Wakefield's Empath Action CIC launch Albert Untold project highlighting overlooked Castleford artist Albert Wainwright

A skilled watercolour and gouache artist, in 1920 when he was just 22 he had his first solo show at Leeds Art Gallery. He was also a writer, costume and set designer for theatre, a teacher and, reportedly, served as a camoufleur, creating military camouflage, during the Second World War. He was also a gay man at a time when homosexuality was still illegal.

“We had been looking for a while as a group for a project that would highlight an LGBTQIA+ person,” says Steven Busfield, co-founder and co-director with Joanne Broadhead of Empath Action. “I found some books about Albert Wainwright, we starting talking about him and the project grew from there. We realised pretty quickly that he was a very interesting man whose life had spanned both World Wars and he had spent some time in Germany before the Second the World War. The more we looked into his life, the more we realised that outside of art circles, nobody had really heard of Albert very much. And we are interested in highlighting these hidden stories that are really part of the fabric of Wakefield.”

Busfield and Broadhead have begun work delving deeper into Wainwright’s story alongside researchers on the project, Helga Fox and Helen Wilby. “We have worked together before on other projects, such as the Forgotten Women of Wakefield – there are so many stories that have fallen out of, or been erased from, the narrative.”

The team will be visiting key venues in the district connected with Wainwright including the museum services who have acquired some items of Wainwright’s including sketchbooks and The Hepworth Wakefield who hold the largest public collection of the artist’s work as well as a number of his letters. The plan is to eventually pull together several months of research and publish a zine based on all the information gathered which will be distributed through the libraries service, another partner on the project.

Empath Action CIC will be facilitating engagement workshops on Peasant Pottery and gouache, both mediums that Albert worked in. In development too is a stage play which Busfield is writing in collaboration with acclaimed Leeds theatre company Red Ladder. “It is a dream to work with Red Ladder and they have been so kind in their support so far,” says Busfield. “Hopefully the play will show what a fascinating person Wainwright was and it will also highlight the role that his teacher Alice Gostick played.” It was Gostick who persuaded Wainwright’s father to allow him to study at Leeds College of Art – his parents had wanted him to train as an engineer believing that art would not offer him a secure career and income. “The zine publication and the debut of the stage play will take place in February next year to coincide with LGBTQIA+ History Month and we will also be unveiling a blue plaque to Albert’s life and work,” says Busfield. “We quite literally wanted to put Albert on Wakefield’s cultural map with a permanent landmark.”

Busfield and Broadhead founded Empath Action CIC in 2021 with the mission of helping the people of Wakefield and surrounding areas to tell their stories, using the arts to “embolden, uplift, educate and inspire.” It grew out of a desire to support fellow artists in the wake of the pandemic. “We knew lots of actors who had qualified during the pandemic and whose careers were on hold, so we thought we could at least do a few short plays and apply for some grants. We were very successful with that very quickly.” In a short space of time they have put on several workshops and touring stage productions. “We are really about using the performing arts as a way to reach people and giving them a place to express themselves creatively either as a hobby or as a professional opportunity.”