1. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
  2. School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies
  3. Your portfolio

Your portfolio

As part of your application to study BA Fine Art, BA Fine Art with History of Art or BA Fine Art with Contemporary Cultural Theory at the University of Leeds, you will be invited to submit a digital portfolio.  

What is a digital portfolio?   

A digital portfolio is a collection of images that demonstrates your engagement with art practice.  

For your application to the University of Leeds, the portfolio is your opportunity to share the work you have been making so far, and the processes, materials and ideas you have connected with.

Your digital portfolio will be a file containing images or links to your work, saved as a PDF document. 

Why do I need to submit a portfolio?   

We want to see your potential to develop a Fine Art practice and engage with contemporary visual culture. Submitting a portfolio allows us to get to know what matters to you, and to see how you approach materials and processes to explore and communicate ideas. 

What should I include in my portfolio? 

In your portfolio, we want to see the works you are most excited by. You can include works-in-progress and works that perhaps did not turn out the way you had initially planned, as well as finished works. Sharing a breadth of work gives us an insight into your creative process, and your willingness to experiment.   

What are we looking for?   

At the University of Leeds, we’ll help you to develop your artistic concerns through conceptual and practical experimentation. This means that we encourage you to think beyond what you already know, and experiment with new materials and processes. We encourage you to think deeply about your work, take risks and collaborate.   

We’ll look at your portfolio and consider the following: 

  • Visual and Material Engagement: Show us examples of work you have created using different materials, processes and technologies. 

  • Potential for Development: Show us how you have tested different methods of thinking and making. 

  • Experimentation: Include examples of work that go beyond a set brief, as well as works-in-progress or unfinished pieces that demonstrate your process. 

  • Presentation and Formatting: Choose images that are high quality and taken in good light in order to show all the aspects of the work you want to share. Think carefully about the sequence of the images as a way of communicating your ideas. 

How do I present my portfolio?   

There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way of presenting your portfolio. We are interested in seeing what matters to you, so start with work you feel strongly about. You might want to include multiple images of a single piece of work, or close-ups so the material details of the work are clearly communicated. We want to see the work through your eyes. 

Checklist for your portfolio: 

  • Your portfolio should be contained in a single PDF document with a maximum document size of 30MB.

  • Include a cover page that contains your full name and the course you have applied for: BA Fine Art, BA Fine Art with History of Art, or BA Fine Art with Contemporary Cultural Theory.  

  • Your portfolio can contain up to 12 images of work. 

  • If you are working with moving images, up to 3 of the 12 can be links to videos on YouTube or Vimeo. Make sure these don’t need a password to access. Moving image works should be single works, not video versions of other supporting material or show-reels of multiple works. They can be works-in-progress. 

  • Include image captions showing the title, year, materials used and the size of the work. See examples of an image caption:  

    • Imprint sequence, 2024, intaglio etching on paper, 24 x 52cm 

    • Still from Video 3, 2023, digital video 

How do I submit my portfolio?  

Once you have received a request for your portfolio, we’ll send you information on how to submit, and give you a deadline.

What if I have questions?   

If you have questions about your portfolio, please contact our Admissions Team finadm@leeds.ac.uk  who will be able to help.   

What happens next?   

After you have submitted your portfolio, you should expect to receive an offer decision via UCAS Track, within three to four weeks of submission.  

If you do not, please contact the Admissions Team at finadm@leeds.ac.uk to make further enquiries (making sure you quote your name, course and UCAS ID number).