Joanne Leonard: Vintage Photographs and Early Collages

29 May-8 Jul 2025

Joanne Leonard, Another Morning, 1971, Silver gelatin print

Overview

“Artists are not turning inwards to preserve, or even indulge in the pleasures of their medium/media. They are expanding the very capacities of their mediums and media both to formulate meaning and to affect us by each artist’s aesthetic process.” Griselda Pollock

HackelBury proudly presents the first UK solo exhibition by acclaimed artist, Joanne Leonard. Vintage Photographs and Early Collages features photographs from the 1960s and 1970s and unique early collage pieces from the 1970s and 1980s. This retrospective offers an intimate look into Leonard’s artistic evolution and her innovative approach to visual storytelling.

“I’m much inspired by looking at medieval works - particularly diptychs and triptychs – these forms are sometimes hinged and have doors that fold over the artwork – then open to reveal the imagery inside…. a suggestion of time and story unfolding.” JL

Known for her evocative and deeply personal imagery, which she describes as ‘intimate documentary,’ Leonard’s work from this era captures a profound sense of time and place. Blending documentary photography with poetic, dreamlike compositions, she draws inspiration from intimate family scenes, the realities of motherhood, and the political and social unrest of the time. The works on display offer an unfiltered glimpse into life as she experienced it. Her early collages, incorporating found imagery, handwritten text, and layered textures, reflect an experimental approach which challenges conventional artistic boundaries.

“One could say that collage allows a dialog, conversation, or push and pull – a layering of the past onto images from the present, a representation of dreams and even nightmares with collage layered onto scenes made in the light of day.” JL

Leonard’s practice provides a striking glimpse into the social and cultural landscapes of the mid-20th century, portraying moments of everyday life with a deeply humanistic perspective. Underpinned by a feminist ideology, she recognises overlooked intimate and personal moments within women’s lives.

Inspired by the work of Marie Cassatt and Käthe Kollwitz, Leonard’s focus on the objects and artifacts of women’s lives is applied to both her early black and white photography, and to her photo collage and mixed media work, to create a distinct visual language.

“In artwork I’d come to know growing up, if there was a focus on women it was most often as subjects of the male gaze – nude studies were most often made by men. These did not reflect the daily lives of women – or the world from the women’s own perspectives.” JL

Artists

Press

Joanne Leonard: Vintage Photographs and Early Collages press release
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