Major new exhibition of international award-winning show from Sonia Boyce at Leeds Art Gallery

“Last year we were in discussions with Sonia and she was very keen that the show should be here in the North of England,” says Jane Bhoyroo, principal keeper at Leeds Art Gallery. “We have shown Sonia’s work here in the gallery before, and she has a strong connection with Leeds. The British Council was keen to bring it here too and another reason Sonia chose Leeds is because of the vibrant music scene here in the city.”

The five musicians celebrated in the exhibition – jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth, young singer-songwriter Poppy Ajudha, Swedish experimental singer Sofia Jernberg, pop/folk singer-songwriter Tanita Tikaram and composer Errollyn Wallen – were all brought together by Boyce at London’s famous Abbey Road Studios and at Atlantis Studios in Stockholm. The women’s voices are at the centre of the show which combines video, collage, music and sculpture – and the whole piece ties in with Boyce’s often collaborative and performative creative practice.

“The project began during the Covid pandemic, so Sonia initially brought everyone together on Zoom,” says Bhoyroo. “None of the women had ever actually met in person until their recording session at Abbey Road studios towards the end of Covid times; the composer Errollyn Wallen was brought in to give them some guidance.”

Boyce didn’t ‘direct’ the women but she gave them a brief which they could respond to in any way they liked. “There is a lot of free expression and improvisation,” says Bhoyroo. “Sonia asked them to think about what it meant to them to feel free to express themselves. Each of the singers has their own moment within the installation. Poppy Ajudha had never sung unaccompanied before and for Tanita Tikaram it was her first vocal improvisation – so it is impressive for these well-known singers to be so brave and playful. Sonia created a safe space for that to happen – and the result is really powerful.”

The exhibition, which is part of Leeds 2023 the city’s year of culture, expands on Boyce’s own Devotional Collection, an ever-growing archive begun in 1999, which honours the contribution of Black British female musicians to international culture. A selection of items collected over six months in 2021 is on display in the show including album covers, CDs, cassette tapes and singles, all in their original packaging. There are also screen-printed portraits of Ajudha, Dankworth, Jernberg, Tikaram and Wallen.

For its run at Leeds Art Gallery, Feeling Her Way has been reconfigured, with a previously unused space in the gallery being opened up to accommodate it. “It is such an experiential exhibition,” says Bhoyroo. “As well as sculpture, photography, video, it also features the signature tessellating wallpaper which has been present throughout Sonia’s work. That surrounds most of the environment in the exhibition. As soon as you come in, we have the Devotional golden wallpaper which creates these amazing reflections in the space. And the sound – you feel like you are walking into an amazing cacophony of sound.”

The response to the exhibition so far has been very positive. “I think people have found it very moving,” says Bhoyroo. “Visitors have been sitting down and really spending time, watching, listening and looking at the different elements of the exhibition. When the show won the Golden Lion award in Venice, I was so pleased – I felt it was a deserved win because it was such a collaborative project. In those difficult times, Sonia built something that enabled those musicians to come together – it is a very generous way of working.”

Sonia Boyce: Feeling Her Way is at Leeds Art Gallery until November 5. Free entry. Sonia Boyce and Jacqui Dankworth will be in conversation at the Howard Assembly Room on October 5, followed by a concert by Dankworth and the Carducci Quartet.