Visual artist Herfa Martina Thompson and Law lecturer Dr Zoe Tongue are the recipients of the Leeds Creative Labs Follow-on Fund.
Herfa and Dr Zoe first collaborated in spring 2023 as part of Leeds Creative Labs, a programme that partners artists and academics, initiated by the University of Leeds’ Cultural Institute and facilitated in partnership with us.
During their time together, Herfa and Dr Zoe instigated conversations around reproductive technology and the imagination of a utopian future for reproductive rights. Through their shared personal and professional interests, they began to imagine what that would look like.
Herfa and Zoe have since been selected as recipients of the Leeds Creative Labs Follow-on Fund, an extension fund supporting collaborators that are ready to trial and test the ideas previously discussed to develop a proof of concept. They have proposed plans to continue their research, asking how they can explore reproductive health experiences, and the stigma attached, using art as a means of conversation to speculate a utopian future for reproductive rights.
Over the next few months, April to July, the pair will produce collaborative artworks, prints and ceramics, to delve deeper into their area of enquiry and invite Global Majority community members to respond to their own reproductive health experiences through speculative art workshops.
It’s a delight to be working with Herfa and Zoe again and we’re excited to see the outcome of their collaboration, which will be exhibited in Convention House at the end of July. Follow their progress on our social media at @eaststreetarts
Find Herfa: herfathompson.com | @herfamartinathompson
Find Zoe: leeds.ac.uk/law/staff/2130/dr-zoe-tongue
