Announcing the artists selected for The Tetley x Tower Works: Public Art Proposals
About the exhibition of proposals Four artists have been shortlisted to create a new public artwork for Leeds' South Bank.
One artist will be selected to develop their proposal into an artwork for a large wall measuring 300 square metres on the south west face of the Mustard Wharf building, which sits within the Tower Works community. The chosen artwork will be unveiled in summer 2023.
Read more about the artists and their proposals below!
Phill Hopkins
Phill Hopkins lives and works in Leeds. He is a painter, who also makes drawings, photographs and sculpture. For the Tower Works commission, he proposes a fabric wrap, introducing a softer material to the building. As well as drawing upon the Victorian and Italian heritage of the site, the design includes natural elements, such as trees and wildflowers. The colours are chosen sympathetically to accompany the red brickwork of the original towers and the new buildings on the site.
Benaiah Matheson
Benaiah Matheson’s work is based on the statement ‘BƎ YOU ALWAYS’, as both an invitation and a commandment. His practice focuses on an exploration of his shared heritage from Huddersfield and Carriacou, Grenada. Benaiah’s proposal depicts a child’s hand made out of steel and coloured glass, referencing the Italian architecture of the site’s three towers, a childhood memory of his grandparent’s stained glass windows and Leeds’ textile carding history. The piece is designed to create ‘enchanting reflections’ over the course of a day.
Yelena Popova
Yelena Popova was born in the USSR and lives and works in Nottingham. She is inspired by industrial heritage, tessellations, patterns and scientific diagrams. Her mural design celebrates local innovation and engineering: it was in Leeds that Louis Le Prince invented one of the earliest moving image cameras, patented in 1888, and filmed the first successful moving pictures. Another of his experimental cameras used multiple lenses; for Yelena, this technology can be seen as a metaphor for different perspectives coming together.
Zoë Power
Zoë Power is a mural artist painting community-focused artworks around the UK. Her distinctive style blends traditional painting techniques with punchy, graphic imagery. Zoë’s proposal incorporates cogs from factory machines and patterns from woollen weaves, nodding to Leeds’ industrial past and referencing the site’s previous use as a wool comb factory. Amongst the cogs, clouds and patterns, a thread entwines two figures, representing connection and hope, merging the past with the present.
