Contested Bodies: After Hours

Join us for a scintillating after hours event with performances from artists K Walker and Nicky Murmann and an in conversation with Exhibitions Curator Laura Claveria.

Explore further some of the themes in our latest exhibition, ‘Contested Bodies’, at this jam-packed event.

The evening will begin with performances by Leeds-based artists K Walker and Nicky Murmann exploring issues of gender and queerness in their work.

K Walker will present ‘Testicular', a new performance around illness and body dysphoria. Drawing on the artist’s own experiences of having had a tumour removed due to testicular cancer, Walker will explore humorously how their young queer body found their own way of rejecting gender societal expectations and norms.

Performed in Leeds for the first time, Nicky Murmann will present ‘One-human show’, a performance that combines story-telling and stand-up comedy. Murmann will share their experiences of daily life, sex, gender and dating as a queer, trans-masculine, non-binary, autistic, disabled person living with chronic illness with equal doses of humour and care.

The performances will be followed by an in conversation between the artists and the co-curator of ‘Contested Bodies’, Laura Claveria.

Adult Content Warning: Please note the event will contain allusions to sexual activity and health-related issues.   

Artist Biographies

K Walker is a visual artist working across the intersection of sculpture, fashion, costume, performance, poetry and drawing. Their work focuses on the themes of queer identity, the body, dysphoria, fantasy, sensuality and illness. Walker studied a foundation at Leeds Arts University before going on to study fashion design in London. After returning to Yorkshire in 2019, Walker now bases their practice in Leeds.

Most recently, Walker has had solo shows at Village Books (I'M SCARED OF CHOCOLATE BARS, 2022) and Screw Gallery (Shrine to The Other Woman, 2022) as well as two video works (Seven Devils, 2021 and The Tower, 2021) shown in the Leeds Artists Show 2023.

Nicky Murmann was born in 1983 in Lausanne (Switzerland) and has been living and working in Leeds since 2016. They achieved a BA and an MA in Fine Art in Switzerland in 2014. In 2018, they achieved an MA in Performance Art at Leeds Beckett University. They are active in two collectives: DISrupt and Queerology and is a studio holder at CLAY, in Leeds.

They create safe environments in private, public or art spaces in order to facilitate conversations and storytelling. They embrace the power of vulnerability and intimacy to link humans in different kinds of dialogue – through active listening, perhaps, or through the sharing of opinions. Their working process combines a variety of media – including text, sound, and visual material – to produce performances, sound pieces, or videos.