Jim Brook is one of the recipients of the Working Class Creatives Database (WCCD) x YSP 2023 residency, along with artist Grace Clifford.
Brook lives and works in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. In 2020 he graduated with an MA from Leeds Arts University, having previously completed his undergraduate study at the institution in 2018. Brook uses the power of the ready-made, sculpture, photography and textiles to explore his lived experience, masculinity, home, folk culture and class. Through his art, he hopes to provide a voice and a platform for those who are often disregarded and overlooked, whilst gaining a better understanding of his own experience and life.
We have had long standing intentions to show our work together and we are using the residency to consolidate this, sharing the time and space at YSP to develop concepts and plan for our show. The residency would be a springboard for us both collaboratively, as well as individually.
- Jim Brook and Grace Clifford
The WCCD x YSP residency is open to applications for members of the WCCD and was selected in collaboration between YSP and WCCD. The residency is an opportunity for working class artists who have faced social and economic barriers to develop and move forward with their practice. Research such as the Panic! Report, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, has identified class origin as one of the most significant barriers to the culture sector.
