The Art House (TAH) is thrilled to announce its Spring/Summer 2025 programme, featuring a dynamic series of exhibitions and events that celebrate inclusivity and creativity whilst fostering meaningful connections between artists and visitors.
This programme is a rich and evocative season that celebrates shared histories, bold voices, and the power of identity, including:
The solo exhibition Untouchable Utopia by Manish Harijan, bursting with bold colour and energy. Harijan fuses traditional Nepali art, Pop culture and religious iconography to challenge ‘caste’ discrimination and reclaim space for marginalised voices. Running alongside is Portraits in Silence: The Symbolism of Identity by artist Christopher Hanson who creates an intimate and contemplative atmosphere using classical portraiture. Hanson’s realistic large-scale paintings sit on a backdrop of painted walls and velvet drapes, featuring Black and Brown sitters, who have historically been often excluded from traditional portrait painting. Both these Spring exhibitions resonate with a shared urgency – amplifying voices that challenge who and what can be represented in contemporary and classical painting, whilst inviting audiences to reflect on belonging, identity and representation.
In May, TAH continues our partnership with the Royal Society of Sculptors, showcasing The Gilbert Bayes Award: The 2024 Winners Exhibition. Bringing together some of the most exciting early-career artists working in 3D production, the exhibition offers an insight into contemporary sculpture today – on display in Wakefield; a place with a renowned reputation as the City of Sculpture. Artists include: artists: Chris Thompson, Elinor Haynes, Euphrosyne Andrews, Jack Evans, Kishwar Kiani, Laura Hills, Laura Ni Fhlaibhin, Maria Positano, Melania Toma, and Rong Bao.
Our summer highlights include a new solo exhibition by Charlotte Smithson, exploring the powerful connection between people, place, and nature. Opening on the Summer Solstice in June, this project is inspired by her grandfather – a Wakefield-born resident who left a legacy of cherry tree planting in the city 70 years ago. Smithson invites us to consider how memories and emotions are tied to the spaces and landscapes we inhabit. At the project’s heart is a new large-scale hanging botanical sculpture – a living, evolving installation showcasing locally grown plants, flowers, and tree specimens – that will transform the gallery into a sensory, immersive experience. At the end of the exhibition elements from the installation will form part of a tree-planting initiative, becoming part of the city’s future green spaces.
Hidden brings together UK-Cambodia photographer Charles Fox and dancer Prum Sisaphantha (Pantha) in a powerful collaborative project delving into themes of memory, survival, and identity. Rooted in Pantha’s journey through the Khmer Rouge era – a radical communist movement that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 – the project reveals a remarkable act of preservation: over 90 family photos, carried as hidden negatives in the seams of her dress. The exhibition will share Pantha’s story through these long-concealed fragments, photography, and objects
TAH is committed to supporting and promoting the practices of emerging artists. This summer we welcome Tonye Ekine, whose much-anticipated solo exhibition opens in September. Known for blending the iconography of the Ife bronze mask with contemporary issues of identity and heritage, Ekine returns following his 2024 micro-residency to unveil a bold new body of work that expands his practice.
A Summer of Solidarity
This summer, TAH continues to celebrate community, creativity, and connection through our events programme. These include Refugee Week Celebration Day 2025 on June 21, featuring free family activities, and shared stories of welcome and resilience. Visitors can also enjoy new sensational flavours with our Corarima Pop-Up Takeover in the café.
Drop by for Printing for Pride, a free workshop on 2 August celebrating LGBTQIA+ voices through printmaking, creating colourful banners in preparation for Wakefield’s Pride that same weekend! And don’t miss our spring and summer Talk and Draw sessions, our relaxed Friday meet-ups where conversation and creativity bring people from all walks of life, closer together in Wakefield to help support a more cohesive community.
This spring, don’t miss the return of our beloved CRAFTED Makers Market on 26 April – a curated celebration of Yorkshire’s finest and inspiring creatives showcasing unique ceramics, textiles, jewellery, and prints. That same day, step behind the scenes during Open Studios, where our historic Grade II listed former Carnegie Library, and family of Studio Holders open their doors to the public. For print lovers, we’re excited to be launching PRINTED – a brand new independent market dedicated to zines, editions, and all things paper on 30 August!
For our heritage and history lovers: celebrate Heritage Open Days with us on 13 & 20 September, as we open up our 118-year-old former Carnegie Library for special tours and host free activities!
Residency Programme
Our Summer Residency Programme welcomes an exciting trio of artists pushing boundaries through vital and thought-provoking work.
Terence Birch confronts chronic illness and disability through his powerful work exploring societal barriers and the body’s limitations and aesthetic prejudice. Our international residencies include Behnaz Fatemi and Geovanni Barrios. Miami-born Geovanni Barrios is a who weaves together the evolution of American masculinity, queerness, and identity through personal and cultural history. Behnaz Fatemi, an Iranian-born artist based in Canada, creates deeply moving work across drawing, sculpture, and installation – unpacking themes of immigration, displacement, and lived experience under oppressive regimes.
Our residency artists bring urgent, deeply personal perspectives to the programme, each creating space for stories that need to be seen and heard.
Damon Jackson-Waldock, Co-Executive Director at The Art House, says “At The Art House, we’re proud to champion artists whose work challenges, inspires, and connects. This season, we’re spotlighting powerful personal and collective narratives – from the intimate to the political – through painting, sculpture, photography, and installation. It’s a privilege to work with such diverse and urgent voices, from early-career sculptors and talented artists”
For further information on The Art House Wakefield’s 2025 artistic and events programme, visit: https://the-arthouse.org.uk/
Manish Harijan: Untouchable Utopia
1 March 2025–24 April 2025
Christopher Hanson: Portraits in Silence – The Symbolism of Identity
8 March 2025 – 10 May 2025
The Royal Society of Sculptors: The 2024 Gilbert Bayes Awardees
3 May 2025 – 07 June 2025
Charlotte Smithson
21 June 2025 – 24 August 2025
Charles Fox and Prum Sisaphantha: Hidden
28 June 2025 – 16 August 2025
Tonye Ekine
6 September 2025 – 6 November 2025
Manish Harijan: Untouchable Utopia
1 March 2025–24 April 2025
Christopher Hanson: Portraits in Silence – The Symbolism of Identity
8 March 2025 – 10 May 2025
The Royal Society of Sculptors: The 2024 Gilbert Bayes Awardees
3 May 2025 – 07 June 2025
Charlotte Smithson
21 June 2025 – 24 August 2025
Charles Fox and Prum Sisaphantha: Hidden
28 June 2025 – 16 August 2025
Tonye Ekine
6 September 2025 – 6 November 2025