Benaiah Matheson: Town Island

Town Island by Huddersfield-based visual artist Benaiah Matheson, is a multidisciplinary exhibition exploring the cultural and historical connections between Carriacou, Grenada, and Huddersfield, UK, drawing on the 1950s migration of Carriacou’s people to Britain.

Following its debut at the 2024 Venice Biennale, the exhibition now arrives in Huddersfield, providing audiences with a unique opportunity to engage and experience these visionary artworks.

Through textiles, sculpture, video, and painting, Matheson examines themes of place, migration, identity, and belonging. Building on cultural connections, Matheson has been able to develop his practice and engage with local communities in Huddersfield, UK and Carriacou, Grenada, through a series of research workshops.

These workshops focused on constructing a “story bridge” between the past and what the future holds for both islands, weaving together personal and collective narratives from these intertwined histories. Key themes include the history of windrush, migration, culture and recently the environmental and community devastation caused by hurricane Beryl in the Caribbean earlier this summer.

As part of the University of Huddersfield, Cultures of Climate annual iteration and following its debut in Venice, between 25 January 2025 and 22 March 2025, audiences are invited to the Sovereign Design Galleries and Toast House Café to experience the exhibition of Town Island. To celebrate the launch, audiences are also invited to the launch of this exciting exhibition on the 25 January, 3–7pm.

Reflecting on the project, Beniah Matheson said:

“My artistic practice and this exhibition, introduced under the name Town Island, reflects the duality of my identity and artistic philosophy. Born and raised in Huddersfield, UK, I’m also deeply connected to the island of Carriacou, Grenada through my heritage and culture; my work explores the duality interplay between town and island.

The work highlights the 80-year presence of the Carriacou community in Huddersfield, the largest in the UK, fostering pride and uncovering shared histories which make up a significant part of the town’s multicultural fabric and collective. Weaving community voices with materials has become a strong part of my practice.

Another significant layer of this project and The Cultures of Climate aspect to me, is the environmental connection between these locations. The devastating impact of Hurricane Beryl, which decimated 90% of homes and buildings in Carriacou in 2024, resonates with recurrence of strong storms we now see here in our region. For example the impact of Storm Bert in 2024 which left our neighbouring town Hebden Bridge submerged.

Viewers are invited to explore, reflect and interpret the pieces through their own lens with these communities and climate narratives at the heart and focus.” 

Yorkshire Contemporary’s relationship with artist Benaiah Matheson began in 2021 when he was selected as one of four artists as part of The Tetley Associate Artist Programme. During the year-long tailored programme, Matheson took residence in the Artist’s Studio at The Tetley. At the end of his residency he opened his studio to the public where he first showed the tapestries now shown in Town Island.

In 2022, we partnered with Matheson again to support his Venice Biennale presentation, securing funds from the British Council Biennials Connect grant which enabled us to explore partnerships in the Caribbean and enable the creation of Matheson’s work. Our Exhibitions and Artist Development Curator, Georgia Taylor Aguilar, accompanied Matheson to Grenada where he was in residence at Art House 473. During this visit he also worked with students at T.A. Marryshow Community College to co-produce the ‘flags’ for the Biennale. They used locally sourced charcoal as well as ‘pomegranate leaf brown’, ‘sorrel red’, ‘turmeric yellow’ pigments and explored different kinds of mark-making. These responses were weaved together to form the flags presented both in Venice and at Town Island. 

Bryony Bond, Former Director of Yorkshire Contemporary: 

“It has been an honour to support Benaiah’s multifaceted and generous practice over this period of time and see him benefit from the exposure of the most celebrated international art gathering at the Venice Biennale. His work exploring the rich relationship between a Caribbean island and a Northern English Town has brought out the complexities, commonalities and differences between these two specific places, but also talks about how identity can be shaped, understood and celebrated. It is a great pleasure to be able to support Benaiah, and work in partnership with the University of Huddersfield to bring this work to Huddersfield, not only his hometown but a source of great pride and inspiration.  

I would like to thank the support of the British Council and our continuing support from Arts Council England, that has made this project possible.”

To discover more about Benaiah Mathesons work – you can visit benaiahmatheson.com.

Town Island is delivered in partnership with Yorkshire Contemporary, The University of Huddersfield (Arts & Humanities), Huddersfield Art Gallery, Kirklees Council, Cultures of Creative Health and Cultures of Climate. 

This project is supported by Yorkshire Contemporary through the British Council’s Biennials Connect Grants programme.

About the British Council
The British Council is the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educationalcopportunities. We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trustcbetween people in the UK and countries worldwide. We do this through our work in arts and culture,education and the English language. We work with people in over 200 countries and territories and arecon the ground in more than 100 countries. In 2021–22 we reached 650 million people.

Town Island is funded by the UK Government, the British Council and Arts Council England.