Contested Bodies

Delve into the work of over 40 contemporary artists from across the gender spectrum.

Explore gender stereotypes, self-representation and shapeshifting through fashion in artworks made in the last ten years in a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, photography and video.   

Challenge your ideas around race, class, objectification, pleasure or desire. Discover strategies of resilience, empowerment, kinship and community building.   

Contested Bodies understands that gender is socially constructed and performed. It is not an innate aspect of someone’s identity. The exhibition attempts to create a space where each artist has the freedom and power to perform gender in a way that feels right to them. The show also aims to drop gender, sexual and racial hierarchies altogether in order to recognise every person’s humanity.    

All the artworks in the exhibition are from the Marcelle Joseph and GIRLPOWER Collections and the show is co-curated by independent curator and collector Marcelle Joseph and Dr Laura Claveria, Exhibitions Curator at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery. Artists include Jonathan Baldock, Jesse Darling, Martine Gutierrez, Sin Wai Kin, Jala Wahid, Alberta Whittle, Gray Wielebinski and Zadie Xa.   

The University of Leeds has also commissioned a new large-scale textile artwork for Parkinson Court from Leeds-based artist and alumnus Tiegan Handley.  

The exhibition is accompanied by a supporting programme of events and a printed catalogue (digital version available here).

• Contested Bodies: After Hours – Thursday 25 January – A jam-packed evening with performances from artists K Walker and Nicky Murmann and an in conversation with Exhibitions Curator Laura Claveria.
• Performing Gender as You See Fit: Contested Bodies Panel – Wednesday 21 February – A delve into the practice of some of the artists represented in our ‘Contested Bodies’ exhibition through a thought-provoking panel discussion chaired by the exhibition’s co-curator and collector Marcelle Joseph.
• Contested Bodies: Curator’s Tour – Friday 15 March – An exclusive curator’s tour of the ‘Contested Bodies’ exhibition programmed as part of the ‘50th Anniversary The First National T.S & T.V Conference’.
• Contested Bodies: In conversation with Tiegan Handley – Friday 15 March – A conversation between GossipGrrrl and Leeds-based artist Tiegan Handley programmed as part of the ‘50th Anniversary The First National T.S & T.V Conference’.

List of participating artists: Larry Achiampong, Rebecca Ackroyd, Nel Aerts, Saelia Aparicio, Jonathan Baldock, Boris Camaca, Eileen Cooper, Leo Costelloe, Coco Crampton, Jesse Darling, Maryam Eisler, Kira Freije, Penny Goring, Martine Gutierrez, Neil Haas, Lisa-Marie Harris, Sam Keelan, Paul Kindersley, Jakob Lena Knebl, Sandra Lane, Jessie Makinson, Richard Malone, Alexi Marshall, Lindsey Mendick, Ad Minoliti, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, Rose Nestler, Sola Olulode, Rithika Pandey, Anna Perach, Amber Pinkerton, Paloma Proudfoot, Zayn Qahtani, Agnes Questionmark, Alicia Reyes McNamara, Devlin Shea, Sin Wai Kin, Tenant of Culture, Jala Wahid, Alberta Whittle, Gray Wielebinski, Caroline Wong and Zadie Xa. 

Coinciding with Contested Bodies, Galleries’ student intern Abs Taylor has selected and reinterpreted a number of artworks from the University of Leeds Art Collection through a Queer and feminist lens. The project aims to provoke conversation and encourage different perspectives within historic and contemporary art. Look out for the lavender labels throughout the permanent collection display in the adjoining galleries.

Image: Alberta Whittle, C.R.E.A.M., 2017 (detail). ©The Artist. Courtesy of the Artist and The Modern Institute/ Toby Webster Ltd., Glasgow.