Leeds International Festival of Ideas 2023: Grief exhibition launches in Victoria Gate to kickstart festival

Projecting Grief is an online exhibition which will be coming to life at Victoria Gate from August 18 - 27 for creatives, shoppers and passersby to experience.

The exhibition was created by photographer Jo Ritchie who has been photographing bereaved people across the country who have found comfort in creativity over the past six years to be a part of the collection.

35-year-old Jo said she had never intended to start this project or to centre it around grief but the death of her brother in 2017 opened her eyes to how grief can be a “catalyst” for creativity.

It was actually conversations with other bereaved people who had creative hobbies or careers that had inspired Jo to find her own creativity and she began documenting their stories.

Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post, Jo said: “It's not always about the person that died, it's also about the people that have survived that.

“The project didn't start as my creative outlet. I just wanted to document these stories and then it grew as it did. Later on, I realised that it's come full circle and that it had become my creative outlet.”

The online project currently has 37 profiles and features people with a range of different creative pursuits, from comedy and plays to sewing and singing.

The exhibition at Victoria Gate will be followed by a number of workshops:

- Paper Flowers Workshop with Moni Escobar on Saturday August 19, 11am-11:30am

- Creative Writing Workshop with Freya Bromley on Sunday August 20, 1am-3pm

- Embroidery Workshop with Hayley Mills-Styles on Saturday August 26, 11am-1:30pm

- Spoken Word performance by Mstr Samuel on Sunday August 27, 1pm

Projecting Grief is collaborating with Leeds International Festival of Ideas 2023 to kickstart a conversation about grief ahead of its ‘How do we talk about grief?’ panel discussion with Dame Prue Leith, Dr Jamilla Hussain, Silvan Luley, Lucy Turner and Will Young. It will be taking place on September 30, at Leeds Playhouse, from 7pm-8:30pm.