Preview Event: Ro Robertson and Jill McKnight In-Conversation

Event description

Join us on Friday 25 July for an in-conversation event between artists Ro Robertson whose exhibition The Ribs Begin to Rise is on display in our Main Gallery, and Jill McKnight whose exhibition Past and Future Pact is available to view in our Collection Space.

The Ribs Begin to Rise is the first institutional solo show by contemporary artist Ro Robertson presenting a newly commissioned series of sculptural works alongside large-scale drawings and a video installation. Staged on the banks of the River Wear in Robertson’s hometown of Sunderland, The Ribs Begin to Rise takes inspiration from its location.

It draws on the mouth of the River Wear, Sunderland Docks, Hendon Paper Works, the ropeworks and the 700 female shipbuilders who lived and worked in Sunderland. The exhibition reflects on Robertson’s family working-class history and the materials key to the industries which came to define Robertson’s upbringing and the region.

Past and Future Pact is a new body of work by artist Jill McKnight comprising sculpture, works on paper and video inspired by Sunderland’s industrial heritage. The artworks were produced using art and design facilities at University of Sunderland while artist-in-residence for AA2A and DePOT (Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time) between 2023-24. The resulting body of work explores the identity of Sunderland 30 years on from mass closures across many heavy industries.

Please note: Due to expected demand, tickets are limited to four per person. Early booking is advised to avoid disappointment.

Preview event

Following our in-conversation event with the artists, please join us for the preview of Ro Robertson: The Ribs Begin to Rise in Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art Main Gallery and Jill McKnight: Past and Future Pact in our Collection Space.

Everyone welcome. Drinks on arrival. On-site parking available.

Find out more about our: Preview event

About the artists

Ro Robertson

Ro Robertson (they/them), (b. 1984, Sunderland, UK) is a contemporary artist based in West Cornwall. Robertson’s practice spans sculpture, drawing, painting and video, mediums through which they explore the boundaries between the human body and its environment.

Recent solo presentations include Modern Thresholds, Tate St Ives, UK (2023); Torsos, Maximillian William, London, UK (2022); Stone (Butch), The Hepworth Wakefield, UK (2019).

Recent group exhibitions include Forbidden Territories: 100 Years of Surreal Landscapes, The Hepworth Wakefield, UK (2024) ; An Axis of Abstraction: Art in Cornwall and Yorkshire – Then and Now, Leeds Art Gallery, UK (2024); Dreaming of Home, The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, US (2023); TRICKSTER FIGURES: sculpture and the body, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK (2023); We Are Floating in Space, Newlyn Art Gallery & The Exchange, Penzance, UK (2023). Robertson’s work is included in Arts Council Collection, London, UK; York Art Gallery, UK; The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art, New York, US; British Museum, London, UK; Leeds Art Gallery, UK; The Hepworth Wakefield, UK; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK; Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield, UK.

Jill McKnight

Jill McKnight (b. 1990, Sunderland, UK) is an artist working across sculpture, works on paper and moving image. Central to her practice is exploring working-class, feminist and artistic lineages to tell stories that would otherwise be lost or overlooked. From starting points of archival research, interviews, family and community knowledge, recent work has sought to platform working-class experience.

In 2021-22, McKnight was artist-in-residence for Collections in Dialogue, a co-commission between Leeds Art Gallery and the British Library, culminating in the artist’s first institutional solo exhibition Desire Lines at Leeds Art Gallery. McKnight has previously exhibited at institutions including Yorkshire Sculpture Park; South London Gallery; The Art House, Wakefield and Wysing Arts Centre. McKnight was awarded a Henry Moore Foundation Artist Award (2020) and selected as a Yorkshire Sculpture International Associate Artist (2019).

In 2024, McKnight was artist-in-residence for AA2A (Artists Access to Art Colleges) residency at University of Sunderland and remote artist-in-residence for the DePOT (Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time) international partnership.

Image: Ro Robertson: Holder Up II (detail), 2025. Courtesy of the artist and Maximillian William. Photo by Rob Harris

The Ribs Begin To Rise is generously supported by the Henry Moore Foundation.