life.

·         Work can be an original painting, sculpture or drawing in any medium.

·         You must be following our Instagram page @bwa_brighton_women_artists and have subscribed to our mailing list.

·         Be prepared to attend at least one BWA social gathering in person.

Contribution:

There will be a £30 contribution on acceptance:  in return for this all exhibiting Artists will be provided with a central Brighton exhibition space - Mid Street Lab Gallery in Kemptown, including professional co-curation between the gallery owner Jean Jules Whatcher and the BWA founders - Charlotte Esposito and Asia Nowicki, both of whom have many years’ experience working as exhibiting professional artists. 

All three also have experience of arts curation - via group & solo shows, art fair participation and past prize winner judging. 

Artists will also receive promotion via publication of the event across both the Mid Street Lab online platforms (website, Instagram & Facebook) and the BWA / BWA founding members Instagram accounts, as well as being mentioned as a group show in linked local press release and publications.

Mid Street Lab has 2K+ followers on Instagram, the founders and the recently set up BWA have a combined 9K following across Instagram & Facebook.

Artists will also be provided with a Private View - including artist & guest refreshments.

The gallery will handle and distribute all sales revenue to Artists (minus 35% commission). 

In addition to this the exhibition also runs over the first weekend of The Brighton Artists Open Houses winter edition, so all exhibiting Artists will become part of this at no additional cost, this highly publicised event provides additional footfall and advertisement.

Winter editions typically feature 50–60 open houses across the city. The event is free-entry and family-friendly. Mid Street Lab Gallery was a Brighton Fringe Award Winner in 2024.

·         By entering the competition all exhibiting Artists agree that the photographs of their entered works can be used by the exhibition organisers for promotion purposes e.g. for Instagram / Facebook posts, local publications that relate to the event itself, and for no other purpose.

·         Exhibition organisers accept no liability for work damaged or lost in transit to and from the exhibition.

KEY DATES

The exhibition will run 15th - 30th November 2025

Private View event TBC

Submission deadline - 1st September 

Successful submissions notified - 7th October 

Delivery of work to Mid Street Lab- Tuesday 11th - Wednesday 12th November

Collection of work from Mid Street Lab - Monday 1st December 

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE GALLERY & BWA VIA THE FOLLOWING LINK:

https://www.instagram.com/bwa_brighton_women_artists/