HAJ: The Multistory BCN WSoA Edition

HYBRID ART JOURNAL The WSoA Edition

17 FEB 2026 | 5PM-6PM FOYER | 6PM-8PM LECTURE THEATRE {Film screenings and soft crits for students & staff @ WSoA} As part of my artist residency (02 02 26 – 22 02 26) at the Wolverhampton School of Art, commissioned by Multistory as part of their BCN Residency Programme that is supported by Arts Council England, I’ll be screening a WIP preview of Pchum Ben in the Lecture Theatre on the 17th Feb 2026 and I’d like to extend the invitation to all WSoA filmmaking students and staff.. if you’ve made a short film, I’d love to see it! I wonder what stories are being told and what themes are bubbling up at WSoA. Filmmakers will also have the option to introduce their work and we could have a short (friendly!) crit (again, absolutely optional). ================== SUGGESTED OPTIONAL SUBMISSION THEME: FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT . . . HOW TO SUBMIT WORK FOR THE SCREENING: Suitable for all artworks which can be displayed digitally in the virtual installation. A selection of films will be screened at the lecture theatre on 17th Feb 2026. Please e-mail editor@hybridartjournal.com with the following: -Title of the film -A downloadable link for the film -A little bit about why you’ve selected this piece for the screening -Your name -Your artist name (if applicable) -A lil bit about you / your practice -Website/social media info ================== SCHEDULE FOR THE EVENING: 5PM - 6PM: FOYER Join us in the Foyer for some ArtPULP and some pizza 6PM - 8PM: LECTURE THEATRE Join us in the theatre for screenings & Q&As ===

Held in partnership between Multistory and The Wolverhampton School of Art and initiated as part of Multistory’s BCN artist development programme, the residencies provide funding, time, a studio and critical support for five emerging Sandwell and Black Country artists each year. The programme aims to provide a space for experimentation and testing out new ideas and ways of making, and is supported through mentoring with Multistory and the art school faculty, and group crits. The Wolverhampton School of Art provide studio and an exhibition space for the end of programme group exhibition, which shares research and work in progress produced throughout the year. The residencies provides an important dialogue between the professional art scene and the art school, providing the artists in residence with access to the wonderful resources available in the building, and students with the opportunity to learn from those making their way as artists in the world.

::2025/26 ARTISTS:: RUMBIDZAI SAVANHU BAG LORD ABRAHAM BABAJIDE COLE SONIA LEVESQUE SYLWIA CISZEWSKA-PECIAK

ABOUT THE MULTISTORY BCN RESIDENCY PROGRAMME

THIS FLOOR HOUSES A MIXTURE OF IMAGES FROM PHOTOS TAKEN DURING THE BCN ARTIST TOUR IN SUMMER 2025, SHOTS FROM BASE 9 OF THINGS I WAS WORKING ON DURING MY RESIDENCY IN FEB 2026, AND IMAGES FROM WHEN I WENT TO SEE WHAT THE STUDENTS GET UPTO IN THE REST OF THE BUILDING. IT ALMOST FELT LIKE WALKING INTO A SECRET EXHIBITION OF FUTURE PROMINENT ARTISTS. AS AN ARTIST WHO HASN'T BEEN TO ART SCHOOL, IT WAS INTERESTING SEEING HOW STUDENTS USE THE SPACE. ALTHOUGH I DIDN'T GET AROUND TO TALKING TO MANY OF THEM, I FELT LIKE I WAS HAVING CONVERSATIONS WITH THEIR WORKS IN PROGRESS AND THE NOTES AND POST ITS DOTTED AROUND.... ALSO, THE AMOUNT OF MULTISTORY PRINT ROOM BOOKS FLOATING AROUND THE SCHOOL WAS EPIC... IT WAS HANDS DOWN THE MOST POPULAR BOOK FLOATING AROUND THE STUDIOS, FOLLOWED BY OUTSIDER ART. IF YOU'RE AN ART STUDENT AT WSoA AND YOU'VE CLOCKED YOUR WORK IN THE LINE UP, LEMME KNOW AND I'LL POP YOUR NAME DOWN IN THE SPACE. ALSO, IF YOU'D LIKE TO ADD MORE INFORMATION FOR THE HYBR1D ART J0URNAL'S AUDIENCE, PING ME A MSG (EDITOR@HYBRIDARTJOURNAL.COM) SO WE CAN ARRANGE AN INTERVIEW!

ABOUT THE MULTISTORY BCN RESIDENCY PROGRAMME

SYLWIA CISZEWSKA-PECIAK MARCH 2026

ABOUT THE 2025/26 BCN ARTISTS

Meet the Artist: (via @multistory on IG) We're delighted to welcome our first BCN Artist in Residence for 2025/26: Rumbidzai Savanhu, who will spend October in residence at The Wolverhampton School of Art. In her own words: "Through the residency I want to experiment with different mediums to rethink storytelling outside of my usual illustrative approaches. Combining writing, textiles, wood carving and clay to create and reimagine world building and world making. Exploring themes of nature, grief and belonging, using myth and folklore as a placeholder for a fragmented memory." Artist bio: Rumbidzai Savanhu is a Zimbabwean artist, writer and facilitator with an interest in other mediums such as animation, set design and textiles. She works primarily as an illustrator for children’s publishing, editorial publications, arts in health and comics. Recently she has been developing her socially engaged practice with community-led co-creation projects for schools, hospitals and community centres. As a multimedia artist she explores themes of identity and hidden histories, teaching drawing, painting, creative writing, music, animation and zine making. She has previously worked with; Royal Brompton Hospitals NHS Trust, The GAP Arts Projects, Hachette, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Little White Lies, Runner’s World, Sandwich Magazine, London Wildlife Trust, Poetry Birmingham, Pop Up Projects. @marykeepsgoing

RUMBIDZAI SAVANHU OCTOBER 2025

BAG LORD NOVEMBER 2025

ABRAHAM BABAJIDE COLE JANUARY 2026

SONIA LEVESQUE FEBRUARY 2026

Meet the Artist: (via @multistory on IG) We're delighted to welcome our second BCN Artist in Residence for 2025/26: Bag Lord, who has been spending November in residence at The Wolverhampton School of Art. We asked Bag Lord how his residency is going so far and are pleased to report he's enjoying himself: "Everything is fine and I’m having a really nice time at the World War 3 themed party - the Horsd’oeuvres are to die for." In his own words: I am the Bag Lord, I am an artist from Wolverhampton. With a focus on painting . My practice moves between social commentary, observations on contemporary life in the West Midlands. I have a deep interest in local history, politics and painting. My work is directly inspired by my immediate environment and experience of wider contemporary life and my phone. My work often takes the form of large- scale paintings, drawings, sculptures and text art works. Past activity includes: A residency and solo exhibition at Stryx Gallery, a co-curated group show on Football and Art at Wolverhampton Art Gallery, group exhibitions at the RBSA gallery, Ikon Gallery and as part of the New Art’s West Midlands graduate programme for Coventry Biennial. He has also curated multiple group shows over the years celebrating artists from the West Midlands, most recently ‘Bostin Midlands Painters’ which included art works of 43 painters from across the region. @b4g_lord

Meet the Artist: (via @multistory on IG) We were pleased to welcome Tipton based artist Abraham Babajide Cole to the BCN residency studio at the WSoA this month. For his residency, Abraham is working on a new project titled ‘Terrains of Memory: Black Country Studies’, a site-responsive project that draws from the post- industrial terrain and layered social histories of the Sandwell region. He is working with raw clay and oil painting processes to explore narratives of environmental transformation, migration, and ancestral memory. Using locally sourced materials - soil, clay, coal residue - he is experimenting with making tactile forms and paintings that reflect cultural dislocation and material resilience. To date Abraham has made his own oil sticks using charcoal, and painted a series of large works, as well as smaller gestural paintings (pictured). Next steps are to explore the ceramics studio, where he plans to create a sculpture that will accompany the paintings. About Abraham: Abraham Babajide Cole is a Nigerian- born, UK-based visual artist working across painting, drawing, and mixed-media installation. His practice investigates themes of migration, identity, and cultural heritage, weaving layered visual narratives that connect personal memory with collective history. Rooted in Yoruba philosophies of selfhood beyond the physical, Cole employs abstraction, fragmentation, and material experimentation to explore the unseen forces that shape human experience. @coleabraham

(via @multistory on IG) This month’s BCN artist in residence is audio-visual artist Sonia Levesque. Over the past weeks, Sonia has been exploring every corner of the WSoA building - listening to its howling winds, uncovering its histories and in-between spaces. She’s invited students to collaborate on her ongoing project HYBR1D ART J0URNAL, and is developing her new Unreal Engine film ‘Pchum Ben’. Like other artists in residence before her, she has gifted a permanent artwork to the studio space. A eulogy to the George Wallis building written in invisible ink across an entire studio wall, which she performed last night in the studio as part of a work in progress screening event. Students are invited to visit the studio to write their own messages to the school. Excerpt: “The building. It howls. The machines are silent. […] A soft affection for the artists who currently reside within its nooks and crannies. They are as inspired by the 6th floor vista as the building itself has eternally been.” With just over a week of her residency to go - more to come! Pick up a foil-printed copy of the eulogy from the WSoA foyer. About Sonia: Audio-Visual Artist, Thinker & Realtime Filmmaker (Unreal Engine) Forever in pursuit of truth, freedom and play - she appreciates programmes that opens up the art world to the wider public. She firmly believes that art and creative rebellion can make the world a better place, and as such strives to create artworks which inspire others to commit their own mini acts of creative rebellion, to self-express and to use art as a lens to think critically about their world. @hello_levesque

(via multistory.org.uk) Sylwia Ciszewska-Peciak is a Polish-born documentary photographer and mixed-media artist based in West Bromwich, UK. Her practice explores themes of migration, memory, identity, and motherhood, drawing on her personal experience of resettlement. Working across photography, collage, and sculptural installation, she investigates how personal and collective histories shape belonging. Since 2016, she has documented everyday life in West Bromwich, capturing candid, emotionally resonant moments that reflect resilience and transformation. Her work often includes self- portraiture and domestic scenes, delving into vulnerability and the emotional labor of motherhood. Recently, she has developed interactive photographic cubes, sculptural objects that invite touch and rearrangement, to express the fragmented, layered nature of memory and cultural adaptation. Through tactile materials and visual storytelling, her work offers immersive reflections on the complexities of identity and the evolving meaning of home. @sylwia_ciszewska_peciak