Artist information

The Beholder Project is a project that started in early 2025, centred around Queer and LGBTQIA+ individuals and the people that support them in their everyday life.The project consists of an open call, requesting participants to submit pictures of individuals who bring joy into their life, someone who sees the submitter for themselves even when they don't feel like it.This submission is open to interpretation, the subject could be a partner, relative, a friend - someone who understands you to your core.These pictures are collected and then turned into small painted portraits of the submitted individuals eye, which would then in turn be turned into a palm sized fabric charm.As this project develops and gets bigger im helping to archive more and more queer joy. The eye charms onced finished resemble Lovers Eyes, Evil Eyes and Good Luck Charms.If you would like to be a part of this project submit your image through the link below!

We reckon you could do with Catching Forty Winks. We can see it in the shadows under your eyes, the tiredness hanging like a bruise under your skin. Those bags look heavy- let us carry them for you. Come in, please, and stay a while. We might be able to help...Catching Forty Winks is an art exhibition spanning photography, sculpture, textiles, and sound, showcasing work by Hannah Guy, Reece Kelly and Alegria Repila Smith. During the Accelerator Bursary 2025 they have shared a studio space. This exhibition is an active dialogue between the artists' diverse practices, exploring the intersection between memory, emotion and the unknown. Blending personal experience with dreamt realities, hidden obsessions and history, each artist dives below the surface of the collective consciousness. Fluidity is their defining feature: identities, categories and interpretations are all at sea, as they dredge up artefacts and narratives that articulate the sunken passions which make each of us fallible, nuanced, and ultimately human.The Accelerator Bursary is a new programme which supports early-career artists in Leeds following their undergraduate degrees. It is funded by Leeds Art Fund and delivered by Leeds Art Gallery in partnership with Assembly House.

Reece Kelly (they/he) is a Leeds-based fine artist whose practice explores the complexities of identity and human connection, particularly focused around themes of gender identity and expression. They stress the importance of community and support, especially in times such as these, where there is a rise in prejudice and oppression.With a BA in Fine Art from Leeds Beckett University, Kelly continues to explore and shape their identity as an artist through the Acellorator Burasary.In preparation for “Catching Forty Winks”, Kelly ran a set of workshops in collaboration with Leeds Art Gallery stitch art club. Participants sewed together fabric charms, encouraged to make the charm any shape, colour and to use any embellishments they wished.These fabric pieces will then be painted onto with an eye from a loved one or someone who sees the participant for their true self, archiving the ability to view other people authentically and share the vastness and varied nature of this connection. Using gathered preowned materials such as old canvas, fabric scraps and old jewelry beads, participants will create something unique and personal to them, much like the eyes captured in the charms.The work shown “The Beholder” is a collaborative work, by having participants create charms and also submit pictures of loved ones to be painted onto pre-made charms. Much like the creation of the work was interactive as was the installation, Kelly invites exhibition attendees to touch, handle and hold the charms. Carry them around the space, imagine whose eye you would choose to rest inside the charm. Once you are finished with them, pin them up on the canopy for others to see. The sheer fabric allows the charms to be admired from all angles so that you can see each individual stitch, bead and paint stroke, creating a unique and intimate experience.Ultimately Kelly is using the charms as a form of archiving the gaze of those we love. Through his work, as seen from the numbered sections of sewing tape attached to the back of each charm. By removing names and faces, the charms and the eyes themselves remain completely anonymous, only known by the participants and the artist. Empowering the people's gaze, who knows perhaps they were chosen for similar reasons, a pet you loved, a friend who always has your back or just someone who loves you unconditionally.

"Daddy's House" was a 15 minute performance event inspired by Frank Tovey’s "Berg" — a work based on Anne Quin’s surrealist novel of the same name, which incorporated unnerving soundscapes made from musical instrumentation and manipulated found audio.
The event is co-created with Leeds Arts University MA Fine Art students, artist Samra Mayanja, David Steans (Senior Lecturer, MA Fine Art, Leeds Arts University) and Marianna Tsionki (Associate Professor & University Curator, Leeds Arts University).
Photos by Jules Lister. Info by LAU. 2025.

"Fractions Of You" was a series of works made from 2024-2025, depicting fractions of a loved one painted in oil paints.
The vessel for the portrait changes, paper, board, wood, as the subject remains the same - fractured across portraits.

"Say It Louder" is an ongoing series of work, started in 2025, focused on bringing attention to real and important issues facing marginalised groups today.
Digital artworks made quickly and with a simple format allows for a quick turn around for new editions to the series of work.