Tessa Boffin’s artistic practice spanned photography, writing, performance and activism, consistently challenging dominant narratives around gender, sexuality and visibility. Boffin’s work remains urgently relevant to contemporary queer and feminist communities and this project asks what it means for an archive to be a generative, collective space.

The exhibition features work by Tessa Boffin archives and newly commissioned work from artists Sophie Mak-Schram and Leah McLaine, developed in direct response to Boffin’s images, pedagogy and politics. Both artists and the curatorial team have been immersed in extensive archival research, drawing on collections held by the University for the Creative Arts, The Estate of Tessa Boffin/The Gupta+Singh Archives and Hales Gallery (London and New York).

This project is grounded in a collective, intersectional approach to curatorial research, led by four emerging curators whose practices are rooted in queer and feminist frameworks: Polly Wright (Devonshire Collective, Eastbourne), Jazz Swali (BACKLIT, Nottingham), Ricardo Reverón Blanco (previously Aspex Portsmouth), and Danit Ariel (Photoworks).

Events:

Tuesday 6th October 2026, 2 – 6pm, Workshop led by Stuart Waters
Friday 9th October 2026, 11am – 5pm, Where We Touch the Archive Symposium

Click here for more information about Photoworks.