UNEARTHING(S) is Hannah Catherine Jones’ largest solo exhibition to date, and the first in her home county. The site-specific installation responds to Leeds Art Gallery’s distinctive Central Court.
Artist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Jones is known for her use of performance, layered soundscapes and sculptural interventions to conjure other-worldly installations. Jones’ work focuses on questions of decolonisation, seeking to disrupt the status quo, (re)centre marginalised voices and create space for collective healing.
UNEARTHING(S) explores individual and collective themes of grief and regeneration. Considering the personal and cultural loss we experience across space and time, the exhibition draws upon the artist’s own history and experience growing up as part of the region’s Caribbean diaspora.
Riffing off the Central Court’s chapel-like architecture, Jones proposes to create space for contemplation by using combinations of sculpture, light and sound. UNEARTHING(S) references and samples Yorkshire and Bajan culture, filtered through Jones’ unique artistic style, infused with subtle mixtures of poignancy and subversion.
The exhibition will open alongside Arp: The Plasters and Garth Evans: The Anti-Virus Sculptures as part of Leeds Art Gallery’s Summer of Sculpture.
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UNEARTHING(S) is commissioned by Yorkshire Contemporary in partnership with Leeds Art Gallery. It is funded by Arts Council England, Henry Moore Foundation and a Research Support Award from Goldsmiths, University of London.
The exhibition also forms part of the Leeds 400 celebrations in 2026. Leeds 400 is a year-long celebration marking 400 years since Leeds was granted its charter in 1626. It’s an opportunity to reflect on the city’s rich history, celebrate its culture and communities, and look forward to its future.
Artist biography
Hannah Catherine Jones (aka foxymoron) is a Doncaster-born, Bajan-diasporic, London-based artist, researcher, multi-instrumentalist, broadcaster/DJ (BBC Radio/TV, NTS – The Opera Show), composer, conductor, and founder and creative director of the Peckham Chamber Orchestra and Chiron Choir.
Jones uses sound and sculpture to conjure transcendental installations. Her soundscapes are created by layering vocals, samples, as well as electronic and traditional instruments, to transport audiences via experiential sonic interventions. Jones completed her AHRC DPhil scholarship at Oxford University in 2021 for which the ongoing body of work The Oweds was presented as a series of live and recorded, broadcast, audio-visual episode-compositions, using disruptive sound as a methodology of institutional decolonisation.
Jones has performed, exhibited and lectured widely including: Barbican Centre, National Gallery, Southbank Centre, Institute of Contemporary Arts, V&A, Oxford University, Trinity Laban, Cafe Oto, Nottingham Contemporary and Britten Pears Arts (UK); Ocean Space (IT); ECAL (CH); Sandberg Institute (NL); University of Bayreuth (GER); Beirut Art Centre (LEBN); Oi h Futuro (BR); Eyethu Centre (SA); New York University and Harvard University (U.S.); NIRIN: 22nd Biennial of Sydney and Liquid Architecture (AUS); Wonderfruit (TH); among others.
About Leeds Art Gallery
Founded in 1888 as a civic art gallery, Leeds Art Gallery has strong collections of 19th and 20th century British painting and sculpture, widely considered to be one of the best outside national collections. Alongside an extensive painting and sculpture collection, the gallery holds a significant collection of moving-image work. To accompany the collection Leeds Art Gallery presents a dynamic and diverse programme comprising exhibitions, commissions, acquisitions and projects by artists whose work is globally significant and locally relevant. In recent years, Leeds Art Gallery has launched British Art Show 8, established Yorkshire Sculpture International, presented Sonia Boyce’s award-winning Feeling Her Way from the Venice Biennale and has co-commissioned major moving-image works.
