For thousands of years, humans have used seas, rivers, and oceans as routes for trade, exploration, conquest, and colonization. During the Age of Discovery, which coincided with the Age of Sail, European explorers and traders embarked on global journeys. They aimed to map uncharted continents, exchange goods, and establish new political outposts. Imperial powers vied for control to amass wealth and influence, with individual landowners and traders reaping significant profits. However, maintaining distant colonies would have been impossible without the exploitation of slavery.
Throughout the 19th century, people were forcibly moved through a vast network of slavery, with millions packed into ships heading to Europe or North America. For London-based artist LR Vandy, the complex legacies of labor, shipping, and trade shape her unique sculptural work.
Vandy’s studio is located at Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent, a place rich with the history of wooden ships. She employs materials like Manila rope—a sturdy nautical rope derived from the abaca plant native to The Philippines—along with bobbers, navigation tools, ship helms, and wooden hull forms to delve into maritime history’s complex narratives.
In her exhibition titled Rise at The Weston Gallery in Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Vandy presents her first solo museum show. The exhibition features both new works and earlier pieces. Her latest creations place rope at the center, examining its “entanglement in human history, its role in the development of civilizations, and its inextricable links to colonial enslavement of people,” according to an exhibition statement. Everyday objects are transformed and reimagined in a continuous exploration of process and materials, highlighting “the social, economic, and political systems embedded within everyday objects.”
The centerpiece at Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a massive rope-covered structure reminiscent of a maypole, which pays homage to historic European customs celebrating community and renewal. Other pieces appear to spin or sway, resembling swirling skirts or invisible players engaged in games. “My practice focuses on the hidden human costs of colonialism, transportation systems, and commodities, and the intricate histories of trade and power they embody,” Vandy states. “The title, Rise, reflects themes of resilience, protest, liberation, and collective joy explored through rituals and dance.”
The exhibition Rise runs until September 13 in Wakefield. For more information and to plan a visit, check the park’s website, and follow Vandy on Instagram for updates.
