MA Fine Art students showcase works in collaboration with Hyde Park Art Club
I Never Agreed to Lend My Voice: Act 2 is a re-curated exhibition of work by eleven MA Fine Art students from the University of Leeds, running at Hyde Park Book Club until 20 May.
The exhibition was born out of this year’s MA Fine Art Interim Show: I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice which took place earlier this year in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies’ Project Space.
The annual interim show brings to the fore the work of students on the MA Fine Art course, some of whom are studying for their degree full-time in one year and others opting to focus on the course part-time over two years.
Organised and curated by the fine art students, each MA Fine Art Interim Show is an opportunity for the artists on the course to take stock of their practice so far, to experiment and find connections between one another.
First iteration of I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice in Project Space, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds, February 2025.
Following the success of I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice back in February 2025, the student group decided to re-curate a second iteration in May, in collaboration with Hyde Park Art Club (HPAC)
Hyde Park Art Club is an independent grassroots platform for artistic expression and experimentation. Based in the events-led, pan-arts creative hub Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds, HPAC aims to provide surprising, enriching and meaningful encounters with art in a setting that is non-institutional and easy to access for all.
The artists collectively explain the context for the two exhibitions:
“In a world where artists’ ownership of their own work is increasingly under threat, ‘I Never Agreed to Lend My Voice’ embodies a desire for artists to fully own their work, narratives, identities and practices.
“The title of the exhibition – drawn from a spontaneous conversation in the studio – captures a growing sentiment of resistance; a rejection of censorship.
“As a group of MA Fine Art students, we’ve spent time together navigating our identities as artists, pushing boundaries, and rethinking what it means to be seen and heard.”
I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice: Act 2 exhibition at Hyde Park Book Club, May 2025. Photo by Molly Newham.
Through this second iteration at Hyde Park Book Club, I Never Agreed to Lend My Voice: Act 2 continues to boldly explore the power and authenticity of the eleven artists’ voices through multidisciplinary, experimental and unapologetically personal works which reframe traditional media while carving out new paths in contemporary art.
More than just an exhibition, this is an ongoing conversation, a declaration that each artist in their own way has something to say — and no one else will speak for them.
I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice: Act 2 opened at Hyde Park Book Club on 12 May. In this re-curated show, the MA Fine Art students have continued to experiment, push boundaries and boldly examine power and authenticity through painting, drawing, sculpture, audio-visual pieces and text-based work.
Screenshot from AJ Turner’s film ‘An Introduction to her Eddisonism’, part of the first iteration of I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice, February 2025.
Filmmaker and poet AJ Turner – a Leeds Arts University alumnus currently in the first year of his part-time fine art Masters at the University of Leeds – said:
“Collaborating with Hyde Park Art Club for this second iteration of our exhibition has allowed us to branch off campus and show our work to a wider audience.
“The show has been a valuable learning experience for us on working with external organisations that we are all very grateful for.
“Marion Harrison helped us through every step of the process from meeting us to understand us as artists to helping us curate and install the show alongside Sarah Roberts and Simon Rix.”
I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice: Act 2 exhibition at Hyde Park Book Club, May 2025. Photo by Bex Blayney.
Molly Newham completed a BA Fine Art at the University of Leeds in 2023 and is now studying on the MA Fine Art course part-time over two years. Molly is a landscape artist who makes sculptures, drawings and paintings. Molly said:
“My work in this exhibition is a large painting documenting my recent 50km ultra run through mark making and abstract landscape.
“As well as a smaller drawing on a panel. I’ve been brave showing this new work as it’s different and – even though I don’t feel I’m quite there yet – the feedback and discussion on the MA has been extremely rewarding and enriching.
“Thanks to Marion, Sarah and Simon at Hyde Park Art Club for all the support to make this show possible.”
I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice: Act 2 exhibition at Hyde Park Book Club, May 2025. Photo by Molly Newham.
Audio-visual artist Annie Greenwood, now in her second year of the MA, reflected on the show:
“As I work towards my degree show in September, this has been an invaluable opportunity to present a fresh film at the vibrant Hyde Park Book Club.
“My film follows a personal journey of reconnecting with memory through place. A story that is shaped by love, loss and longing.
“I’m so proud of how we’ve worked together as a team and, with the support of Hyde Park Art Club, brought together a collection of diverse, equally strong works, that speak to one another.”
Annie Greenwood, Stills from Returning To Sundays, Digital video with sound, 2025, Exhibited at the first iteration of I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice, Project Space, University of Leeds, February 2025.
Some of the featured artists will be in-conversation with Leeds-based artist, MA Fine Art alumni and self-proclaimed menace, George Storm Fletcher, at a ‘behind the scenes’ event on Monday 19 May.
At this free event at Hyde Park Book Club, the artists will talk about the show and their individual practices, and will share their thoughts on how to successfully navigate a group exhibition.
George Storm Fletcher graduated with a BA Fine Art in 2022 and MA Fine Art in 2024 from the University of Leeds. A freelance artist who works with text and photography, printmaking and performance, George has exhibited work at a range of institutional and artist-led spaces such as Leeds Art Gallery, Barbican Arts Group and the Royal Academy. George Storm Fletcher said:
“I’m really pleased to have been invited to host this in-conversation event.
“As a recent graduate from the MA Fine Art course it is interesting for me to see how the studio culture at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies has changed, and what themes the cohort are engaging with.
“It also lets me believe that I’m still enjoying being a Masters student for a little while longer.”
George Storm Fletcher with their text work Everyone is They Except You in Green Studio, FAT BABY MA Fine Art Degree Show, September 2024. Photo by Fiona Blair.
Starting at 5.30pm, the evening event on 19 May also features a debut performance piece by audio-visual and performance artist Bethany Wilson. Bethany said:
“It’s great to see all our works interacting with each other in this space and I’m so proud of everyone’s efforts. I’m excited to see my sculpture fully inflated and how this will be adapted into performance!
“My performance is about the intricacies of Fandom (fan communities) and how the individual fans relationship with the idol presents itself. It’s going to be be very interesting to see how my sculpture will manifest this idea within the space.”
Still from Bethany Wilson's 'For The Love Of Fandom' which formed part of the first iteration of I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice at the University of Leeds, February 2025.
Writer, painter and walker Isobel Richards said:
“Exhibiting at Hyde Park Book Club has been a fantastic opportunity to continue to test work and make key decisions in preparation for my degree show later this year, but more importantly it has been such a celebration of cohesion and group work.
“We’ve all had to be very selective about what goes into the show due to the size of the space, but the selected works blend and converse with each other well, thanks to the engaging conversations we’ve had as a group and the way we understand each other’s works.
“My work, which is centred around walking and the walking experience, begins to play with relationships of power and presentation, whilst still engaging with personal and collective relationships to place and land.
“Working in this group of eleven artists over the last year has been a fantastic experience, with such high levels of commitment, collaboration and understanding. Collaborating with the team at Hyde Park Art Club on this exhibition has been a valuable opportunity to celebrate and show together one last time.”
MA Fine Art students from the University of Leeds with Dr Cesar Cornejo and Professor Chris Taylor at the private view for 'I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice; Act 2', Hyde Park Book Club, 13 May 2025.
The programme lead for the MA Fine Art is interdisciplinary artist and activist, Dr Cesar Cornejo, Associate Professor in Fine Art in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies. Cesar said:
“The success of this show resides on the fact that – beyond being a collection of deeply elaborated and multilayered individual works – it constitutes a cohesive proposal where each piece is an integral part of a larger organism. This is vital for its smooth functioning and reflective of the enduring link built over the last year between the participating artists.
“I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice tells a story with as many endings as the multiple routes that it offers.”
Exhibition poster for I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice: Act 2 which runs from 12 to 20 May 2025 at Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds.
About the exhibition
I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice: Act 2 runs to 20 May at Hyde Park Book Club and is open daily from 10am to midnight. Find out more about the exhibition.
Join us for Behind the scenes of 'I Never Agreed to Lend My Voice' on Monday 19 May, 5.30 to 6.30pm in The Snug at Hyde Park Book Club, 27-29 Headingley Lane,
Leeds LS6 1BL.
About the artists
The eleven artists participating in I Never Agreed to Lend My Voice: Act 2 are all MA Fine Art students in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds.
The artists are:
Annie Greenwood I Website I Instagram
AJ Turner I Website I Instagram
Bethany Wilson I Website I Instagram
Bex Blayney I Website I Instagram
Hsin Tien I Instagram
Huayu Zhang I Website
Isobel Richards I Website I Instagram
Kirstin Harvie I Instagram
Molly Flavell I Instagram
Molly Newham I Website I Instagram
Rebecca O’Hooley I Instagram
Follow the artists on Instagram @i.never.agreed
Feature image
MA Fine Art students from the University of Leeds with Dr Cesar Cornejo and Professor Chris Taylor at the private view for 'I Never Agreed To Lend My Voice; Act 2', Hyde Park Book Club, 13 May 2025.
