Exhibition
Fragment and Form: Emii Alrai, Mónica Mays, Dominique White
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Free Entry

Free Entry
The relationship between history, myth and materiality has been a central concern throughout the evolution of sculpture.
From the enduring qualities of marble in classical depictions to the use of industrial and found materials more recently, sculptors have chosen materials not merely for their physical properties, but for their ability to deepen meaning and embody cultural, political, and spiritual narratives.
Fragment and Form will continue the dialogue between history and materiality in sculpture through the work of three contemporary artists: Emii Alrai, Mónica Mays and Dominique White.
While distinct, the work of each artist converges in the exploration of heritage, displacement and the ways in which personal and collective histories are preserved, marginalised and contested through materiality.
The notion of history being both formed and fragmented resonates throughout the exhibition, finding parity in the artists’ material choices which so often serve as a metaphor for the complexities of representing history itself.
About the artists
Emii Alrai
Emii Alrai (b.1993) is a British-Iraqi artist whose work delves into themes of heritage, nostalgia, and the colonial legacy of looted artefacts.
Through large scale sculptural installations that mimic archaeological ruins and ancient monuments, she reimagines museum objects using plaster, clay and metal. These forged artefacts are often presented as decaying and deteriorating through her material explorations of forgery.
Through these installations, Alrai critically examines museum curation and the romanticised ways histories are told and displayed.

Mónica Mays
Mónica Mays (b.1990) is a multidisciplinary artist whose sculptural installations bring together found objects and organic materials to explore the entangled forces of care, labour and control.
Her suspended forms combine charred ceramics, vellum and beeswax with factory debris, school furniture and obsolete domestic fragments, often evoking a sense of bodily vulnerability. These materials reference combustion, regulation and extractive labour, whether through the exploitation of bodies or the commodification of nature.
Across her practice, Mays explores how experiences of intimacy and attention are shaped by wider systems of power, bringing the personal into contact with broader social and political forces.

Dominique White
Dominique White (b.1993) is a British artist whose sculpture and installation work explores diaspora, Black identity and Afrofuturism.
Drawing on myth, history and speculative fiction, she creates sculptures resembling remnants of a sunken world, using materials such as rope, metal, palm fronds and shells. Typically weathered or corroded, her materials mirror tools of the nation-state, symbolising resilience as well as the deterioration of systems of power.
White’s work speaks to abolitionist ideals, linking the destruction of oppressive systems to new possibilities. Her sculptures reference the Middle Passage, bridging themes of survival, rebirth and shifting identities, while harnessing a concern for materiality to symbolise both decay and transformation, ultimately pointing to a reimagined, liberated future.

Events

Drop-in workshop
Towering Textures: Playful Mixed Media Sculpture Making
Drop in any time between 10:30–12:30 and 13:30–15:30
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Summer families workshop
Artist Workshop: Clay Sculptures with Amelia Frances Wood
10:00–12:00 & 13:30–15:30
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Drop-in workshop
Bend and Weave: Sculpting in Willow
Drop in any time between 10:30–12:30 and 13:30–15:30
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Guided tour
Curator's Tour of Fragment and Form
18:00–19:00
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Getting here
Henry Moore Institute
74 The Headrow
Leeds
LS1 3AH
United Kingdom
T: 01132 467 467
E: institute@henry-moore.org