Dreaming of Dead Fish

Dreaming of Dead Fish is a solo exhibition of new artworks by Hannah Leighton-Boyce commissioned by Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival and informed by research in Warrington Museum & Art Gallery stores and archives. For the exhibition, Leighton-Boyce presents un-accessioned items in the museum collection alongside glass, soot, and slide film and projection. Encounters and conversations with the collection led Leighton-Boyce to explore themes of visibility and reflection in her research and studio practice. These themes are translated through the relationship between the works and their considered display within the gallery environment. The materials and processes chosen act like a series of extended moments and pauses; they attest to the fragility of experience.  

Hannah Leighton-Boyce (b. 1980, Stroud) lives and works in Manchester, England. Her sculptural works range from site-specific and ephemeral actions, to drawing, sound and installation. Recent works include a collaborative live sculpture made with residents of Helmshore, Lancashire (2014), set within the context of the area’s industrial heritage; and an audio installation at Touchstones Rochdale (2016) funded by a New Opportunities Award [New Expressions3], which explored ideas of disembodiment and labour through the resonant properties and work history of objects within the museum’s collection. Instruments of Industry was pressed on 10” vinyl and released in 2017 with Folklore Tapes’ Industrial Folklore Series.

Please note this exhibition is only open during selected times: Wednesday – Saturday, 12noon – 4pm