Explore the fantastic work of emerging artists and Leeds Arts University students, Erika Pearse and Hollie Wilson, in the top floor of the Ridings Shopping Centre. This exhibition is on for a very limited time so plan your visit today!
Through installation, Pearse and Wilson explore the body as a dystopian-ecosystem, where the body is both recognisable and not. Cold and uninviting. A body, but no body.
Together, they have created collaborative sculptures varying in scale combining a range of materials. Latex sheets lie on the floor, spilled amongst the ground’s dirt. Metal rods will tower overhead, suspending abnormal growth-like objects at seven foot tall. The growths will be like tumours, bursting at the seams. They are unwelcome but have invaded the space.
Bodily-like entrails made from ambiguous-looking materials, including textiles, also corrupt the floor. The ecosystem is balanced with a consistent sense of unease.
Find Pearse and Wilson’s work in unit 102 Cathedral Walk in the Ridings. This exhibition will launch at 17:00 during Artwalk, Wakefield’s iconic bi-monthly evening culture, and remain open from Thursday 1 June–Saturday 3 June, 12:00–16:00.
About the artists
Erika Pearse and Hollie Wilson are multimedia sculptors in their second year studying BA (Hons) Fine Art at Leeds Arts University. Collectively, they share thematic interests in the body, materiality, and a haunting sense of loss.
Hollie Wilson explores the functionality of materials and her own body. Their practice is rooted in creating a sense of absence that cannot be retrieved, questioning the reality of their body’s ability to function.
While Erika Pearse explores the body as an emotive vessel, able to express sexuality, anger, delicacy and displacement. Sometimes seriously, sometimes humorously.
Together, they are both hyper-aware of the bodies they inhabit, exploring emotions, whilst encapsulating and transcending the reality of what it means to live within ourselves.
