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Exhibition

Fragment and Form: Emii Alrai, Mónica Mays, Dominique White

Sculpture Galleries

Henry Moore Institute, Leeds

Free Entry

Detail of an abstract sculpture, with burned materials and rusty chicken wire at the centre, with rusted metal bars bent around it.

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.

A white relief sculpture on board, in two parts.

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.

Abstract sculpture, tubular in form, bending from the floor to a wall somewhat like a pipe or a root. It is made in sections with different materials, including stone, iron, palm tree, wood salvaged from furniture, and miscellaneous pieces from abandoned factories.

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.

Sculpture made from a driftwood log, with four long, rusted metal spikes extending up and out from it in long, fluid curves resembling a breaking wave.

Events

Towering Textures: Playful Mixed Media Sculpture Making
Three children making a tower out of wooden crates.

Drop-in workshop

Towering Textures: Playful Mixed Media Sculpture Making

Drop in any time between 10:30–12:30 and 13:30–15:30

Book Now

The Studio
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Artist Workshop: Clay Sculptures with Amelia Frances Wood
Two young boys sat at a table sculpting with clay.

Summer families workshop

Artist Workshop: Clay Sculptures with Amelia Frances Wood

10:00–12:00 & 13:30–15:30

Book your free ticket

The Studio
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Bend and Weave: Sculpting in Willow
A person making a sculpture from pieces of willow wood. The base is shaped like a five-pointed star, and raises up to a single point, not unlike a Christmas tree.

Drop-in workshop

Bend and Weave: Sculpting in Willow

Drop in any time between 10:30–12:30 and 13:30–15:30

Book Now

The Studio
Henry Moore Institute, Leeds
Curator's Tour of Fragment and Form
A white relief sculpture on board, in two parts.

Guided tour

Curator's Tour of Fragment and Form

18:00–19:00

Book your free ticket

Henry Moore Institute, Leeds

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