This month, Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945 opens after much anticipation at Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park. This is the first survey of post-war British sculpture by women, exploring the work of over forty sculptors selected from the Arts Council Collection.
The Touring Exhibition provides a radical recalibration of art history, addressing the many accounts of British sculpture that have marginalised women. Instead, the women sculptors’ critical work is at the forefront of the exhibition, illustrating the strength and range of their use of materials, subjects, and approaches.
Artist Rana Begum is one of over forty artists featured in this exhibition. In our latest film, the Arts Council Collection visited Begum in her studio where she talks about her practice and her approach to sculpture that began with her research into light and form.
Rana Begum creates sculptural works inspired by minimalism, urban architecture and her early childhood memories of traditional Islamic art. For her ongoing series Fold, Begum works with industrial materials including powder-coated aluminium and steel to create wall-mounted sculptures of an origami-like construction, blurring the line between sculpture, painting and architecture. Begum states, “One of the great things about being an artist is that you have this amazing array of materials that you can use, nothing is off limits. I’m in this position where I’ve been able to work with as many different materials as possible.”