Helen Hamilton (b. Sheffield, UK) grew up with a car mechanic for a father and a sewing machinist for a mother, which is probably where all this began.
Combining irreverent humour with a deep interest in the physical and associative properties of materials, Hamilton’s work creates a cast of characters that situate the art object as a place of porosity and slippage between the positions of ‘subject’ and ‘object’; questioning what can exist in the space between these dualities. Using materials and forms which reference the human/animal the work seeks to investigate whether these elements have an effect on its perceived potential for animacy, and what feelings of kinship and revulsion are evoked when we recognise facets of our own physicality removed from their familiar arrangement and rendered unfamiliar or uncanny.
Hamilton’s practice originates from thinking around encounters with ‘non-human actors’ and the act of living alongside these other bodies, with her research based in material culture studies, social history, and object-oriented ontology. Underpinning this is her own experience as a working-class artist and the effects of this on her beliefs in the value of labour and craft, and its embodiment in an object through making and social placement.
She is interested in sentimentality, homemade children’s fancy dress costumes, post-industrial UK towns, magic(k)al thinking, body horror, and that feeling you get when you lock eyes with a stuffed animal.
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Helen is currently based in London, where she has recently graduated from MA in Sculpture at the Royal College of Art.
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Education
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MA Sculpture; Royal College of Art 2024 - 2025.
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Syllabus VI; jointly delivered by Wysing Arts Centre, Iniva, Spike Island, Eastside Projects, and Studio Voltaire. Sept 2020 -November 2021. More information here.
BA Fine Art & History of Art (joint honours); Goldsmiths, University of London 2012-2015.
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Current & Upcoming​
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Cheapside; presented by Hypha. No. 1 Poultry, London. 12th December 2025 - 17th January 2026.
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Solo & Duo
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2022 Gossamer Skin; solo show at Assembly House, Leeds.
2019 Making Space; commissioned by Index Festival. The Ridings Centre Wakefield.
2017 Knucklebones; duo show with Flora Scott. serf Leeds.
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Group
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2025 Art Furnitureland; The Bomb Factory, 99 Kingsway, London.
2025 RCA MA Sculpture Graduate Show; Sculpture Studios, Royal College of Art.
2024 Festus; Hangar Gallery, Royal College of Art, London.
2024 Baby Steps; Sculpture Project Space, Royal College of Art, London.
2023 Collective Unconscious: An Assembly House Showcase; Aire Place Mills, Leeds.
2023 An Elastic Continuum; S1 Artspace, Sheffield.
2022 Summer Camp Show; Eastside Projects, Birmingham.
2022 Put Your Feet Up; Assembly House + Hyde Park Art Club, Hyde Park Book Club, Leeds.
2020 Members Show 2020; Bloc Projects, Sheffield.
2019 Fun; curated by Graft. Lancaster Central Library.
2019 Club Editions; commissioned by Club and Index Festival. Leeds.
2016 Lick It Up, Baby, Lick It Up; Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun, Leeds.
2016 Paint By Number launch exhibition; The Brunswick, Leeds.
2015 The Artificial Exhibition; Safehouse 1, London.
2015 Silent Movies; Q-Park Cavendish Square, London.
2015 Glomer; hARTSlane Studios, London.
2015 Goldsmiths Fine Art & History of Art Degree Show; Goldsmiths University of London.
2015 Permeations of the Self; Goldsmiths University of London.
2015 Misbehaviour; Mile End Art Pavillion, London.
2014 Misbehaviour; CMR Gallery, Redruth.
2014 The Middle; The Rag Factory, London.
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Residencies & Awards
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2024/25 The President and Vice-Chancellor’s UK Cost of Living Scholarship, awarded by Royal College of Art
2022 Howarth Trust sponsored Castlefield Gallery Associate membership
2015 The Whittingdale Residency, London.
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Writing
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2022 Infection; Collaborative publication with SPAM zine and Syllabus VI.
2017-2018 Life 2.0 pavilion, curated by isthisit?, The Wrong Biennial.
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Projects, Workshops, & Talks
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2025 Visiting artist talk and guest tutorials, University of Derby.
2025 Abstract Erotic research workshop with The Courtauld Institute of Art.
2018 Workshop with Harris Young Producers and Blaze Arts, Preston.
2018 Making Matters; community workshop series with Club and Yorkshire Sculpture International.
2017-2019 Member and co-founder of Club.
2014 The Middle; curatorial project. The Rag Factory, London.
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Press & Print
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2016 Paint By Number magazine, Issue #1
2015 Interview with The Leopard, June edition.
2014 The Middle reviewed by Cassone Art, June edition.
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Contact​​
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helen.rose.hamilton(at)gmail.com​​
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