Loraine Leeson

Loraine Leeson was educated at St Martins College of Art, University of Reading and Hochschule der Künste, Berlin. She has a PhD in Art, Communities and Social Change from the University of Ulster, was director of the arts charity cSPACE from 2002-2020, Fulbright Scholar in Residence at University of Washington in 2012 and is currently Professor of Art and Social Practice at Middlesex University, London.

A retrospective exhibition celebrating thirty years of Leeson’s practice toured Berlin, London, Toronto and Dublin 2005–2008, while her work has also been exhibited in the UK at Tate Britain, ICA, V&A, Serpentine and Whitechapel Galleries, Whitworth, Manchester, and National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh. It is in collections that include the Science Museum, London Museum of Docklands and London Metropolitan Archives. International exhibiting has included the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Mattress Factory Pittsburgh, Swiss National Museum Zürich, Centro Jose Guerrero Granada, Dazibao Montreal, A-Space Toronto, Centre d'Art Santa Monica Barcelona, Agnes Etherington Arts Centre Ontario, Anna Leonowens Gallery Nova Scotia and Dia Art Foundation New York.

Throughout her life Leeson has specialised in community-based visual arts, often working through arts organisations that she co-founded. Early work includes posters, video and exhibition for the ‘Campaign to save Bethnal Green Hospital’, a series of ‘visual pamphlets’ produced with health workers unions for the ‘East London Health Project’ in 1970s, then photo-murals and other visual artefacts via the ‘Docklands Community Poster Project’ during the1980s. The 1990s saw a series of projects with the Art of Change working with East London communities to address the impact of changes in the urban environment on quality of life and cultural identity. At the turn of the millennium she founded cSPACE and developed the long-term online projects ‘VOLCO’, a planet in cyberspace promoting co-operative living that was constructed by over a thousand children in four countries, and ‘The Young Person’s Guide to East London’ created by four hundred teenagers. These projects attracted a Media Trust Inspiring Voices award and Olympic Inspire Mark, while her public artwork ‘The Catch’ involving three hundred young people in Barking was voted a London 2012 Landmark. More recently Leeson has supported communities in addressing environmental concerns. ‘Active Energy’, a twelve-year initiative with seniors’ group The Geezers, focused on renewable energy and received the RegenSW Arts and Green Energy award and Times Higher Education award for Knowledge Exchange. Recent work has crossed the divide into practice-based research and included transdisciplinary collaborations such as ‘Jal!’ a project with environmental scientists and artists in Rajasthan addressing issues of water shortage in desert regions. Also ‘The Art of Healing’ with creative practitioners and art therapists in Kashmir supporting the mental health and wellbeing of children impacted by conflict; and ‘Spaces of Hope’, which explored the hidden history of community-led planning. Leeson currently hosts the international Social Art Educators’ Forum.