The ‘Ribbons’ sculpture, selected for the Feminist Public Sculpture project, was launched on 12 October.
Thursday 17 October, 18:30
This sculpture, in partnership with Leeds City Council, Leeds Arts University and Leeds City College, champions women’s achievements in Leeds and goes some way to correct a gender imbalance in public art in the city. Leeds Civic Trust has been one of its sponsors.
How timely then that there is to be a panel discussion with the comtemporary artist and creator of ‘Ribbons’, Pippa Hale, chaired by Professor Griselda Pollock in the City Room, Leeds Playhouse on 17 October at 6.30pm.
Joining them on the panel is Alison Lowe, the Deputy Mayor for Police and Crime who, with Rachel Reeves MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer, was instrumental in getting the project off the ground, and Jane Bhoyroo, Principal Keeper at Leeds Art Gallery.
The discussion will cover the passage of the project from its creation to installation moving more generally to discuss public art in the city of Leeds.
Please note that you need to show a ticket to access this event.
Tickets :
Leeds Civic Trust members: £6
Non-members: £8
Speaker Biographies
Pippa Hale
Contemporary Artist behind ‘Ribbons’
Pippa Hale is the contemporary artist behind the Ribbons sculpture. She is based in Leeds and her practice centres around social history, geography and play. Her artworks are often site specific and include large-scale installations in heritage venues, the public realm and galleries in a range of media that includes foam, inflatables, food, film, sound, iron, digital technology, neon and loaned objects.
She is passionate about social history and enjoys spending time researching the history and geography of locations. She also loves working with people and her projects often involve large numbers of participants who have a personal connection to the site. Most recently she has begun to explore the idea of co-creation where local people aren’t just participants in the delivery of her ideas, but included in the research, conception and production of artworks.
Much of her work seeks to close the gap between past and present, drawing on history and playfully interpreting it through the lens of contemporary art to connect with audiences in new and exciting ways.
Pippa is a member of Artists’ Union England and the Royal Society of Sculptors.
Jane Bhoyroo
Principal Keeper, Leeds Art Gallery
Jane is Principal Keeper at Leeds Art Gallery where she has recently curated the exhibitions ‘Feeling Her Way’ by Sonia Boyce and ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ by Peter Mitchell. She was previously the founding Producer for Yorkshire Sculpture International, a unique collaboration between Yorkshire’s leading art institutions – Henry Moore Institute, Leeds Art Gallery, The Hepworth Wakefield and Yorkshire Sculpture Park. She led the project’s development, programme and partnerships. In summer 2021 the artistic programme featured new commissions by leading sculptors from across Yorkshire – Akeelah Bertram, Claye Bowler, Nwando Ebizie and Ashley Holmes, and international commissions with Ariel René Jackson and Shezad Dawood. For the first Yorkshire Sculpture International Festival in 2019 Jane commissioned and curated public realm sculptures by international artists Ayşe Erkmen in Leeds and Huma Bhabha in Wakefield and presented major sculptures by Damien Hirst outdoors in Leeds.
Since moving to Yorkshire in 2010 Jane has curated a major Joseph Beuys exhibition in partnership with Artist Rooms and Tate and led the public programme for British Art Show 8 at Leeds Art Gallery. She was previously Director of S1 Artspace, Sheffield and Sculpture Curator for the Arts Council Collection based at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Between 2004 and 2010 she was Visual Arts Relationship Manager at Arts Council England based in Cambridge.
Jane began her career in London in the mid-1990s at Matt’s Gallery and Anthony Reynolds Gallery working with artists including Leon Golub, Paul Graham, Steve McQueen, Nancy Spero, Georgina Starr, Nobuko Tsuchiya, Walid Raad and Mark Wallinger. She studied on the De Appel Curatorial Programme in Amsterdam (1999-2000) and has an MA in History of Art (Post-War British Art) from The Courtauld Institute of Art.
She is the Chair of Transform Festival in Leeds and a Trustee of originalprojects; in Great Yarmouth.
Professor Griselda Pollock (Chair)
Griselda Pollock is a feminist, postcolonial and social art historian and curator. Professor emerita of Social and Critical Histories of Art at the University of Leeds, she also directed the transdisciplinary Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History (2001-21). In 1992 she developed a dedicated MA in Feminism and the Visual Arts. In 2020 she was awarded the Holberg Prize for her work in feminism and the arts, and the CAA Life-time Achievement Award for Writing on Art in 2023 having received in 2010 CAA Distinguished Feminist Award for Promoting Equality in Art.
Her classic texts are Old Mistresses: Women, Art and Ideology with Rozsika Parker (1981; 4th edition: 2022 Bloomsbury) and Vision and Difference (1988), After-Image/After-Affect: Trauma and Aesthetic Transformation (Manchester University Press, 2013), Charlotte Salomon in the Theatre of Memory (Yale University Press, 2018), Mary Cassatt (Thames & Hudson [new edition in colour] 2022).
Recent publications include Killing Men & Dying Women: Imagining Difference in 1950s New York Painting (Manchester University Press, 2022) and WOMAN IN ART: Helen Rosenau’s ‘Little Book’ of 1944 (Yale University Press, 2023). She has curated several exhibitions on the work of Christine Taylor Patten (London, Leeds and Istanbul) and on Bracha Ettinger (Memory and Migration, London 2009); her most recent is Medium and Memory (HackelBury Fine Art, London, 2023 catalogue available).
She is currently developing a memorial exhibition to the Yorkshire-based artist and University of Leeds lecturer, Judith Tucker, who tragically died in 2023.
Alison Lowe OBE
Alison Lowe is the Deputy Mayor for Police and Crime in West Yorkshire. She started her role in July 2021 and was appointed by the new Metro Mayor, Tracy Brabin, because of her extensive voluntary sector, political and policing experience over a 30+ year period.
Alison worked in the Third Sector for more than 30 years, most recently as Chief Executive of Touchstone, a Mental Health Charity working across West Yorkshire. Touchstone work with and for people that are affected by mental health problems, and they specialise in working with people from different cultural backgrounds. Touchstone have received multiple awards for their work in inclusion and diversity, including the number 1 spot in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 UK Top 50 Most Inclusive Employers Award. They have been a Stonewall Top 100 LGBT-Friendly Employer since 2014 and are again a 3 Star Extraordinary Sunday Times Best Company to work for in 2021. Additionally, Touchstone were judged to be Investors in People Platinum once again at their latest re-assessment (July 2021).
Alison has been involved in local government for 29 years and was a councillor with the Labour Party. Alison was also the Chair of the Police and Crime Panel, the body that scrutinises the performance of the Police and Crime Commissioner and represents the interests of all the 2.3 million people across West Yorkshire. Alison was the Deputy Lord Mayor of Leeds in 2003-4 and was made an Honorary Alderwoman of the city in 2020. In this role, Alison was asked to review Leeds statues following the BLM protests.
Alison is a Non-Executive Director with Leeds Community Health NHS Trust.
Over the years, Alison has been a well-known campaigner on equal rights and chaired the Leeds Domestic Violence Forum that raises awareness of domestic violence against women and children by known men for over 25 years.
Alison Lowe holds an MA in Medieval Studies from Leeds University and a BA in History and was given an Honorary Doctor of Laws in 2022. She was also awarded an OBE in the January 2022 Queen’s Honours List. Alison has 2 grown up children, Adam and Rosy and grandchildren Mae and Oscar.
Useful Information
Date and time: 17 October. 18:30
Location: City Room, Leeds Playhouse
