New works inspired by the British Library and Leeds Art Gallery collections.

Furnace Fruit debuts new artworks created especially for Leeds Art Gallery, which consider themes of labour, migration, memory and empire. The exhibition takes as its starting point the story of migrant labourers from Punjab, including members of Panesar’s own family, who came to the UK and found themselves working in automotive foundries in the 1950s and 1960s.

The anchor point of the exhibition is a two-channel film work, from which spirals out an installation including sculpture, prints and collection artworks. Central to the work is Panesar’s research into the South Asian oral history collections, held at the British Library and Bradford Industrial Museum – made available thanks to the British Library’s Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project, as well as research into the Leeds Sculpture Collections at Leeds Art Gallery and the Henry Moore Institute.

Karanjit Panesar is the recipient of the 2024 Collections in Dialogue co-commission from the British Library and Leeds Art Gallery. More information can be found about the co-commission here.

Image: Film still from Karanjit Panesar, Furnace Fruit, 2024