GOING BACK BROCKENS

14 Jan

2024 / 2025

‘GOING BACK BROCKENS: Monuments and Rhetoric After the Miners’ Strike’ is a major contemporary painting project taking place across County Durham, created by artist Narbi Price and writer Mark Hudson. 40 years after the 1984-5 miners’ strike, former pit villages have stories to tell, not just stories of their industrial past, but new stories of hope and a way forward with aspiration.

The result of this work is an important, context-rich, major touring exhibition consisting of 40 new paintings by Narbi (one painting for each year since the Miners’ strike), sound installations developed from first-hand interviews recorded my Mark in the 90s, and with the addition of a six-part short film series called ‘Where We Belong’ by filmmaker Carl Joyce. A series of artist talks around the County supported the launch of this touring exhibition, with new perspectives on the strikes and a body of surrounding activity by, with and for County Durham communities, which you can experience first-hand as the exhibition tours around the North East and beyond.

There’s also several project films (links below) and the ‘Where We Belong’ shorts series by Carl Joyce that you can watch to dive deeper into this important contemporary painting project, directly engaging new perspectives of people and places across the Durham Coalfield areas affected by the miner’s strike and the passage of time since - some 40 years of stories are collected, reflected upon and encoded into the project.

The Project Film

The Gala Film

Watch all Going Back Brockens films here: The GBB Youtube Playlist

'WHERE WE BELONG'

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A SIX-PART SERIES

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'WHERE WE BELONG' — A SIX-PART SERIES —

‘Where We Belong’ - Series One - a short film series by Carl Joyce available to watch on YouTube now.

Where We Belong - is a new documentary film series that explores the relationship between people and place in County Durham. Inspired by Mark Hudson’s evocative book ‘Coming Back Brockens’, Carl is telling the unique stories of the people who call the County Durham villages their home and the way they continue to shape them.

Commissioned as part of the wider engagement connected to ‘Going Back Brockens’ project, Carl’s approach seeks to find new and alternative voices to complement those featured in the main project.

The first series of six short films explore the connections people have to these places and the impact they have, giving a platform to the often untold stories from across our region.

Season Two is currently being filmed (as of February 2026).

Watch Season One now - Here

THE EXHIBITION TOUR

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THE EXHIBITION TOUR —

‘GOING BACK BROCKENS: Monuments and Rhetoric After the Miners’ Strike’ is a major new exhibition from award winning artist Narbi Price and award winning writer Mark Hudson.

The exhibition explores themes surrounding the 1984 miners strike and its legacy in County Durham 40 years on. Horden, a village on the east coast of Durham, is where the story begins. Once thriving as Europe’s most productive pit, now considered a ‘left behind’ neighbourhood. Places like Horden have stories to tell – stories of heritage but also new stories of hope and aspiration.

Narbi is making 40 new paintings of locations all over the county linked to the mining industry as they are now, forty years after the strikes.

Mark’s accompanying sound installation uses interviews with the people of Horden carried out in 1991-92, a time when the Miners’ Strike of 1984-5 was still very raw in collective memory.

See below for more info.

EXHIBITION TOUR

Where & When:

Bishop Auckland (13th June - 5th July): The Warehouse, Newgate Centre, DL14 7JQ (accessed via blue doors inside the multi-story car park - look out for the large bright green ‘No More Nowt’ banner.
Durham Miners’ Gala, Redhills Art Tent (Sat 12th July)
Horden’s 125th anniversary celebrations, St. Marys’ Church, Blackhills Road, Horden (Fri 22 August)
Paintings, soundscape and short film combine into one powerful exhibition, presented in the stunning surrounding of St.Mary’s Church - ‘the Miners Cathedral’ - in Horden.
Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens (12 Sept - mid Jan 2026)
…Where next?

A selection of early works from the exhibition by Narbi Price.

JOIN EXHIBITION INFO LIST

Get notified about the exhibitions and other related project events and activities.

SHARE YOUR STORIES

Share what this place means to you (or develop your own exhibition) and it will be included in a new community archive. Where will the story go from here?

GET INVOLVED

Every place tells a Story - your stories of place

To complement Narbi and Mark’s work, we are asking for people to contribute their stories of place. These stories can be in pictures, video or words and will contribute to a new community archive that will be launched at the main exhibition. Some works may also be selected to be showcased at a celebration event alongside the main exhibition!

You can learn more, follow the prompts and submit over on our project engagement page HERE.

In This Place - Your own exhibition

For those of you that are feeling more creative, we invite you to share your stories in person by hosting your own community exhibition at your local meeting place. These exhibitions will pop-up across the county, becoming an official part of the Going Back Brockens project and its series of events.

Learn more on the engagement page where we have free resources and tips HERE.

MORE INFO ON MAIN EXHIBITION

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MORE INFO ON MAIN EXHIBITION —

The Project

‘Going Back Brockens: Monuments and Rhetoric After the Miners’ Strike’ is being produced by Building Culture CIC who are collaborating with the artists to showcase the work in County Durham communities and working closely with local community groups to develop meaningful connections with the project.

Narbi Price is creating a new body of work, a series of 40 paintings which consider locations in County Durham as they are now, forty years after the strikes, and the beginning of the end of the area’s defining industry.

Mark Hudson’s accompanying sound installations revisit his interviews which informed his book 'Coming Back Brockens: A Year in a Mining Village'. Made-up of excerpts from interviews with the people of Horden carried out in 1991-92, the majority concerning the Miners’ Strike of 1984-5, which was then still raw in the collective memory.

Narbi and Mark are working together to create exhibitions of paintings accompanied by sound, and these will be presented at various locations around the county. Exactly where and how is being developed with the communities of Co. Durham as the project progresses.

“I think there’s something about how I approach painting as a vehicle for narrative. I’m somewhere between a landscape painter and a history painter. There are no people because paintings with people in become about the people depicted.

I want there to be space for the viewer to inhabit the depicted location. I’m interested in the sites being specific yet generic, analogous to the specific but shared and common problems faced by the individuals, families and communities in 1984/5.

My paintings are ultimately about time, each painting deals with time in an extended manner, particular to the medium, different entirely to photography. A painting is a literal record of the time made to make it. Time is encoded into the making.”

— Narbi Price