Exploring Creativity: Shadowlight Artists Exhibition

We’re Going To Need A Bigger Brush!

Modern Art Oxford | 23 January – 22 March 2026 | Free

This generous, confident group exhibition by the Shadowlight Artists lives up to its playful title. What begins as a humorous nod to Jaws quickly reveals itself as something more expansive: a declaration that these artists require not permission, but space.

Working across film, photography, printmaking, costume and prop-making, the exhibition is alive with invention. Alternate personas emerge through handmade sets and reimagined characters; everyday materials are transformed into tools of self-representation. There is a palpable sense of joy in the making, but also seriousness of intent. Identity here is not fixed or simplified, but tried on, performed, and reshaped.

Developed through weekly collaborative sessions since April 2025, the show reflects a strong collective ethos, supported by collaborations with professional artists and Film Oxford. The result is work that feels both deeply personal and outward-facing, inviting viewers to engage without sentimentality.

At its best, We’re Going To Need A Bigger Brush! challenges assumptions about who gets to occupy artistic space — and does so with warmth, humour and confidence. A lively, affirming exhibition that earns its place and then asks for a little more room. 

If you’re thinking about this in a SundayFringe spirit — open, generous, very use-what-you’ve-got — the Shadowlight exhibition offers a really practical model. What comes through most strongly is how artists grow by rooting their practice in their actual environment: the rooms they meet in, the objects around them, the films they love, the clothes they already own, the stories they tell about themselves. You don’t need a studio overhaul to expand your work — you can start by asking: what’s already here that I can reframe? A phone becomes a camera, a kitchen table becomes a set, an old jacket becomes a character. The Shadowlight Artists show how trying on personas, exaggerating parts of yourself, or collaborating loosely with others can unlock confidence and momentum without pressure to “get it right.”

For artists reading this,, this kind of practice is an invitation to self-expand rather than self-edit. Try meeting regularly with others just to make, not to present. Let the process be playful: remake a film poster using your street, your face, your props; invent a character and follow them through your week; turn everyday routines into visual or audio experiments. Like SundayFringe, the power lies in shared energy — celebrating small acts of making, responding to what others create, and letting creativity feel social rather than solitary. The Shadowlight exhibition reminds us that art grows when people feel supported enough to experiment — and brave enough to take up a bit more space than they thought they were allowed.