Self portrait, 2025.

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'Leah Hickey is an artist led by heartache; her anguish is embodied in the work she produces. The pain, memory and fleeting phrase of the performative femininity she presents is transcribed and made tactile in the permanence of stone and scripture.

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Blending the truths of lived experience with English Romantic poetry and Christian and Druidic death ritual, Leah streams rhythmic verse that at once touches and negates the viewer as they feel mutually seen, beseeched and confronted by a voice unknown.'

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— Meg Stuart, Curator, Gallery No. 32.

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info(at)leahhickey.com

​​@leahrhickey​​

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Founder, Tentative Press 

Studio Holder, free house

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Education

2022-23 School of the Damned (online).

2018 First Class BA (Hons) Fine Art, Birmingham School of Art (BCU), Birmingham (UK).

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Exhibitions

2025 For you, forever and always [solo], curated by Adam Grainger, Forth, Nottingham (UK) [TBA].

2025 Pushing the Envelope: An Exhibition of Mailed and Correspondence Art [group],

curated by Lucy Helton, The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley (UK), [TBA].

2025 free house x GLOAM, curated by Stu Burke and Victoria Sharples, GLOAM Gallery,
Sheffield (UK), (16 - 25/05/25)

2025 Winter Sculpture Park 2025, curated by Meg Stuart, Gallery No. 32, London (UK), 01/03 -

26/04/25.

2025 We Want Cobs and Roses Too, curated by Ewan Johnston, 01902, 28/02 - 31/03/25.

2024 Are the Stones Standing Still [group], with Prayer Room, Studio Cybi, The Field, Pink and

Test Space, curated by Dinosaur Kilby, Staffordshire St, London (UK), 30/08 - 01/09/24.

2024 Assembly [group], curated by Deborah Robinson, The New Art Gallery Walsall (NAGW), 

Walsall (UK), 09/08 - 17/11/24.

2024 MORE ART INC. [group], curated by Dinosaur Kilby and Emily Scarrott, Wolverhampton Art

Gallery, Wolverhampton, (UK), 06 - 28/07/24.

2023 Hall of Mirrors [group], curated by Georgia Stephenson, PLOP Gallery, London (UK), 16 -

29/10/24.

2023 Summer Camp 2023 [group], curated by Dinosaur Kilby, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (UK),

04 - 05/08/23.

2022 Summer Camp 2022 [group], curated by Borbola Soos, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (UK),

07 - 15/10/22.

2022 How to Get Attention When You’re Drowning [solo], curated by Dinosaur Kilby and Yas Lime,

Cheap Cheap Gallery, Birmingham (UK), 05/08 - 25/09/22.

2022 West Midlands Open [group], curated by Zoë Lippett, The New Art Gallery Walsall

(NAGW), Walsall (UK), 20/05 - 25/09/22.

2021 Photocopies [group], curated by Andrew Gillespie, Recent Activity, Birmingham (UK), 08 -

29/10/21.

2021 OFF-SITE [group], curated by Dinosaur Kilby, Cheap Cheap Gallery, Birmingham (UK), 10 -

15/08/21.

2021 PASTE UP [Installation], curated by Dinosaur Kilby Cheap Cheap Gallery, Birmingham (UK),

16/04 - 18/05/21.

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Curation

2024 A Mother’s Love [duo], Cáit and Éiméar McClay, Prayer Room, Birmingham (UK), 05/07 -

15/09/24.

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Talks / Readings

2025 Participatory Artist in Conversation with Leah Hickey [talk], I hadn’t finished talking to you yet,
Rame Projects, Cornwall (UK), 26/04/25.

2024 In Conversation [talk] with Jamal Lloyd Davies and Tomilola Olumide, The New Art Gallery

Walsall (NAGW), Walsall (UK), 09/11/24.

2024 Making a Living [talk], Birmingham School of Art (BCU), Birmingham (UK), 11/10/24.

2024 In Conversation [talk] with Cáit and Éiméar McClay, Prayer Room, Birmingham (UK), 

06/09/24.

2024 [talk] Syllabus VII at Prayer Room, Birmingham (UK), 02/08/24.

2024 An Ode to the Gallery [reading], From Where I Speak: The Printing Room, Issue 1, Multistory

BCN Journal, Lightwoods House, Smethwick (UK), 11/07/24.

2023 [talk] Eastside Projects, G39, Spike Island and MA Contemporary Art Practice, Royal College

of Art (RCA) at Prayer Room, Birmingham (UK), 24/11/23.

2023 Grief: A Love Letter [reading] with Grace Ndiritu and Eastside Projects, Digbeth Arts Space,

Birmingham (UK), 29/04/23.

2022 To MA or Not to MA [panel discussion], Birmingham School of Art (BCU), Birmingham (UK),

24/10/22.

2022 Offering [reading], Ikon Small Press Fair, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (UK), 16/10/22.

2022 Artists in Conversation with Lubaina Himid CBE [panel discussion], with Haseebah Ali, Helen

Grundy and Round Lemon, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMaG), Birmingham (UK),

23/08/22.

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Commissions

2024 Live Art Writers Network, performingborders and FIERCE Festival.

2024 Offering, Centre for Contemporary Art Derry (CCA).

2024 An Ode to the Gallery, The Printing Room Issue 1, Multistory BCN Journal.

2022 My Heart for Found Cities, Lost Objects: Women in the City, in collaboration with Arts Council

Collections, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (BMaG), Southbank Centre and 

BuildHollywood.

2021 EXOTIC/EROTIC for COMMODITIES, curated by Tanaka Saburi, The Molasses Gallery

supported by BuildHollywood and JackArts.

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Press / Features

Communion, Anneka French for This Is Tomorrow, 26/09/24.

I’m feeling this, it hurts, Georgia Stephenson for 500 Review, 21/08/24.

A Mother’s Love Is the Exhibition Exploring Catholicism Through Y2K Aesthetics, Lauren

O’Neill for Polyester Zine, 16/08/24.

The pick of the city’s art galleries, Matt Nation for The Guardian, 12/04/24.

Young Artists in Conversation (YAC) with Adam Grainger, 26/09/23.

CCA Introducing: Leah Hickey, Centre for Contemporary Art Derry (CCA), 14/09/22.

A Letter to Leah Hickey, Emily Scarrott for Artist Newsletter (a-n), 31/08/22.

Birmingham Billboard Project, Arts Council Collection, 22/08/22.

The White Pube’s Guide to Summer Art Exhibitions, Gabriella de la Puente and Zarina

Muhammad of The White Pube for Lazy Oaf, 05/08/22.

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Print / Publications

Emotional Outbursts: Year Three [2025, TBA].

Emotional Outbursts: Year Two, 2024

Emotional Outbursts: Year One, 2023

Emotional Outbursts (online), 2022-Present

Grief (In Few Forms), 2022

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Work / Teaching

Belated Valentines, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, Wolverhampton (UK), 2025

Programme Assistant, Grand Union, Birmingham (UK), 2025

A Letter to No One, Throes of Grief (online), 2024

Community Day, The New Art Gallery Walsall (NAGW), Walsall (UK), 2024

Co-Director, Prayer Room, Birmingham (UK), 2023-2024

Poem for a Potential Darling, Eastside Projects, Birmingham (UK), 2023

Family Saturday, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (UK), 2023

Visiting Lecturer in Fine Art, Birmingham School of Art (BCU), Birmingham (UK), 2022-2023

Information Assistant, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (UK), 2022-2023

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Awards

Developing Your Creative Practice (DYCP), Arts Council England (ACE), 2025

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