Earlier this evening I took part in a rather special celebration at the South Square Centre. Three different occasions were being celebrated simultaneously. We began at 4.00 with a session devoted to remembering the work of one of our former colleagues, and the first Director of the Centre, Pete Lund, who dies last year. This was followed by the opening of a very special exhibition to celebrate 40 years of the South Square Centre. All of the artists who had been given exhibitions there, as far as we were able, were contacted and invited to submit a piece of their work. An impressive display filled both rooms of the main gallery and the Community Room. Then in the Unit 9 gallery the regular monthly exhibition was opened, and on this occasion, instead of putting on a solo exhibition by one of the members, the current membership of the group, together with as many former members as we could contact, each offered one or two pieces for show. Many of us took the opportunity to offer both something representing our current concerns together with a piece representing our work around the time we joined the group.
I was really impressed by the importance of looking back over one’s achievements in this way. I’m sure that we all felt a strengthening of our sense of identity as a collective endeavour. It was also very encouraging to be reminded of the quality of the work that has been produced by the group. Certainly I returned home feeling very proud of having been permitted to take part in the life of the Centre.
It is hard to imagine an exhibition which could display better not only the lively character of the South Square Centre as an arts venue, but the way on which this level of activity has been sustained over two decades. If you are in the Bradford area it would be well worth your while to make the effort to visit the centre during August.