'The Archive' installation shows 'the bones of our practice' at this year's fine art degree show
The Archive: The Bones of our Practice can be found at the centre of the Make No Bones BA Fine Art Degree Show. Final year fine art students Hannah Prince and Lauren Royall explain how it came to be.
From early in the curatorial process of our BA Fine Art Degree Show at the University of Leeds, we wanted to build an archive of the artists’ works as part of the exhibition.
The title of our show – Make No Bones – set the ground for a written and visual language that was materially driven and textural in its identity. In terms of the archive, this inspired us to make a space for the material of our practice within the show.
The Archive: The Bones of our Practice, June 2025. Make No Bones, BA Fine Art Degree Show, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds. Photo © Make No Bones.
Hosted in the Common Room of the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, ‘The Archive’ is a collection of books, material tests, objects and sketches, all created by the artists exhibiting in the degree show.
It felt important to show our processes and to bring a sense of unity to our exhibition – celebrating the range of research (academic, material tests, supporting sketches) and experimentation that we have undertaken in our studies.
The academic and creative parts of our fine art degree are deeply entangled at the University of Leeds. As students, we spend a lot of time researching and writing essays, and many of us study Cultural Theory or History of Art alongside the Fine Art course. This research impacts and shapes our fine art practices, and acts as material to work with react to when we make.
The Archive: The Bones of our Practice, June 2025. Make No Bones, BA Fine Art Degree Show, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds. Photo © Make No Bones.
As a collective, we wanted to highlight this academic process alongside the tests and experiments with physical materials that led to us creating the fine art degree show.
Because of its importance to the ethos of the show, building the archive structure became an aim in our fundraising activities. Our fundraising team organised events leading up to the show, including an Art Market in our school building in April. Once we had raised the money, we planned the structure.
We opted for something as open as possible, to invite interaction, whilst also staying with the visual identity for Make No Bones.
Sustainability was also a key concern in the show; we worked with Leeds Wood Recycling to buy reclaimed wood to create the structure. This created a raw, textural feel, staying true to the visual identity of the show.
Objects from The Archive: The Bones of our Practice, June 2025. Make No Bones, BA Fine Art Degree Show, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds. Photo © Make No Bones.
As students and emerging artists, the work we make relates to our environment and the city of Leeds beyond the four walls of the art building. It’s particularly important to stay connected with these creative communities and to support them whilst simultaneously recognising the opportunities that these places offer.
For example, many students graduating from our course have gone on to be studio holders at Assembly House in Armley. It made sense to commission one of their leading members, Archie Brookes, to build the structure of the archive shelves for our show.
Context for The Archive: The Bones of our Practice at the Make No Bones BA Fine Art Degree Show, University of Leeds, June 2025. Photo © Make No Bones.
To acquire the items you see on the shelves, we sent a call out to the final year fine art students participating in the degree show, asking for the material which formed the bones of their creative practice. We received a mix of books, found objects, early works and material tests – highlighting the range of making processes within the students exhibiting in Make No Bones.
The archive shelving structure equalised this material. Found objects considered equal to books, everyone’s process equal to each other’s. It is interactive, and if you are visiting the degree show we invite you to handle the items on the main shelving structure. Out of reach, the shelf on the top left hand side houses items that cannot be touched.
The Archive: The Bones of our Practice, June 2025. Make No Bones, BA Fine Art Degree Show, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds. Photo © Make No Bones.
If you are visiting our BA Fine Art Degree Show, please come and see it for yourself.
Spread across gallery and studio spaces over three floors, Make No Bones is open daily (10am to 6pm) until 15 June in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies on University Road at the University of Leeds.
You will find The Archive: The Bones of our Practice in the Common Room on the ground floor.
Members of the curatorial team at the launch event for Make No Bones, 5 June 2025. Lauren Royall, Hannah Prince, Eve O'Connor and Alice Boot are next to paintings by Claudia Leweson-Jones. Photo by Andy Lord. © University of Leeds.
More information
Hannah Prince and Lauren Royall are two of 53 graduating artists from the University of Leeds who are exhibiting work in this year’s BA Fine Art Degree Show, Make No Bones.
The show has been organised, curated and marketed by teams of fine art students taking part in the show. Lauren (BA Fine Art with Contemporary Cultural Theory) and Hannah (BA Fine Art with History of Art) worked together to plan, install and curate the work in ‘The Archive’.
Find out more about the Make No Bones degree show and the artists taking part.
Follow the show on Instagram @make.no.bones and @fahacs.
Poster for Make No Bones, BA Fine Art Degree Show at the University of Leeds, June 2025. Design by Millie Speight.
Feature image
The Archive: The Bones of our Practice, June 2025. Make No Bones, BA Fine Art Degree Show, School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, University of Leeds. Photo © Make No Bones.
