Delaine Le Bas

The Whitworth is proud to present a new major solo exhibition by Delaine Le Bas, following her recent nomination for the 2024 Turner Prize.

One of the most distinctive voices in contemporary art, Le Bas is renowned for her work addressing nationhood, belonging, gender, and identity, using a diverse range of media including embroidery, découpage, painting, sculpture, installation, and performance.

The exhibition provides new insights into Le Bas’s practice, placing her work in close dialogue with pieces selected from the Whitworth collection. It features new and recent works by Le Bas – including Un-Fair-Ground, her monumental freestanding mural created for the 2024 Glastonbury Festival – showcasing the themes and cultural motifs that energise the artist’s work: ancient, modern, and mythic spirits, alongside political and pop-cultural references.

The exhibition also includes a new installation exploring the artist’s deep engagement with magic, folklore, and witchcraft, providing a space to host works by artist peers and predecessors including Pearl Alcock, William Blake, Madge Gill, John Martin, and Paula Rego. At the heart of the exhibition is a performance space, programmed with live events and creative activities to facilitate new forms of engagement with Le Bas’s practice.

13 February – 31 May 2026

Image: Delaine Le Bas at Glastonbury Festival 2025. Courtesy the artists and Yamamoto Keiko Rochaix London. With thanks to Sam Haggarty.

Exhibition credit: The exhibition is organised by the Whitworth, The University of Manchester.