Gestures of Protest and Pride

Friday the 15^th August was a significant day for the ever-innovative Mill Gallery as they launched “The Peoples Gallery” a new free space dedicated to accessible, inclusive, and community-led creativity, made possible with support from the Peoples Postcode Lottery.

The evening proved to be a massive success as it brought a broad range of ages who soaked up the intoxicating works of art from a diverse collection of artistic styles. Each piece delivering a powerful story

The first night attendees were treated to the collection titled “Gestures”, the debut exhibition from the Resilient Artist Cohort: six Leeds-based artists embarking on a year-long journey of artistic growth and collaboration. This live, evolving show explores how movement, mark-making, and intention shape creative practice. From emotionally layered landscapes and vibrant strokes alive with energy, to abstract compositions rooted in memory and heritage, Gesture invites you into a space where process and possibility meet. It’s an open-ended experiment — and just the beginning.

The first exhibition in the Peoples Gallery is the amazing and thought-provoking “Protest & Pride” which is a celebration of LGBTQIA+ creativity, protest and radical joy. This powerful show brings together artists using their work to speak up, resist, and connect, from political movements to personal acts of defiance.⁠ The exhibition is about anger and celebration, resilience and visibility because art can be protest, and joy can be resistance too.⁠

This exhibition runs alongside the Mill Gallery’s workshop “Art of Protest: Creative Solidarity with the Trans Community”, and together they open a new chapter in the venue’s mission to make art more accessible, inclusive, and shaped by the local community.⁠

The Exhibition runs from 15^th August until 5^th September and shows again what an important role the gallery is in providing in promoting art in all its forms to the West Leeds community.