Expanded definitions of drawing have always been central to Kelly Cumberland’s practice, with a specific focus on scientific and medical research and imagery. During her Masters Degree she pioneered the first collaboration between the microbiology, radiology and fine art departments at Leeds Metropolitan University and, more recently, she engaged in a six-month residency at St James’s hospital, Leeds, with the Haematological Malignancy Diagnostic Services, culminating in an exhibition at the Atrium Gallery at St James's Hospital. She continues to exhibit her work both nationally and internationally.

The imagery within the work is underpinned by its link to the viral and cellular referents she uses as her motifs. The use of biomorphic elements reference naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. The mimetic function of drawing remains, however her work is not about illustrating a viral life cycle; she uses drawing processes and transpositions in a metaphoric way in order to evoke the unrelenting and pernicious viral breach of the body.

Installations and objects demonstrate how something seemingly delicate and insubstantial can overwhelm its environment, whilst dissected drawings represent the paradoxical fragility and strength of microbiological structures.



Continuous addition and removal, (re)production and reduction result in a coherent body of structural variations. Working in sequence, the components initially appear identical, however, the process ensures each work is unique, retaining the possibility for expansion and modification.

The works reveal how drawing is expanded through space, place, form, process, materials and meaning. The sequential work is often transposed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional forms, moving into expanded drawing.  

Forms are translated through a variety of materials; paper, thread, celluloid, vinyl and ink. The materiality of her work and its relationship to place is important and she experiments with the documentation and representation of her drawings, expanding them into the print and publishing field. 

She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally. Recent group and solo exhibitions include; Tracing Entropy (group) Foyer, School of Design, University of Leeds, 2020, BIOMÓRFICA (solo) Liliput Gallery, Puebla, Mexico, 2019, Visions of Science Exhibition & Art Prize (group) The Edge, University of Bath, 2018. Making Research (group) Leeds Arts University, Blenheim Walk, 2018.  #51RememberHer (International Women's Day, group) Tower Gallery, London, 2017, Manual v.2.1 Art Publication, Art Palma Brunch, Palma de Mallorca, 2016, Manual v 2.0 (Dibuix per La Plaça Porta de Santa Catalina) (joint) ABA ART LAB, La Nit de l’Art, Palma de Mallorca, 2015, Manual v.1.1 Art Publication, Art Palma Brunch, Palma de Mallorca, 2015, Colonize (group) 3rd on 3rd Gallery, Jamestown, New York, USA, 2014. RX3: Repetition, Recurrence, Reiteration (group) DrawingBoard, Harrogate, 2013. MANUAL v1.0 (joint) Nit de l'Art Palma, Sant Feliu, Mallorca, 2013. Classification (group), Leeds College of Art Gallery, Blenheim Walk, 2013. Vestigium [Pulvis] (isw) The Ideas Store, (solo), Whitechapel, London, 2013. Inhospitable (group) SCIBase, Leeds, and various venues at Liverpool Independents Biennial, 2012. Local Imagination (group), San Francisco Art Institute, 2012, touring to Leeds College of Art Vernon Street, October 2012. Supermarket (group) Stockholm Independent Art Fair, Sweden, group exhibition, Stockholm 2012. Recorded/ Reproduced (joint), The Bowery Gallery, Leeds, 2011. The Drawing Shed, residential project and solo exhibition, PSL [Project Space Leeds], 2010. Workhouse (group), Ripon Workhouse Museum, 2010. Hybrid (group), Sheffield Institute of Arts, 2010 & Thackray Museum, Leeds – symposium. Protoavises [opt] residency & solo exhibition, HMDS, Atrium Gallery, St James’s Hospital, Leeds, 2009. Separations (group), 67-71 Bath Road, Leeds, 2008. Delineate (group) exhibition, The Crossley Gallery, Dean Clough, Halifax, 2007. For the North (group) Generator Project, Dundee, Scotland, 2006. PaperArtNow (group) Bury Art Gallery, 2006. Multiples & Editions (group), Contemporary Gallery, Berlin, Germany, 2005. Co-ordinates (group), Salts Mill, Saltaire, 2005. Blank (group) Leeds City Art Gallery, 2005. Off the Wall (group), Brahm Gallery, Leeds, 2004. Imagine – New Voices, solo publication, Robert Horne Group, March 2004. hole (solo), Leeds City Art Gallery, 2003. Removed (joint), Bradford Gallery, 2002. No Fixed Abode (group), multiple venues, Leeds City Centre, 2001. Geneomic (solo), Brahm Gallery, Leeds, Feb 2001.

 https://yorkshireartjournal.com/2015/09/14/kelly-cumberland-expanded-drawings