Solidarity is a Verb
Curated by Saba Siddiqui
Featuring: Al-Tayeb Abdallah, Faiz Abubakr, Hafifa Ahmed, Hamza Ashraf, Finn Dobson, Seanna Doonan, Omer Elnour, Saba Siddiqui
Exhibition Open Daily 17.11.2026 - 03.01.2027 / 9.30am - late
Hyde Park Book Club, 27-29 Otley Road, Leeds, LS6 1BL
Solidarity is a Verb brings together eight artists living in West Yorkshire and Sudan. This show is inspired by loud and quiet acts of resistance; it is a reflection on what we can do as individuals and as a collective of people in response to local and international struggles and what culture can do in times of crises. This exhibition invites us to look at solidarity not as a static ideal but as an embodied action, becoming a verb.
The show grounds itself in visual embodiments of hope and resistance that start small, personal and have the capacity to become collective and interwoven. It tries to patiently understand the world - from what happens down the road in Leeds to freedom and justice for people in Sudan and Palestine. Colliding genres, geographies and experiences of the exhibiting artists, the show invites an interrogation of how struggles are not isolated - but intersect and connect.
From a collective crocheted scarf by a local group of crafters, to a photograph of a man watching television and awaiting news, to a scene depicting miners' solidarity with an illustrative edge, solidarity becomes embodied. It translates into this multifaceted visual call for action, for kindness and for hope in unity while examining the intertwined murky histories and present of colonial and post-colonial capitalist systems which seek to divide us.
The show itself features strands of experiences entwined - different intersectional struggles that are all connected across borders, time, and materiality. And at its centre, hope is the main thread for this exhibition. How can we remain hopeful within this time, what gives us hope, and how can we use that to fuel action and grow solidarity as a verb.
The exhibition and ethos of the curator are grounded in the belief that art does not end here, creating a space where viewers can come together and connect with the stories that exhibiting artists bring. In addition, each artist has generously donated artworks that will be raffled to fundraise for Medical Aid for Palestinians, Leeds Asylum Seekers’ Support Network and UN Crisis Relief Fund for Sudan.
Solidarity is a Verb is accompanied by a curated Reading Shelf [Common Threads, Peepal Tree Press, Pluto Press, Sudan Art Archive] featuring key titles on sale at Hyde Park Book Club for the duration of the show, plus a series of linked events.
EVENTS
3 December | Radical Reading Room, 5.30pm-7pm- FREE ENTRY booking required HERE
8 December | Big Raffle Bonanza from 6.30 get your raffle ticket HERE, register for event HERE
Check out the program of the 2026 Leeds Palestinian Film Festival
29 Nov, 7.30 pm | A Thousand Madleens for Gaza at the Book Club, tickets
3 Dec, 7.30 pm | From that Land, an evening with Taqi at All Hallows, tickets