UNBOUND aims to support both early career artists, as well as mid career artists who may wish to diversify their practice. The programme links closely with a series of mural art commissions happening in Wakefield over the next few months, linked to Our Year 2024 and wider opportunities. It aims to provide Wakefield and West Yorkshire based artists with real world opportunities to grow skills and confidence to deliver creative commissions in public spaces.

The programme is funded by Wakefield Council, Cultural Development Fund and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, and is being delivered by a partnership of Beam and Yorkshire & Humber Visual Arts Network (YVAN).

 

A cohort of 12 dynamic Wakefield and West Yorkshire based artists have been recruited for this opportunity following an open call out over the summer. Spread over the next 6 months, the programme will offer the opportunity for our cohort to shadow and be mentored by an experienced artist delivering a real time project in a public space, alongside a mix of in person and virtual workshops and networking opportunities.

With artistic practices ranging from light art, installations, dance & movement, mural art, illustration and much more, we’re delighted to introduce the UNBOUND artist cohort (ordered alphabetically), and look forward to sharing more about the artists, their practice and their progress on the programme over the next few months.

UNBOUND cohort pictured outside The Art House Wakefield where we held our first in person session recently. © Wakefield Council, Photographer: Michael Godsall

Artist Cohort

RUTH AGBOLADE

Ruth Agbolade is a multidisciplinary artist, a photographer, painter and sculptor based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Ruth is an Afrocentric abstract artist specializing in Cubism style of art with vibrant, bold hues that convey emotions, stories and a sensory journey that evokes feelings of joy, hope, and energy. Her work is a celebration of cultural heritage, vibrant expression, and the complex interplay of textures and forms. Her artistic journey is deeply rooted in her Afrocentric identity. She draws inspiration from the rich collection of African-Adinkra symbols, weaving these elements into the fabric of my Cubist compositions. With traditional motifs and symbols, she aims to create works that resonate with a sense of familiarity and pride with each piece showcasing the beauty, strength and resilience of African culture.

https://artworksbyruth23.wixsite.com/ruth-agbolade-art

HAFIFA AHMED

Hafifa Ahmed is a Leeds based artist who makes painting, sculpture, and installation pieces that blend physical and digital matter which explore issues of Memory, Text and Narrative.

Hafifa develops ideas through research and practice based making, telling stories through her work. The practice is material led and pushes her to continually develop novel approaches through material exploration. By reusing certain repeated elements (objects, texts, visual references) that hold historical, social or personal significance, the practice cumulatively conveys some meaning to the viewer and exists to record a memory. Hafifa’s recent works include a series of heart sculptures on Trauma and Healing as well as a co-created community installation as part of Bradford is LiT festival. Hafifa currently engages with various groups teaching Arabic Calligraphy workshops.

http://www.hafifaahmed.com

TARA BALFOUR

Tara Balfour is an Indian Scottish dancer and trauma-informed mental health practitioner. She specialises in using dance to support people in improving their mental and physical health, promoting long-term positive changes through curiosity and creativity of movement. She works with all ages, with a particular focus on creative aging and promoting intergenerational movement in public spaces. She began training in Classical and Latin Dance in 2015 and went on to specialise in Argentine Tango in 2017, going on to tour Europe as a Tango performance artist until 2022. Tara retrained to work in mental health after recognising the lack of access to health and wellbeing opportunities for some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in society. After two years training as a dance practitioner, she now offers community-based dance and movement programmes across Yorkshire to empower the individual and grow confidence physically, mentally, socially and spiritually through the use of the body. Tara has proudly partnered with various organisations to improve access to health opportunities across Yorkshire, including Shantona Women’s Centre, Space2, Feel Good Factor, Forward Leeds, Leeds Conservatoire and Yorkshire Dance.

www.dancemovesminds.com

ZEPHIE BEGOLO

Zephie Begolo is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Hebden Bridge, with a background in photography, journalism and working with environmental NGOs. Her work is currently focused on reimagining our relationship with the natural world through working with clay and other natural materials, while exploring concepts relating to hybridity and merging with the landscape. She is supported by Arts Council funding and is a recipient of the Developing Your Creative Practice grant.

https://cargocollective.com/zephiebegolo

REBECCA FENELEY

Rebecca Feneley is UK based Artist & Illustrator combining luxurious decorative art with storytelling. Working with vibrant and delicate illustrations that explore the connection between female energy and nature, Rebecca’s works aim to encourage appreciation of the magic, joy and serenity found in everyday moments. Working both digitally and traditionally across a variety of disciplines including live events illustration, commercial illustration and murals Rebecca has partnered with leading global and luxury brands including Dior, L’Oreal Paris, Acqua di Parma and ITV. Rebecca is passionate about teaching and also has extensive experience delivering creative workshops for brands, creative organisations and charities, in addition to experience as a creative mentor within higher education organisations.

https://www.rebeccafeneley.com

HOLLY ROWAN HESSON

Holly Rowan Hesson is an artist and researcher making installations, sculpture and photographic works that create altered visual and sensory effects and environments. Her work is underpinned and motivated by interests in how architecture, the built environment and physical space are experienced. She often explores sites in flux, transition or hiatus, working intuitively with the physical space as a material in itself as well as a container to make an intervention. Using photography, projection and other light sources and often employing industrial and mass-produced materials that are either already highly coloured or that are colourless which are then enriched with colour, she uses processes and materials that distort and disorientate, for example through reflection, blurring, layering and duplication. Hesson lives and works near Leeds. She has exhibited in solo and group shows nationally over the last eleven years since completing an MA in Contemporary Fine Art.

www.hollyrowanhesson.co.uk

JUDE KERSHAW

Jude Kershaw is a historical interpreter, performer and artist living in West Yorkshire. Jude is an early career artist and has successfully delivered projects with a developing expertise. Practices include performance, historical interpretation, socially engaged education workshops, graphic design and photography. Jude is also a drag performer, social media content creator and photographic model, with special interests within the sector including LGBT+ history, radical history and working-class histories. All her work reflects the intersectional nature of society, she is passionate about using her platform to celebrate diverse creativity, make history and northern culture relevant to contemporary audiences, and advocate for equality; all with a northern sensibility. Jude is a core member of Saturday Town, the award winning socially engaged photography project led by Casey Orr, roles in this include lead production assistant and studio project lead.

https://www.instagram.com/itsjudeokay

ALICE KIN

Alice Kin is an environmental artist whose work spans multiple mediums, with a current focus on narrative sculpture. Driven by a respect for Earth’s finite resources, Kin combines sap, seed, leaf, wool, and wood with discarded metals and cloth. This fusion of soft and hard materials reflects the interplay between heart and mind, humanity and politics, and the interior and exterior worlds. Kin’s deliberate selection of tools and materials underscores a call for humanity to return to natural and regenerative practices. Her art delves into themes of intimacy, emotion, and action, celebrating the human experience through a lens that embraces both the sensual and the absurd. Her work portrays cycles of growth and decay, weaving stories where nature and humanity are deeply intertwined, and where entropy, repeating histories, and mythologies persist. Raised in squats and council estates amidst crime and riots, Alice Kin now lives off-grid in a mossy Yorkshire woodland, reflecting a personal commitment to living in harmony with the natural world.

www.instagram.com/aliceinwoolands

SAM METZ

Sam Metz is an artist who explores the concept of ‘neuroqueering’. This term refers to the act of challenging societal norms that are hostile towards non-normative neurodivergent individuals. Their practice investigates and responds to the premise of subverting dominant structures that remain confrontational to neurodivergent bodies and minds. Metz is interested in exploring the idea of ‘hostile’ spaces through work with a particular focus on what relational connections mean within ecology. Their work seeks to answer how art can create space for new moralities that incorporate and celebrate non-conformity and non-normative thinking, with a particular focus on neurodivergent non-verbal modes of communication. In 2022, The Art House staged Metz’s solo exhibition Making Solid: Unpredictable Bodies. The exhibition featured sculpture, drawing, animation and film to explore the concepts of ‘choreographic objects’ that investigated the relationship to disability, the body, and neurodiversity. Metz was a nominated recipient of a Henry Moore Foundation Award, and became a member of the Yorkshire Sculpture Network in 2022. Between 2021-24 they undertook supported research by Necessity to explore their project Drawing as Stimming, which seeks to explore how drawing and mark-making can support non-verbal interpretation of artworks, whilst also enabling safe spaces to stim. Metz has been part of the Emerging Curator British Art Network and a Member of the Royal Society of Sculptors. They were awarded a CIRCA Scholarship MA Art and Ecology, Goldsmiths University (2022/23) and an Arts Council DYCP for sculptural research in 2024.

www.sammetz.com

CAT SCOTT

Cat Scott is an international artist who creates contemporary fluid sculptures/installations that evoke wonder and curiosity in everyone. She uses wave phenomena (light/sound/liquids/gases) to create living, sensory works that move and breathe, mirroring the fluid systems in nature. In 2023, Cat was commissioned by Yorkshire Sculpture Park, The Art House and BD is LiT to tour the new iteration of Inner Horizons, 2019-24, where it was experienced by 34,000+ people, and prototyped a new series of accessible sculptures, using public funding from Arts Council England. She has worked internationally in South Korea, across Europe and the UK, most recently with Arts Council England, Bradford 2025, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bradford Council, BD is LiT, Bradford Producing Hub, East Street Arts, BEAM, Yorkshire Visual Arts Network, The Art House, Mediale, Roger Hiorns, Kimchi and Chips, Yorkshire Sculpture International, Light Up The North, Changwon Sculpture Biennale, the British Council and the University of Leeds.

www.catscott.co.uk

JOANNE TIFFANY

Joanne Tiffany is a Wakefield-based artist, current Fine Art student at Leeds Beckett University, and an ambassador for the charity ‘Outside In’ that provides a platform for artists who encounter significant barriers to the art world due to health, disability, social circumstance, or isolation. Joanne works with a variety of materials including photography, film, sculpture, and textiles, to investigate the social contract as an invisible agreement, that assisted in creating accepted social norms, leading to her exploration of disability, chronic illness, power, and barriers to highlight and confront hypocrisy within this contract and the inherent practices therein that disadvantage or worse still even negate certain constituencies. Through all her work, she passionately advocates for equality, inclusivity and access whilst using her own personal lived experience to be both progressive and positive. It hopes to be informative whilst also telling a story of struggle that continues to exist in modern society.

https://www.joannetiffany.com/

ALICIA WALLACE

Alicia Wallace, self described as a “Picture Taker – Image Maker”, is a disabled, multi-disciplinary artist from Wakefield, with an interest in long exposure light photography, immersive installations, community workshops, and interactive collaborations. Her work explores sensory experiences and the ethereal qualities of light, and how moving image is an illusion created by the brain. Alicia is an advocate for anti-ableism, inclusivity, accessibility and opportunities for disabled and neurodivergent artists, workers, and audiences. With over 16 years of experience, Alicia has delivered workshops and commissions focusing on participatory art to various West Yorkshire arts organisations and charities. As a chronically ill, disabled, and neurodivergent individual, Alicia is embarking on a new self directed project “Too Much Not Enough,” which is a long term exploration of the struggles and frustrations patients and service users go through “playing the system” trying to get help, diagnosis or suitable care. It addresses the exhaustion of trying to meet unrealistic criteria, and the stigma and cruelty of the system. Alicia aims to collate and express the invisible experiences of disabled people through aesthetic, sensory, visual and even satirical means.

www.outsidein.org.uk/galleries/alicia-wallace

Read the full article on the Creative Wakefield website here.