Highlights from the Harewood Biennial

How can craft change the world for the better? The new edition of the Harewood House Biennial pivots around this question. For Radical Acts: Why Craft Matters (26 March – 29 August) 16 artists and designers have filled the grand interiors and rolling grounds of the 18th-century Yorkshire mansion with their work.

The historic setting and the focus on time-honoured practices is in no way incompatible with the title of the event, curator Hugo Macdonald says. ‘The word radical comes from the Latin word radix, which means root, and suggests foundational, systemic transformation, not rapid surface change,’ he explains. ‘I'm keen that we look to our roots to understand how we might address our future.’

Since the event’s first iteration in 2019, Macdonald says, craft has become even more embedded in the public consciousness – thanks in part to the course of successive lockdowns. ‘There was a dramatic shift in how people were thinking about craft during that time – they were making, gardening, mending, and forming online groups to discuss how it could distract, engage and bring people together.’

Rather than simply using Harewood as a backdrop, many of the works are a direct response to it. This ranges from commenting on objects within its collection to confronting the history of the house, which was built using wealth derived from the West Indian slave trade by Henry Lascelles, the 6th Earl of Harewood. Here are some of what’s on display.

Thaneray (Tenroy)/Open Code, Mac Collins

The only participant with two works in the exhibition, Mac Collins responded directly to the history of the house when creating his interventions. A version of his celebrated Iklwa chair sits facing the window on a plinth in a quiet anteroom, a place for visitors to contemplate how the wealth that created these luxurious surroundings was amassed and consider the legacy of slavery today.

In the Cinnamon Drawing Room, amid the historic card tables and under the portrait of Lascelles himself, is a new work – an oak table and stool, topped with a set of aluminium dominos. ‘Dominos are an intrinsic part of Jamaican culture,’ Collins says, describing this placement as a ‘corrective act of representation’, which celebrates a positive Black narrative within a historically inaccessible environment. ‘The Caribbean contribution has had a profound impact on contemporary British society and culture,’ he says. ‘We are part of this story.’

The Mending Library, Celia Pym

The textile artist sees mending as an act of care and of renewal, and an inherently social process. Her installation displays the results of a series of interactions – people came to her with their damaged clothes and, following a discussion, she engaged in a careful process of repair, using colourful threads to embrace and highlight the item’s imperfections and age ‘as part of life’s story’. ‘I think there’s something about handiwork that’s radical,’ she says. ‘It’s a way of learning, of feeling your way through life, and paying attention to what we have – especially when what we have may be fragile or vulnerable.’

Hand-Carved Wooden Spoons, Robin Wood

An ardent advocate for traditional practices via his work with the Heritage Crafts Association, woodworker Robin Wood used spoon-carving as a medium to highlight the value of craft knowledge and practice, and how that can be spread. A collection of spoons donated by people who have learned from him, directly or indirectly, are displayed in a bothy by the side of a lake in the Harewood House grounds. ‘In our digital age, many people describe how learning an analogue, physical activity can improve their wellbeing, from mental health to reconnecting with nature,’ he says. ‘Carving a spoon might seem simple, but it requires intense focus and control of the hands, body and mind together.'

The Unnamed Women of Clay, Bisila Noha

The ceramic artist’s work celebrates the unnamed female ceramicists – specifically African women – who have been sidelined by the male, Western-centric discourse about art, craft, culture and society. Clay for her, is ‘like a diary’ – ‘we all come from the same soil’. At Harewood, Noha’s sculpture sits prominently on a mantlepiece in the dressing room of Princess Mary, the Countess of Harewood (herself a proponent of women’s rights), a quiet but powerful gesture amid the layers of history that surround it. The ceramic artist describes this as a ‘radical act of remembrance’. ‘I’m motivated by the invisibility of women in the arts, with a particular focus on the Global South,’ she says. ‘My project is a radical act because it celebrates women – African women – and sadly this is still radical today. We must keep challenging the history we are being told.’

Crafting Industry, Eunhye Ko

Eunhye Ko studied weaving, throwing and lacquer as part of her undergraduate course in Seoul, South Korea, before moving to London for Central Saint Martins’ Materials Futures MA – and she now sees her role as bridging the gap between craft, design and art. The objects she’s showing challenge our throwaway attitude towards household appliances through the use of unexpected materials – a ceramic hairdryer (useable) and a vacuum cleaner with a wicker basket base (not). ‘We value crafted objects more than mass-produced ones. We feel they have been carefully made, and we are pleased to own them and look after them,’ she says. ‘I want to raise awareness about our apathy towards making and consuming, and the resulting environmental crisis we face.’

Sylvascope, Sebastian Cox

The designer’s treehouse in the woods is a symbol of the ‘radical act of cutting down trees’. ‘We are planting trees at an unprecedented rate,’ he says. ‘Despite this, biodiversity within woodlands is declining.’ He advocates for better management of woodlands, rather than just planting, with attention to underground ecosystems and wildlife – and for cutting down trees where required to let in light. ‘Sylvascope is a platform in the trees from which to watch woodland during management.’