Leeds University Library Galleries

03/06/2026

“Inside was a Garden of Colour… Rolled in paint and put to paper with the same disregard for human order as would befit nature herself”

In December, we invited STAR society (Student Action for Refugees) to visit our exhibition ‘In Touch, with Nature’, co-curated with a group of Leeds women.🌿

We commissioned students to produce an artistic response to the exhibition and discuss what it meant to them. STAR society member Will wrote a thoughtful poetic reflection. Will flits between the Yorkshire grey and the technicolour world discovered when one pays closer attention to the natural world. 🌬️

You can read the full piece on our blog via the link in bio. 🔗

STAR provides volunteering, campaigning and fundraising opportunities in support of refugees, with the aim to spread awareness, gain support and create change.⭐

In Touch, With Nature was part of our Welcoming Migrants programme, run in partnership with Leeds Asylum Seeker Support Network and supported by textile artist Ranya Abdulateef.

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29/05/2026

Tracing Q***r Pasts, Imagining Q***r Futures 🏳️‍🌈 🔍

We’re looking back at our LGBTQ+ intern Leyao’s last workshop. The workshop was on Q***r possibilities in the archives at Cultural Collections & Galleries. Leyao’s written two new posts for the blog reflecting on the workshop which you can read via the link in bio. 🔗

If you’re intrigued and want to learn more, book a free ticket to Leyao’s next event to reflect on and reimagine the telling of Q***r histories via the link in bio. ✨

Using archival examples, Leyao will trace LGBTQIA+ histories represented in our collections. We'll reflect on themes such as LGBTQIA+ activism, changing terminology, and intersectionality. ☿️ 🏳️‍⚧️ 🩷🧡🤍

Our annual LGBTQ+ Internships have been running since 2021. During the event, Leyao will introduce you to the work undertaken in their internship project. They aim to raise the visibility of Q***r narratives within Cultural Collections. 💗

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***rArchives

📷 Photo from the University Archives showing GaySoc at Societies Fair. LUA/PHC/009/53.

📷 Leeds Student, issue 74, 25/01/1974. LUA/PUB/002/LS/79

📷 Gay Leeds Leaflet, LUA/STU/002/E/2.

📷 Photograph album relating to concert parties (nd), LIDDLE/WW1/SAL/021.

📷 Feedback Magazine, Thursday March 3rd, 1977, LUA/SU/002/D/2.

📷 Feedback Magazine, Vol.22, Issue 3, Monday 14th May 1984, LUA/SU/002/D/2.

📷 Feedback Magazine, 12th – 18th October 1992, LUA/SU/002/D/2.

28/05/2026

“This wasn’t an exhibition of ‘working-class art’, but an attempt to reframe working-class experience by utilising a gaze from within, bringing together a plurality of working-class voices”.

Following on from our episode on the making of [uz], [uz], [uz] a couple of weeks ago, this week’s instalment of our Curating Class podcast offers a curator’s-eye view of an earlier, hugely acclaimed exhibition.

Samantha Manton tells us about the decisions she made – consciously and unconsciously – in initiating and putting together ‘Lives Less Ordinary: Working-Class Britain Re-seen' at Two Temple Place in 2025.

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts, or via Gloves Off at the link in bio.

Co-produced by University of Leeds Cultural Collections & Galleries and the Working Class British Art Network.

📷 Lives Less Ordinary: Working-Class Britain Re-seen on display at Two Temple Place, 25 January – 20 April 2025. Photo: Richard Eaton.

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26/05/2026

A reminder that we're still closed today!

Yep that's right, we get an extra day off for the bank holiday weekend. Lucky us!

But lucky for you, we'll be back open as usual from tomorrow, Wednesday 27 May.

25/05/2026

We hope you are enjoying a lovely Bank Holiday weekend!

What better way to spend your afternoon than doing a on your day off? Find some peace in this Yorkshire Farm🌻 https://www.jigsawplanet.com/LULGalleries

📷️ Percy Hague Jowett, A Yorkshire Farm, c.1925. LEEUA 2008.003

22/05/2026

Heads up for the bank holiday weekend!

We'll be closed Monday 25 and Tuesday 26 May (though you can still enjoy the sunshine with an explore of the Public Art around campus!)

The Brotherton Research Centre and both our Galleries be back open as usual from Wednesday 27 May.

22/05/2026

Explore LGBTQIA+ histories this Pride Month through the archives at Cultural Collections & Galleries.

Tracing Q***r Pasts: Imagining Q***r Futures
Wednesday 3 June, 17:30 - 18:30
Online. Free.
🎟️ https://library.leeds.ac.uk/events/event/1900/galleries/1033/tracing-queer-pasts-imagining-queer-futures

Hosted by LGBTQ+ Project Intern Leyao Ling, this online event invites you to reflect on and reimagine the telling of Q***r histories. Using archival examples, Leyao will trace LGBTQIA+ histories represented in our collections. We'll reflect on themes such as LGBTQIA+ activism, changing terminology, and intersectionality.

21/05/2026

21/05/2026

How can curating become class-conscious?

In the latest podcast in our Curating Class series, Beth Hughes, curator, researcher and founder of the Working Class British Art Network, shares her experiences of institutional and curatorial class bias, and her own sense of responsibility for changing how class is represented in collections and exhibitions.

Tune in wherever you get your podcasts, or via Gloves Off at the link in bio.

And stay tuned for more episodes to coincide with the final weeks of [uz], [uz], [uz]: Artists from Working-Class Backgrounds in The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery.

Co-produced by University of Leeds Cultural Collections & Galleries and the Working Class British Art Network.

📷 Beth Hughes in Conversation with Joe Tucker, Manchester International Festival, 2025
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