Bitesize: Breaking the Mould - Veronica Ryan

With Dr Ella S. Mills, Associate Lecturer in Art History, University of Plymouth

In this bitesize talk Dr Ella S. Mills guides us through a close-up look at Veronica Ryan’s Territorial (1986). Unpacking form, function, materials and ideas, Ella will introduce some thinking about Ryan’s practice in the context of other British sculpture, highlighting, in particular, some points of interest in the relationship between Ryan and Barbara Hepworth.

Ryan's sculptural practice draws on personal experience and reflects wider implications of history, trauma and recovery. Coming to prominence in the 1980s with pieces such as Territorial (1986), she has had a spate of recent high profile exhibitions and commissions. In 2021 Ryan won the Freelands Award with Spike Island, resulting in her first major solo show in the UK, Along a Spectrum. More recently she was commissioned by the Hepworth Wakefield, along with Tacita Dean, to create work in response to Barbara Hepworth for the Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life exhibition (May 2021 – Feb 2022). Ryan was also commissioned as the artist for the Hackney Windrush public sculpture (unveiled Oct 2021).

Ella is an art historian and curator of contemporary art with a specialism in the field of Black British histories of art and exhibitions. She has expertise with interdisciplinary artist interviewing methods and analysis, drawing on grounded theory methods to produce new meanings in art history. Ella is the founder of talking on corners, an independent visual art curating and producing practice based in research and critical thinking. A current project is a commission of new work from Ingrid Pollard as part of a multi-site, multi-partner project in 2022.