Way back in 2019, Brighton designer and artist Nick Sayers contacted me to ask if I’d make a poster for that year’s Naked Bike Ride, an annual event which he helps to put on (and one which divides opinion in the city, between ‘Yay, bikes and freedom!’, and ‘Won’t someone think of the children?’).
I was both delighted and a little nervous, especially having seen the excellent poster by Mike Levy that had come before mine! However, with Nick’s guidance, I produced a leafy and joyous image that, he has told me, was received very well by the cyclists.
Then this year, in another nice surprise, Nick got in touch to say the poster was to be displayed in Brighton Museum’s exhibition, “Passion, Power and Protest“.
It hasn’t been reproduced at a very large size (the yellow arrows I’ve added to the picture at the top of this post will help you locate it), but I’m super happy to have it included.
I’m biased towards my own interests of course, but I think it’s in the most interesting section of the exhibition, which shows ephemera and artefacts from Brighton’s rich history of activism, including early Gay Pride (that’s what it was called back then) marches, activism against high rents; disability rights marches, anti-Section 28 demonstrations, and more. In the foreground is a dress worn by chef Momma Cherri (of Gordon Ramsay fame) emblazoned with the names of Black people who died at the hands of the police.
Brighton has always been noisy and rebellious, and it’s one of the things I like best about the city. I’m also crazy for old leaflets, posters and banners, so this was definitely the part of the exhibition that interested me most. If I had been curating this exhibition, I would have expanded this section so it was the whole thing!
The exhibition runs until 31 January, and it’s in the main gallery, so you can’t miss it if you visit the museum. While checking the dates, I discover it’s been featured by the BBC, and that it has had an unusual visitor!
Myfanwy Tristram 