In our first video essay, Sophia Steel explores one of @Leeds Art Gallery Online’s latest exhibitions ‘Shifting Perspectives’, guided through selected works by its lead curator Dr Laura Claveria. The works selected are not representative of the entire exhibition, but rather of where it intersects with Critical Muslim Studies through the lens of decolonial and post-Orientalist thought, as well as through themes relating to subjectivity and representation.

More information about the exhibition, which will be open to the public until October 30 2022, can be found here: https://museumsandgalleries.leeds.gov

Dr Laura Claveria is an art curator with experience working in multiple art galleries and museums in the North of England. She is currently responsible for the works on paper collection at Leeds Art Gallery as well as The Picture Library, an art lending scheme. She was the lead curator of the exhibition Shifting perspectives: Exploring representations of people of African, Caribbean and Asian heritage in Leeds Art Gallery’s collection (2022). Other recent curatorial projects include Natural Encounters (2020), Jill McKnight: Desire Lines (2022) and Charmaine Watkiss: The Wisdom Tree (2022). She has also recently been the recipient of a Curatorial Research Award at the Yale Center for British Art (New Haven, USA) (2019) and a Fellowship from the Understanding British Portraits (2021).

Most works featured in this video come from the Leeds Art Gallery’s collection, © Leeds Museums & Galleries. All other photographs have been sourced and cited within the video for copyright, featured here under fair use for the purposes of scholarship and research. The musical track used is royalty free and public domain, titled Forest Lullaby by Lesfm and available on Pixabay.