Avon Street Artist Residency: Esther May Campbell and Chiz Williams

Artist Residency 

Taking a deeply engaged approach, the project is embedded within the local community. Through conversations, workshops, shared activities and artistic research, Esther and Chiz explore the geography, experiences and connections that shape this unique part of the city.

It builds on relationships developed through previous work in the area, including Esther and Chiz's project Common Ground at the neighbouring Gas Lane site. Working alongside local organisations, young people, residents and community groups, the artists are developing a deeper understanding of Avon Street's character, history and future.

The residency brings together people, places, materials and ecologies connected to Avon Street and the River Avon. Through creative participation, it creates opportunities to share experiences and perspectives as the area changes and grows, ensuring local and visiting people are recognised and valued.

Alongside creating new artwork, the residency will help shape the next phase of public art at Avon Street. The relationships and creative responses developed through the project will inform a future permanent commission, embedding community knowledge within the site's long-term cultural legacy.

Bundles – Play Days

A key strand of the residency is with Kitchen Table Photo Club at The Dings Youth Club. Together with the young people who take part, they are exploring their neighbourhood through photography, creativity and collective play.

This work culminates in Bundles: two free events in The Dings Park celebrating local stories, imagination and exploration. Join in with photography activities, discover an exhibition of images and music created by local children, follow a treasure hunt through the park, and pick up a limited-edition set of Bundles Photo Play Cards.

Dates:

• Saturday 18 July 2026, 11am–4pm  

• Sunday 19 July 2026, 11am–4pm 

Free for all ages, no need to book 

Location:
The Safe 'Ouse, The Dings Park (by the basketball court), Oxford Street, Bristol BS2 0QN 

What3Words ///chops.boxing.plates

About Esther May Campbell

Esther May Campbell explores the links between image-making, story and play, while creating compelling images and films for public transmission. Intrigued by the potential to co-create via myth, ritual and old analogue photography, images emerge that are moving and alarming. She is often found working with young people around her kitchen table in Bristol. However, recent commissions further afield include image making with children in the Wye for the River Festival (2023/4), exploring songlines of city woodlands for MAYK (2024) and re-animating the concrete of Acton for the London Short Film Festival (2024). She completed a ten-month residency at St Paul’s Adventure Playground resulting in a city-wide exhibition and publication, ScrapBook. To date, her images have been published in books, films and print media, while farmyard exhibitions have touched thousands. Her explorations are generously funded by The Arts Council, WECA, Channel 4, BBC, BFI amongst others.

About Chiz Williams 

Chiz Williams is co-founder and Lead Mentor at Kin – an intergenerational collective of community-makers. Current occupations include coaching at Packers FC – a community football club, being a director of Cables & Cameras, venue and production disco-ordination and co-developing RADMIN programmes that explore 'what artists can do for business'. His most consistent work in the last 23 years is as part of the workforce at the Cube Cinema, Bristol. 

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