Two works by two women artists Haegue Yang and Nour Jaouda have been acquired at Frieze London through the CAS Collections Fund at Frieze 2024 for The Hepworth Wakefield. Echoing the legacy of sculptor Barbara Hepworth (1903–1975), each artist’s work explores the conceptual and material tensions between the organic and industrial, fragmentation and regeneration, as well alluding more broadly to contemporary geopolitics. The works add to the institution’s rich history of collecting sculpture by international women artists.
The two acquired works display innovative and versatile use of materials that engage with art historical traditions in the Western and Eastern traditions. The two artists, Haegue Yang and Nour Jaouda will be represented for the first time in the collection of The Hepworth Wakefield.
Eleanor Clayton, Head of Collection and Exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield:
‘We are so grateful to CAS for this incredible opportunity to purchase work for Wakefield’s collection at Frieze. The Hepworth Wakefield has no acquisition budget, so funds like this offer a rare chance to research and select acquisitions which make a pivotal impact on the collection. We’re thrilled to be acquiring work by Haegue Yang and Nour Jaouda, artists whose work references contemporary politics – particularly questions of migration and belonging – through judicious choices of materials, a new twist on the idea of ‘truth to materials’ that was at the heart of Barbara Hepworth’s practice. These acquisitions mark a significant shift towards the collection’s international ambitions, while connecting to Hepworth’s legacy.’
Haegue Yang (b. 1971 Seoul, Korea) is based between Berlin and Seoul. Her wide-ranging multidisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, installation, video and performance. Works allude to the themes of migration, displacement and the intersection of the personal and political – conveyed through visual abstraction and sensory experiences accentuated through scent, sound, light and tactility. Inventive and immersive, Yang’s practice captures personal experiences, myriad cultural identities as well as different epochs of history. Deploying industrial materials such as stainless steel, brass and metal rings, to materials from folk craftsmanship such as Korean hanji paper and hand-knitted yarn, her work refers to the cultures of both modern and pre-modern times. Her artistic vocabulary draws from a number of sources, referencing modern avant-garde movements in art history, to literature, postcolonial thought as well as East Asian customs and folklore. Subtly charged with political agency, themes such as exile and social mobility regularly appear in the artist’s works, inviting viewers to contemplate shifting, global perspectives. The artist’s solo show Haegue Yang: Leap Year opened at the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre on 9th October, marking the artist’s first major survey in a UK public institution.
Sonic Gym - Milky Coiffured Cosmic Compression (2019) derives from the series Sonic Sculptures (2013-ongoing), in which many of the sculptural works are made of bells. A medium of both functional and ceremonial purpose, bells are found in various civilizations, from tribal societies to the modern era, adding a layer of mythic and ritualistic memory to Yang’s ambitious works. When rotated manually the Sonic Gym sculptures produce unique visual patterns and acoustics, generating a sensorial visual experience and transforming the gallery space from static silence to an emotionally charged site of ritual.
Nour Jaouda (b. 1997 Libya) is based between Cairo and London. Her large-scale textile based work stands at the threshold of painting and sculpture. Drawing inspiration from the textures and colours of her immediate surroundings between two cosmopolitan cities, her work is particularly inspired by the prayer mats seen ubiquitously in Egypt. Typically suspended as wall hangings and tapestries – or stitched onto scraps from bent steel to form installations – Jaouda’s work is intricately layered and fragmented; translating into abstract visual landscapes that evoke the meditative spaces of religious ritual. The detail of the cut and tear symbolically draws out the tensions between destruction and creation, rupture and repair, while speaking more broadly to the fraught legacies of colonial history and modern day geopolitics. The action and process of threading and rooting metaphorically speaks to a sense of displacement, uprooting or fabricating of the self. Poetic, personal and political, the artist’s work is imbued with harmony and discord.
The textile work Dust that never settles (2024) is comprised of dyed fabrics and pigment on canvas. In dark, earthy hues as well as vibrant blues and ochre yellows, the work provides a visual cacophony of colour and texture.
Caroline Douglas, Director, Contemporary Art Society:
‘The Hepworth Wakefield has become one of the most dynamic collections of contemporary art in the UK. Their particular focus on women artists has an international perspective and champions emerging talent as well as representing more established artists. Nour Jaouda and Haegue Yang are emblematic of this distinctive collecting policy. In this eighth year bringing the CAS Collections Fund to Frieze London, the committee has been delighted to support both a major sculpture by Haegue Yang and a compelling new wall-based work by Jaouda, an artist who has been much in the limelight this year. We all look forward to seeing the works on display in Wakefield in the near future.’
Notes to Editors:
1. ABOUT THE COLLECTIONS FUND AT FRIEZE
Founded in 2012, the Contemporary Art Society’s Collections Fund is designed to support the acquisition of significant contemporary works for Contemporary Art Society museum members across the UK. For 2024 the Contemporary Art Society is once again partnering with Frieze London, with the Collections Fund at Frieze purchasing two major works at the fair for The Hepworth Wakefield. A key aim of the scheme is to draw together the knowledge, experience and expertise of private collectors with that of museum curators in a programme of research leading to an acquisition. Past acquisitions through the Collections Fund have included works by Simon Fujiwara for Leeds Art Gallery in 2013; Ben Rivers for Royal Pavilion & Museum, Brighton & Hove, and Bristol Museum & Art Gallery in 2014; Hito Steyerl for GoMA, Glasgow in 2015; John Akomfrah and Kader Attia for MIMA (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) in 2016; Dineo Seshee Bopape for Towner Eastbournein 2017; Kehinde Wiley and Zadie Xa for The Box, Plymouth in 2018; Zanele Muholi for Nottingham Castle Museum & Art Gallery in 2019; Sunil Gupta, Hetain Patel, and Billie Zangewa for the Harris Museum & Art Gallery in 2021;Ibrahim Mahama for Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery in 2022, and Grada Kilomba, Goshka Macuga, and Pamela Phatismo Sunstrum for the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge in 2023.
The 2024 Collections Fund at Frieze is co-chaired by Liesl Fichardt and Nicola Blake. The committee includes Charlotte Artus, Nicola Avery-Gee, Whitney Gore, Soo Hitchin, Stephanie Holmquist, Beatrice Lupton, Marcelle Joseph, Suling Mead, Minka Nyberg, Katrina Reitman and Pamela Stanger.
2. ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Haegue Yang
Haegue Yang (b. 1971 Seoul, Korea) is fast becoming one of the most prominent contemporary artists to emerge from South Korea. Her multi-disciplinary work spans sculpture, to paper collage, sensorial installations and environments. Her work invites perception beyond the visual, creating immersive, politically-charged spaces that touch upon issues to do with global cultural exchange, labour, migration and displacement.
Yang's notable solo exhibitions have included: Haegue Yang, Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Brazil; Continuous Reenactments, Helsinki Art Museum (HAM), Finland (2023); Latent Dwelling, Kukje Gallery, Seoul; Haegue Yang: Several Reenactments, S. M. A. K., Ghent, Belgium; Haegue Yang: Changing From From To From, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra (all 2023); Haegue Yang: Strange Attractors, Tate St Ives, UK (2020) and Tracing Movements, South London Gallery (2019). Yang is represented by Kukje Gallery and Galerie Chantal Crousel.
Nour Jaouda
Nour Jaouda (b. 1997 Libya) is a Libyan-born artist based between Cairo and London. She works at the intersection between painting, sculpture and installation. Strongly inspired by the tactility and physical properties of her materials, Jaouda’s work is driven by a deep satisfaction in the process of making; relishing in the slow, physical and felt processes of fabricating hand-dyed textiles. Often beginning with the cutting of fabric, the artist then proceeds to dye and layer, building interwoven and threaded tapestries of colour that are both beguiling and enigmatic. The continuous action of destruction and construction, rupture and repair informs the foundation of her practice, which is non-representational but loaded with political and symbolic significance.
Jaouda has a BFA from The Ruskin School of Art, Oxford University, and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art, London. Solo exhibitions include: Art Basel Statements (with Union Pacific), Basel, Switzerland (2024); Where, if not faraway, is my place?, Union Pacific, London (2023). Selected group exhibitions include: Being Mediterranean, M.O.C.O. Panacée, Montpellier, France (2024), On Feeling, curated by Peter Davies, The Approach, London, UK (2024), and Foreigners Everywhere, 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, Venice, Italy (2024). Jaouda is represented by Union Pacific.
3. ABOUT CONTEMPORARY ART SOCIETY
The Contemporary Art Society champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft in the UK. Since 1910 the charity has donated thousands of works by living artists to museums, from Pablo Picasso, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore in their day, through to the influential artists of our times, like Kehinde Wiley, and Sonia Boyce. Sitting at the heart of cultural life in the UK, the Contemporary Art Society brokers philanthropic support for the benefit of museums and their audiences across the entire country. Their work ensures that the story of art continues to be told now and for future generations. www.contemporaryartsociety.org
4. ABOUT THE HEPWORTH WAKEFIELD
The Hepworth Wakefield cares for more than 5,000 artworks in the Wakefield Permanent Art Collection. The gallery builds on the pioneering reputation of the former Wakefield Art Gallery, established in 1934, which became one of the most forward-thinking galleries of its time, establishing a national reputation for its progressive collecting policy and ground-breaking exhibitions. Founded with gifts from local industrialists, Wakefield Art Gallery exhibited, and collected works by, some of the most significant and avant-garde British artists of the twentieth century, including Hepworth and Moore, both born in the Wakefield district. Supporting contemporary artists and developing the collection for future generations is something that The Hepworth Wakefield continues to be committed to today. www.hepworthwakefield.org
5. ABOUT FRIEZE
Frieze is a leading platform for modern and contemporary art dedicated to scholars, connoisseurs, collectors and the general public alike. Frieze comprises three magazines – frieze, Frieze Masters Magazine and Frieze Week – and numerous international art fairs. Frieze is part of the IMG network.
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