Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) has added three significant new outdoor sculptures to the landscape by Vanessa da Silva, Auke de Vries and Damien Hirst, each offering thought-provoking encounters with contemporary art in the open air.

Set in 500 acres of historic landscape comprising parkland, woodland, formal gardens, heritage landmarks and lakes, these new additions join a display of over 90 outdoor works by some of the world’s leading artists, in Europe’s largest sculpture park.

Indoor exhibitions to experience include Marshmallow Laser Feast: Of the Oak, William Kentridge: The Pull of Gravity and Andrew Waddington: Betwixt and Between, The Poetry of Landscape and Jordy Kerwick: One to Give. One to Take Away.

Auke de Vries, The Watchtower, 2000
Country Park

Auke de Vries, one of the Netherlands’ most esteemed sculptors, is celebrated for works that hover gracefully between drawing and architecture, translating memory, movement and environment into elegant spatial compositions.

YSP has a longstanding relationship with de Vries, and in 2000–2001 presented Living in Trees, an exhibition developed after the artist spent time immersed in the grounds. He became particularly captivated by the trees, observing their movement and shifting patterns of light and recording their forms in sketches that would later inform his sculpture.

The Watchtower emerged directly from these observations and was conceived in dialogue with YSP’s landscape. The motif has long been part of de Vries’s imagination, rooted in his childhood in The Hague during World War II, when structures of surveillance punctuated daily life. With The Watchtower, however, he transforms a symbol of conflict into one of benevolence. Rather than being associated with control, this sculpture becomes an invitation to look outwards, to listen, and to experience the landscape with curiosity and empathy.

With its tall, slender stem The Watchtower mirrors the upward reach of a tree’s trunk and at its summit like a canopy a cluster of geometric boxes forms a treehouse-like structure. Windows frame views of the surrounding landscape, while its inaccessibility enhances its mystery and purpose. de Vries invites visitors to shift the way they move through and perceive a place, inviting openness, alertness, and a new point of view.

Damien Hirst, The Martyr – Saint Bartholomew, 2019
The Camellia House

The Martyr – Saint Bartholomew occupies the powerful intersection of scientific inquiry and religious devotion – a space of ambiguity and possibility that has shaped the artist’s practice for decades. “I like the confusion you get between science and religion,” said Hirst. “That’s where belief lies, and art as well.”

The work draws on a long lineage of Christian art depicting Saint Bartholomew, one of the Twelve Apostles, whose martyrdom became a testing ground for artists’ anatomical mastery. Hirst follows this tradition whilst reinventing its psychological and symbolic dimensions for a contemporary audience. YSP’s own Chapel, coincidentally, is also dedicated to St Bartholomew. 

Inspired by Italian sculptor Marco d’Agrate’s 16th-century sculpture in the Duomo di Milano, where the saint stands draped in his own flayed skin, Hirst shifts the narrative by placing scissors and a scalpel in the figure’s hands. The suggestion of self-inflicted suffering complicates conventional portrayals of martyrdom, introducing a blend of agency, endurance, and complexity. The reference also extends into popular mythology when Hirst likens the figure to Edward Scissorhands, a character similarly caught between innocence and harm, tenderness and violence. 

The Martyr – Saint Bartholomew also arises from Hirst’s formative visual memories of woodcuts and etchings he observed. Raised in a Catholic household in Leeds, he grew up surrounded by sacred imagery where fear, beauty, and ritual intertwined. As a student, he sketched corpses in a mortuary to confront his own fear of death; early experiences that shaped the development of the artist’s visual language. 

Installed in the Camellia House, the latest addition joins three of Hirst’s works already on display at YSP – Charity (2002-2003), The Hat Makes the Man (2004-2007) and The Virgin Mother (2005-2006).

Vanessa da Silva, Muamba Posy, 2025
Country Park

Commissioned by Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, Vanessa da Silva’s Muamba Posy was first exhibited on the moors of Penistone Hill near Haworth, West Yorkshire, before continuing on its journey to YSP. Its large organic forms and vivid colours were inspired by the areas’s ever changing cycles of nature, where life has continuously adapted over time.

Around 300 million years ago, in the Carboniferous period, Penistone Hill was part of a lush tropical forest with a climate similar to today’s Amazon. The sculptures draw on the flora and fauna of that ancient ecosystem while also reflecting the contemporary landscape, echoing indigenous plants such as heather and bilberry. Muamba Posy’s metallic tones evoke species adapted to mineral-rich soils, creating a visual bridge between deep geological time and the living ecosystems that surround us today.

Muamba Posy evolves ideas seen in Da Silva’s earlier work Muamba Grove (2019), displayed in YSP’s Lower Park. They explore movement and transformation, bodies in flux shaped by the landscape and each other, inviting interaction between sculpture, the human body, and the environment.

“I see the sculptures as a space for people to gather, to pause and connect with the nature around them… I’d like visitors to leave with a sense of calm, connection, but also joy,” Da Silva explains.

The work also reflects da Silva’s own identity as a Brazilian living in the UK, exploring the interplay of cultural migration and transformation. Its title is a combination of Brazilian Portuguese and English words; Muamba - a slang term for smuggling goods across borders – together with Posy, a small bouquet of flowers.

Commenting on the new works at YSP, Head of Programmes, Dr. Alex Hodby said:“These three exceptional works exemplify the ambition and international vision that define Yorkshire Sculpture Park. De Vries brings a profound sensitivity to place and memory; da Silva animates the landscape with vibrant reflections on time, ecology, and identity, and Hirst compels us to engage with questions of belief, suffering, and the human form. Together, these sculptures invite our audiences to wander, reflect, and rediscover the dynamic conversation between art, and the natural world.”

Notes for Editors 
Auke de Vries
Auke de Vries (b.1937) studied painting at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague before working as a painter and graphic designer. He turned decisively to sculpture in the 1970s, retaining the sensibility of drawing: lines extended into three dimensions, compositions built through balance and clarity. He has exhibited internationally, with public commissions in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Barcelona.

Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst (b.1965) studied at Leeds College of Art and Goldsmiths, University of London. Widely recognised as one of the most influential artists of his generation, he works across sculpture, installation, painting, and drawing. His work is held in major public collections including the British Museum, Tate, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Vanessa da Silva
Vanessa da Silva (b.1976) works across sculpture, installation, and performance, exploring nationality, identity, migration, and displacement. She studied painting at the Royal College of Art, London, and has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally. Muamba Posy was commissioned by Bradford City of Culture 2025 for the Wild Uplands sculpture trail, reaffirming YSP’s commitment to site-responsive work that connects audiences with place, history, and community.

Press enquiries
Mana Merikhy, Sutton / +44 (0)20 7183 3577 / mana@suttoncomms.com
YSP / +44 (0)1924 832 631 / comms@ysp.org.uk  
Download images at ysp.org.uk/press

Listings information
Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, Wakefield WF4 4LG
Near Wakefield and Barnsley – M1 Junction 38
+44 (0)1924 832631 | ysp.org.uk | @YSPsculpture
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