Under My Skin is a collaboration between Spike Island, Rising Arts Agency and Integrate UK in response to Imran Perretta’s exhibition the destructors. Eleven young adults from Bristol were invited to take part in a series of conversations and film-focused workshops, exploring the themes of identity and marginalisation present in the exhibition. Participants were provided with the opportunity to explore their own personal testimonies, develop filmic, photographic and audio skills and create a series of short films from this exploratory process to be presented at Spike Island.

Shot on location in North Bristol, the resulting work, Under My Skin, is a triptych with a strong focus on the identity of young women as a counterpoint to Perretta’s film the destructors. It explores ideas of vulnerability and self-love, creating intimate portraits of personal experiences through spoken and visual poetry.

Workshop leaders Roseanna Dias (Rising Arts Agency) and Shamil Ahmed (Integrate UK) focused on creating a welcoming and inclusive space, where participants were able to generate content through collaborative activities. All of these were linked to ideas about the body, the senses and the complexity of human experience.

Under My Skin is presented in Spike Island’s galleries for the final week of our autumn exhibitions alongside Imran Perretta’s the destructors and Meriç Algün’s Day Craving Night.

Contributing Artists

Amaal Ali, Abbi Bayliss, Kiara Corales, Alba Diaz Gracie, Sakiya Ghalib, Ifrah Hassan, Maya Ilogu, Asmaa Jama, Angela Jones, Saili Katebe, Courtenay Welcome.

Rising Arts Agency

Rising Arts Agency is a social enterprise run by young creative thinkers in Bristol based at Spike Island. Everything they do is led by and co-designed with young people for young people. They empower their community to collectively aspire, provoke and mobilise towards radical cultural change.

Integrate UK

Integrate UK is a youth-led charity that empowers young people to take an active and positive role in transforming the society they live in.