An afternoon of talks from the artists in the exhibition 'What Remains'.

This event will bring together some of the exhibiting artists for an afternoon exploring some of the questions posed by their work in What Remains (https://www.murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk/womens-art-collection/exhibition/what-remains). Through artist talks and a concluding discussion and Q&A with Linsey Young, the artists will reflect on the ways archives, family photographs, magazines, textiles, oral histories and community collections continue to shape their artistic practice today.

The event will be live-streamed and recorded.

Event Schedule

1:00–1:45 Exhibition tour with curator Laura Moseley

2:00–2:25 Artist talk by Ellen Lesperance

2:25–2:50 Artist talk by Ebun Sodipo

2:50–3:10 Refreshments

3:10–3:35 Artist talk by Lorna Hamilton-Brown

3:35–4:15 Conversation with all speakers, moderated by Linsey Young

This event forms part of our wider programme for the exhibition What Remains (https://www.murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk/womens-art-collection/exhibition/what-remains).

This event warmly welcomes members of the general public as well as students, researchers and academics.

Speakers

Ellen Lesperance

Ellen Lesperance (b. 1971, Minneapolis, USA) lives and works in Eugene, USA. She has exhibited widely in the United States and internationally. Lesperance employs the visual language of knitting patterns in order to pay homage to female activism. Inspired by actions of protest that have shaped the twentieth century such as the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp, the artist sources archival images of protesters’ hand-knitted garments which she first translates into American Symbolcraft, before turning them into meticulous gouache paintings on paper.

Ebun Sodipo

Ebun Sodipo makes work for black trans people of the future. Guided by black feminist study, with a methodology of collage and fabulation, her work locates and produces real and imaginable narratives of black trans women’s presence, embodiment, and interiority across the past, present and future. In doing this, Sodipo fills in historical gaps to create moments of archival pleasure for black trans people. This work takes place across multiple spaces: galleries, festivals, theater, digital, and print; in varied forms such as sound, performance, text, installation, video, and sculpture.

Sodipo’s work has been shown, read, watched, and performed at Frieze London, Cubitt, 198 Contemporary Arts and Learning, Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, Narrative Projects, Raven Row, The Block Museum of Art, SHOWStudio, South London Gallery, Arcadia Missa’s ‘How To Sleep Faster,’ Auto Italia, Institute for Contemporary Arts, Tate Britain, Text zur Kunst, Bergen Kunsthall, Wasafiri, Glasgow Centre for Contemporary Arts, and Camden Arts Centre.

Lorna Hamilton-Brown

Lorna Hamilton-Brown MBE is a textile artist and designer based on the south coast of England. Her MA thesis “Myth: Black People Don’t Knit: the importance of art and oral histories for documenting the experiences of Black knitters” is considered one of the most influential and critical pieces of work in challenging racism and lack of diversity in the knit and crochet community. She also works as a speaker, for example at London College of Fashion, the Surface Design Association and Vogue Knitting, where she is also a member of their Diversity Advisory Council. She has exhibited her work most recently at We Gather (Crafts Council 2021–22) and We Out Here (Hastings Contemporary Citation2023 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14759756.2025.2509202#)).

Linsey Young

Linsey Young is a curator and writer. Between 2016 - 2024 she held the position of Curator British Contemporary Art at Tate. In this role she delivered commissions with artists such as Pablo Bronstein and Anthea Hamilton and was lead curator of the Turner Prize in 2016, 2018 and 2024. In 2019 during a sabbatical from Tate she commissioned and curated Charlie Prodger's presentation at the Venice Biennale. In 2023 she curated the major exhibition and publication project "Women In Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990" at Tate Britain (touring to the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh until January 2025 and The Whitworth Manchester (March - June 2025). The first of its kind, the exhibition is a wide-ranging exploration of feminist art by over 100 women artists working in the UK. Young began a LAHP funded PhD at the Royal College of Art focused on feminist art practice in September 2024.

Access Information - At a glance

The room for the talks and the exhibition is wheelchair accessible.

There are folding stools, benches and a large print guide in the exhibition.

Refreshments will include a variety of dietary options.

Read our Access page (https://www.murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk/womens-art-collection/access) to find out more about our spaces. Please get in touch if you have any further queries or requirements: womensart@murrayedwards.cam.ac.uk or call the Porter's Lodge at +44

Description supplied by the event organiser.