Inside the Lines

Location: Leeds Arts University Library, Blenheim Walk, Leeds LS2 9AQ

This exhibition is available to view from 10:00am - 4:00pm Monday to Saturday by appointment only for external visitors. To arrange a visit, please email libraryadmin@leeds-art.ac.uk. Staff and students are not required to make an appointment.

'Inside the Lines' is a presentation of seven books by photographers representing visible and invisible boundaries. Far from simply demonstrating binary divisions of one thing from another, these photographers’ interrogations make evident the vast, and often destabilising, complexities that exist along physical, social and political borders.

The borders studied are, in some cases, manifested in the building of a wall or a barbed wire fence; some boundaries are whole geographic regions of contested space between forces with opposing interests. Other boundaries are less tangible and might be enforced by laws and bureaucracy, other times by taboo and the threat of ostracization or physical harm. What each example has in common is the existence of overt or covert violence, though themes of transformation, solidarity and hope are also inherent. Certain lines are fixed and present, some have faded away, and others have been re-situated, but these photobooks allow us to glimpse the universe of experiences and memories that live along the boundaries we draw.

Part of Leeds Arts University Collections, the Special Collection is a teaching and learning resource for students and researchers. We share items from this collection in a rolling series of small exhibitions inside the university library on Blenheim Walk.

Inside the Lines – Photobook Viewing

7 May 2025 1:00pm-1:45pm
Location: Leeds Arts University Library, Blenheim Walk, Leeds LS2 9AQ

Join us for an intimate viewing of the photobooks from Inside the Lines with Charles Fox, a Photographer, Researcher and Lecturer on BA (Hons) Photography at Leeds Arts University, whose long-term projects are focusing on the legacy of conflict, looking at its multiple manifestations and how the present is affected by the rulings and actions of the past. Engaging with the Library’s latest Special Collections display, Charles will provide insights into some of the library’s photobooks on conflicted physical, social and political borders, and will discuss the visual methodologies the photographers have used to interrogate and engage with their subjects. Taking place when the exhibition has ended, the books will be free from their display cabinets and shown by hand to allow a closer viewing. Booking is essential and places are limited. Click here to book your place.