Silent Echoes, Spoken Truths: Curtis Holder

8 Nov 2024-13 Apr 2025

Seki, 2024, Coloured pencil on paper. Credit: Courtesy the artist

Overview

Leeds Art Gallery presents an exhibition of new works on paper by Curtis Holder following an 18-month artist residency at the Gallery.

The show documents Holder's immersion into the life of the Gallery, exploring the collection, forming bonds with the people he has met, with a particular focus on the connection he made with eight individuals based in Leeds and whose portraits he has drawn.

The title of the exhibition reflects the deep - yet often unspoken or overlooked past histories and emotions of people of the Global Majority in Leeds. It highlights the process of bringing their voices to light with the sharing and revealing of personal stories through dialogue and drawing. The new large-scale drawings by Holder are accompanied by personal responses from sitters. They are also displayed alongside works from the collection that have interested and intrigued the sitters; works they felt emotional towards or saw themselves reflected within.

Curtis Holder is a London-based artist who works in graphite and coloured pencil to create large-scale portraits and figurative works on paper. In 2020, he achieved widespread recognition by winning the prestigious Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year competition.

Curtis Holder was appointed artist-in-residence at Leeds Art Gallery as part of 20/20 - an ambitious three-year programme by the Decolonising Arts Institute with funding from Freelands Foundation, Arts Council England and University of the Arts London. Combining artist residencies with artistic commissioning at scale, 20/20 brings together 20 emerging artists of colour with 20 UK public art collections, leading to 20 permanent acquisitions.