{"id":381684,"date":"2026-04-16T01:32:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T01:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/381684\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T01:32:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T01:32:29","slug":"lr-vandys-rope-sculptures-disentangle-histories-of-colonialism-and-transportation-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/381684\/","title":{"rendered":"LR Vandy’s Rope Sculptures Disentangle Histories of Colonialism and Transportation \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

For millennia, humans have navigated seas, rivers, and oceans as avenues for trade, exploration, conquest, and colonization. During the Age of Discovery<\/a>\u2014an era interwoven with what\u2019s known as the Age of Sail<\/a>\u2014European explorers and traders embarked on journeys around the world to map previously uncharted continents, trade commodities, and establish new socio-political outposts. Imperial forces competed with one another to control as much as they could, all in the name of wealth and power, and individual landowners and traders profited immensely. But sustaining a presence in far-flung places would never have been remotely possible, nevertheless successful, without slavery.<\/p>\n

Well into the 19th century, humans were transported through a vast slave network<\/a>, with millions crammed aboard ships bound for various parts of Europe or North America. For London-based artist LR Vandy<\/a>, the layered and often fraught legacies of labor, shipping, and trade undergird a distinctive sculptural practice.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cSpinning a Yarn\u201d (2025). Photo by India Hobson <\/p>\n

Vandy\u2019s studio is based at Chatham Historic Dockyard<\/a> in Kent, where the history of wooden ships is alive and well. She uses materials such as Manila rope\u2014a thick nautical rope made from the abaca plant, which is native to The Philippines\u2014bobbers, navigation equipment, ship\u2019s helms, hull-shaped wooden forms, and more, to explore the tangles of maritime history.<\/p>\n

Vandy\u2019s exhibition titled Rise, in The Weston Gallery at Yorkshire Sculpture Park<\/a>, marks the artist\u2019s first solo museum show. Many of the works seen here are included in the show, while others represent earlier pieces. In her most recent work, the rope is a central focus as she explores its \u201centanglement in human
history, its role in the development of civilisations, and its inextricable links to colonial enslavement of people,\u201d says an exhibition statement. Everyday objects are repurposed and manipulated in an ongoing inquiry into process and materials, especially \u201cdrawing attention to the social, economic and political systems embedded within everyday objects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anchoring the space at Yorkshire Sculpture Park is a giant, rope-covered form evocative of a maypole, nodding to historic European folk traditions that celebrate community, ritual, and regeneration. Other objects appear to spin or sway, as if skirts are swishing or invisible players move through a series of games. \u201cMy practice centres the hidden human costs of colonialism, transportation systems and commodities, and the knotted histories of trade and power they contain,\u201d Vandy says in a statement. \u201cThe title, Rise, references ideas of resilience, protest, liberation, and collective joy explored through rituals and dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rise continues through September 13 in Wakefield. Learn more and plan your visit on the park\u2019s website<\/a>, and follow Vandy on Instagram<\/a> for updates.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Detail of \u201cSpinning a Yarn.\u201d Photo by India Hobson<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cTransmitter\u201d (2023), wood, metal, and plastic, 47 x 19 x 14 centimeters. Courtesy of the artist and October Gallery, London<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cDancing in Time: The Ties That Bind Us.\u201d Installation view of \u2018Rise\u2019 (2026), Yorkshire Sculpture Park, in collaboration with October Gallery. Photo by India Hobson<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cHeavy Is The Head That Wears The Crown: Flotilla No.1\u201d (2020), wood and metal, 150 x 112 centimeters. Courtesy of the artist and October Gallery, London<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cSpinning in Time: Isis\u201d (2024, Manila rope, wood, metal, copper and red cotton, 85 x 30 x 30 centimeters. \u00a9 LR Vandy. Courtesy of the artist and October Gallery, London<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cLinked\u201d (2023), wood, rope, and metal, 63 x 25 x 20 centimeters. \u00a9 LR Vandy. Courtesy of the artist and October Gallery, London<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Installation view of \u2018Rise.\u2019 Photo by India Hobson<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cSpinning in Time: Net\u201d (2024), Manila rope, wood, metal, copper, and red cotton, 73 x 15 x 15 centimeters<\/p>\n

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