What is freedom? A dream, an illusion, a shifting state of mind? Does yours come at the cost of mine? Will we ever truly be free?

The Hidden Spire collective brings together people from different walks of life; many have experience of homelessness, having initially come to the Old Fire Station through Crisis, many grew up outside of the UK, and many have lived in Oxford all their lives. The Collective works together to make publicly shared artworks. The Hidden Spire Collective will always decide together what kinds of artwork they make. Each project is led by a visiting professional artist/s. The project is run in collaboration with Crisis Skylight Oxford. 

Our Freedom Then & Now was a national project to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War, which the Hidden Spire Collective took part in alongside 79 other arts centres across the breadth of the UK, June-December 2025.  

Over the course of the project, the group discussed what freedom meant to them alongside exploring what freedom looked like at the end of WW2 and in the following decades, in workshops with University of Oxford academics and creative exercises. We then devised and wrote a performance ‘Am I Free Yet?’ which conveyed the multitude of perspectives on freedom that were experienced both by the group and imagined characters. What you see in this exhibition are portraits of their characters, taken by photographer Sam Ivin, displayed alongside writing or drawings by the group which express their character’s experience of freedom.  

Contributing Artists:  

Anisah, BB, Claire Frampton, Dilman, Eunice, Gill, Isabel Taylor, James Wilson, Kemal Babutsali, Jodie Lamb, Laura Walton, Mark Taylor, Lucia Kali, Neil Mukherjee, NRed, Penny, Ryan Weller, Search, Simon Garrood.  

The project was facilitated by artists Lizzy McBain & Polly Tisdall, along with Old Fire Station & Crisis Staff, Sarah Cassidy, Grace Copeland, Maya Little, Jodie Lamb & Hamish Hollis-Hill.  

With thanks to our funders: Future Arts Centres, Arts Council England, TORCH, Oxford City Council, National Lottery Community Fund, The Batchworth Trust, Adrian Swire Charitable Trust, Mr & Mrs J A Pye’s Charitable Settlement, Leigh Trust, Helen Roll Charity, Katie Bradford Arts Trust, The Stanton Ballard Charitable Trust, The City of Oxford Charity, Bartlett Taylor Charitable Trust