Meadow Arts is proud to announce Monument to the Vanquished Peasant, a solo exhibition by artist and writer Leah Gordon, commissioned by Meadow Arts and presented at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum this October, in partnership with Coventry Biennial. 

Developed over the past three years, the project reflects on the lasting impact of the enclosure acts and loss of commons  asking how histories of evictions, loss of rights, quashed rebellions and widespread displacement continue to shape the systems and politics we live with today.

The exhibition will feature the previous series The Commoners and Rural Rebels, as well as the newly  commissioned chapter, Vagabonds, which includes constructed portraits, new photography and a suite of images made with Coventry allotment holders. A special display from celebrated  author and image-collector Stephen Ellcock, as well as objects from the Museum of English Rural Life’s collection will contextualise this significant exhibition. 

Anne de Charmant (Artistic Director and Curator, Meadow Arts) says:

Leah has been working on this monumental project, commissioned by Meadow Arts, since 2022. For this final phase, which brings together all the different strands of the project, Meadow Arts has chosen to temporarily move away from its rural base and into Coventry. The city is one of the urban centres where so many rural folk, dispossessed by enclosure, sought survival, but all too often fell through the cracks of the new industrial Society.

Anne highlights:

Collaborating with the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum and Coventry Biennial offers a powerful opportunity to bring this important body of work to new audiences.

Monument to the Vanquished Peasant will take place at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum (3 October 2025 – 25 January 2026).

The Commoners were commissioned and supported by Meadow Arts and GRAIN Projects.
Rural Rebels and Vagabonds were commissioned by Meadow Arts.

The fifth Coventry Biennial Obsessions, Possessions will take place from the 3 October 2025 – 25 January 2026, across Coventry and Warwickshire. Coventry Biennial 2025 is generously funded through Arts Council England’s National Lottery Project Grants.