Welcome to the THRESHOLDS 2026 Gallery

THRESHOLDS brought together young creatives aged 15–18 from across Bristol and beyond for an intensive week of making, experimenting and exploring new ideas.Working across photography, film, visual art and design, participants responded to creative briefs, developed their own perspectives and produced work that came from somewhere real.This site brings together what they made, capturing the ideas, energy and creative voices that shaped the project.

Amelia Perrins

"This is about the feeling of blending in especially at school. I first got the idea when researching animals that represent change and I chose the chameleon to represent changing yourself to blend into your surroundings so you feel safe.A yin yang means two complementary forces that make up all aspects and phenomena of life. I chose the symbol to represent the two sides of belonging, one side being the dull and depressing side of life where you choose to blend in and the other being the happy and exciting side of life where you express yourself as you please.The background of the painting depicts a school corridor, where I feel a lot of decisions on where to blend in or stand out get made, especially for teens."

Archie McCallum

"I created this piece, using my real room at home to illustrate a self portrait, with details from my actual bedroom, such as the posters and designs.I was inspired at the start of Threshholds to create a piece of work that illustrates myself at 17, which I think is the age that you begin to become a young adult.This theme of age perfectly captures what I consider Threshholds to mean, and I am very pleased with the outcome."

Avah Mclaughlin-Kew

"I used idea of growth and connection in thresholds to experiment and look into my unit one in which I am studying at college which is the red string theory I used mixed media and sewed into my photos as I was inspired by the artist Anngret Soultau who looks at connection and representing that through her work."

Bisma Azmi

"Starting out, I knew I wanted to show change in a visually simple and recognisable way, so I thought of the example that came to mind most naturally: a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.I felt like it was relatable to how we, as people, grow in our own ways, limited only by temporary barriers that eventually tear, like thread, because of resilience in following a dream."

Dora Laity-Gee

"When I first started Thresholds I had the idea of a sort of fairytale land that involved magic and mythical creatures but in the end I decided to go for a more Witchy and Gothic sort of vibe.This is because I wanted it to be similar to how it feels to watch a movie about ghosts and witch hunts and things like that. And it was very interesting and satisfying to film and edit. It's called "Willows"."

Emmet Foster

"I've always been a big fan of mecha, to be honest I can't remember what caused it. But i know it was certainly cemented by the legendary film Pacific Rim-in my opinion Del Toro's best work.Massive robots duking it out with massive beasts. Then my Dad went to Japan on a work trip, he brought me back a model kit of a Japanese robot called a Gundam.I was hooked instantly. These photos are kits I've collected over the years. Thanks."

Emmett Friendlander-Boss

"Thresholds gave me the resources to make a character, so I made one because I thought they looked cool."

Fin Rundle

"Making these felt satisfying as I was constantly learning and improving my skills to make better models as the project progressed."

Jaiden Beecher

"This is from my selection of Chaos and Colour, which looks at the beauty of street art, set in North Street, Bristol. My main piece, White Mask, symbolises hiding your true identity, and the feeling of needing to fit and blend into the crowds. The split face and geometric marks show tension - order breaking into disorder, and colour emerging into mess. Of course all the credit cannot go to me, as I did not create the original designs and art. Credit for designs are put out to the biggest contributors of the North Street Art go to Gemma Compton, Zoe Power, and Bex Glover."

Jess Evans

"At first I thought I had a clear idea of what I wanted to try do, but because of the process of things I came out with an entirely different outcome. I'm not happy with it at all, but it's something to submit.It's helped me learn more with what I can and can't do as well. I'm not sure what I really mean with what I did either, ironically with it being called I'm not sure, but I tried to get something that has substance. I'm still not sure how I feel about sharing it but I think it's good to hand it in to who helped make it."

Jessie Adderley

"As someone not from Bristol, but from the local seaside town Weston-super-Mare, I wanted to showcase my perspective on Bristol. I wanted to present my interpretations and impressions of the city to the viewer: What stood out to me - and that was the diversity. Not just diversity of cultures, but the diversity if people, places, architecture.I chose to just go out and explore the city, capturing whatever caught my attention through my lens. From the Harbourside to Cabot Circus, I captured people, architecture, details and wide shots.For the actual photography I wanted to focus on composition, framing, lighting while using post production editing to give an almost film type look, although using a modern camera."

Keziah Sharkey

"This animation is of a character I want to write about. I was inspired to do this drawing for the Thresholds program because we talked about shape language and I wanted to experiment with using that in my illustrations. I won't say too much about her, see what impression you get from the animation!"

Lissie England

"At the beginning of Thresholds I knew I wanted to work on some kind of character or world design despite that I was lacking any kind of story to do so. However, in collaboration with Isla C-R we trialed a story similar to Alice in Wonderland, where she made a book cover and I designed the main character.The multiple designs are used to show a distinct change when finding yourself in a different world especially one which seems to juxtapose whatever you are used to."

Logan Mann

"When starting this course, I originally focused on cubism, but after researching many other street photographers, I felt they all contrived a sense of repetition of people's faces; instead, I wanted to remove all senses that made them human, which led me to explore the loss of identity within the city by turning them into shadows and shapes lacking any recognisable detail."

Martha Beau & Florence Bowker

"Our idea was an homage to escapism, intuition and magic. We storyboarded heavily and then filmed it together over the course of a couple hours in Leigh Woods. It was amazing to get to create as sisters and share that creative bond together."

Matthew Romanillos

"When I first started THRESHOLDS, I didn't have any idea of what I was going to make. I had only started filmmaking very recently on my phone and figured that this would be a good opportunity to both add to my filmmaking knowledge, but also to utilise my free time this summer and actually make something that I'm proud of.The first session was very helpful in helping me to come up with an idea. Sometimes there's lots of uncertainty that comes with if I should try certain things.Sometimes all I need is a leap of faith. That's what this video's about. To have faith in yourself, to take that leap and to embrace the uncertainty that comes with it. It's also about the fact that it's alright to not have everything figured out right now, you're not alone.Especially as a teenager, where you're in the transition period between leaving childhood and entering adulthood. I loved making this film over the three days I was given to make it! I loved filming and editing it, I loved talking to the team at Boomsatsuma about what I was doing and I loved making new friends too! This project is the one that I am most proud of, and it means so much to me that I was able to produce something as good as this.I have Boomsatsuma (and myself) to thank for taking that leap of faith, embracing the new opportunity and making something good out of it. I learned and experienced so many things I could've never done without doing THRESHOLDS (such as using a camera for the first time, using proper editing software and socialising with everyone!), so I'm very grateful for the team and Elliot for being so helpful and supportive throughout my time there."

Mercy Omorogbe

Phoebe Cotton

"I didn't have an exact idea of the type of shots i wanted, instead i just went around Bristol filming different things eg the Harbourside, Brandon Hill etc. I then had the idea for a short beginning and end, creating a start and end to the 'journey'. I used the song 'Time To Pretend' since it's one of my favourites is also used in the TV Show 'Skins', set in Bristol too."

Poppy Wall

"Within this series of self- portraits, i wanted to experiment with abstract lines as a way to transform my face into a canvas.The lines could represent emotions or symbolise identities and that's what i like about these photos, as the viewer is able to have their own interpretation whether they feel anything for it or not.I had deliberately kept my face neutral and kept the background to a plain white to not be distracting from the main focus.Overall, this idea to use wool had come from seeing inspiration like this online and from artists like Zaid Zawaidah who uses mixed- media and digital photography."

Rosie Upton

"I had an idea before I came to the first session and I am so happy at the end result.I wanted this to be an expression of who I am and how it should be okay for everyone to be who they want to be, without judgement and without shame, because who you are is beautiful and we don't need a carbon copy of someone else, there is only one of you, and that's enough.I suppose this was my way of telling everyone I want to be unapologetically myself, and I wanted people to take example from it."

Ruth O'Brien-Sammut

"These photos are about growth and progression - how sometimes it's hard to know if you're progressing or regressing, how growth can be just a collection of small changes, and how progress looks different depending on how you look at it."

Sidney Razzell

"When i started Thresholds I was really stressed because I couldn't think of an idea for a film. But I turned that stress into a film about someone who couldn't think of an idea and I'm really happy with it."

Temiloluwa Adetayo

"While making this I wanted to explore something I hadn't before but had interest in to convey freedom and security in a form. I am grateful for this opportunity to prove myself and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did."

Theia Simkins

"Getting the final idea was hard but once I had figured out what I wanted it to be about then the team worked together and made it happen! This film means so much to me I got to work with my favourite people and it really helped me process things going on in my own life."