Love notes from Bristol: Valentine’s Anti-Racism Action

I discovered Bristol United Against Racism via a poster on a disused telephone booth, layered upon a collage of weathered adverts. A poignant call to action on a street recently populated with English flags during far-right mobilisation.

Elegantly timed for Valentine’s Day, the gathering called for unity, celebrating diversity and commonality in the heart of College Green. A tribute to Bristol’s cultural richness, but also a sign of a testing time for both the city and country more widely. A nation seeing a rise of overt racism, xenophobia, and a divisive intolerance instigated by many in power to serve corrupted agendas.

I brought my camera to document some of Bristol’s creative responses against this weaponised backdrop of hatred. A crisp February morning, College Green was bursting with colour and texture. Music, artwork, leaflets, book stalls, balloons, banners. Placards illustrating the importance of women in countering fascism, handmade artworks celebrating immigration, installations of red Valentine’s hearts, and flags paying homage to Bristol’s football team with the text ‘Love City, Hate Racism’.

When experiencing the pendulum swings of news cycles, echo chambers and engineered polarisation, it’s easy to lose your grounding. Bristol’s anti-racism action offered a space for togetherness and recalibration, highlighting the necessary vibrancy beyond red and white.

Words and imagery by Leoni Fretwell