Joanna Leah

Senior Curator & Lead Artist BADA & Trustee

Senior Lecturer Art & Design Leeds Beckett University

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Drawing as a way to listen with Hilbre’s birdlife: movement, mark-making, and care across shifting sands and patterns of return. 

About 

I work with drawing as a way of listening to place, especially the movements of birds across Hilbre’s sandbanks and islands. Hilbre is a core site for my research into bird movement and drawing as an ecological practice. I create notation systems, bespoke drawing tools, and performances that translate field observation into accessible experiences, and I develop participatory workshops that support care for the archipelago. This work sits alongside my curatorial leadership on Drawing Out Hilbre and the ongoing work of DRA|W and DRA|W Island. 

Key roles and outputs  

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Core research on Hilbre: Following bird movement across the islands and sandbanks, using drawing as a way of paying attention 

• Lead curator: Drawing Out Hilbre (Independents Biennial Liverpool) 

• Artists network: Brought together national and international artists, helping grow an ongoing community focused on drawing and island studies 

• DRA|W research lab: I lead DRA|W (Drawing Radical Articulations Work) at Leeds Beckett University, supporting collaborative drawing research 

• DRA|W Quarterly zine: Sharing projects, methods, and works-in-progress through regular publishing 

• Drawing Lab activities: Developing practical sessions that invite others into our research questions 

• DRA|W Island programme: A dedicated strand on our website exploring drawing island studies, shaped by and continuing from the Hilbre work 

• GULP performed 2025  (participatory version in development): A drawing-performance piece built from 2024 studies of seven cormorants moving between the mainland, sandbanks, and Hilbre 

• Participatory workshops (in development): Co-developing sessions with artist collaborator Órla, drawing on somatic drawing and drawing scores to translate Hilbre research into shared, embodied ways of learning and care. 

• Bespoke tools + notation: Designed drawing tools and a movement-based notation system to translate bird flight and return into live mark-making 

• Next stages (towards 2027): Expanding GULP into a larger performance, filmed by drone, with participatory workshops 

• Why this matters: Building embodied, shared ways to understand Hilbre as a nature reserve and support practices of care for the archipelago 

• Short “card version” (40–60 words) 

• My core research explores bird movement ecologies on Hilbre and how drawing can operate as a field method of care. I was lead curator for Drawing Out Hilbre (Independents Biennial Liverpool), convening national and international artists and helping grow an ongoing drawing island studies research group. I lead DRA|W at Leeds Beckett University, including the DRA|W Island programme and quarterly zine. 

Core Research 

My core research is rooted in Hilbre’s bird movement ecologies and the ways drawing can become a field method for noticing, recording, and sharing knowledge across fragile island environments. Through sustained research on Hilbre, I have developed a practice that connects ecological observation with notation, performance, and participatory forms of drawing as care. 

Curatorial Leadership 

I was lead curator for Drawing Out Hilbre, commissioned as part of the Independents Biennial Liverpool. The project brought together a network of national and international artists and has since fostered an expanding research group working at the intersection of drawing and island studies. 

Research Group and Lab Development 

This ongoing work continues through my leadership of DRA|W (Drawing Radical Articulations Work), a drawing research lab at Leeds Beckett University. DRA|W supports collaborative drawing research through regular activities and publishing. Our team produces a quarterly zine and is developing drawing lab activities that extend our research inquiries and methods. 

As part of our new website, we also host a dedicated programme titled DRA|W Island, focused on drawing island studies. This programme is modelled and shaped through the Hilbre work,  and continues to build an active research culture around island ecologies, methods, and communities of practice. 

Current Work: GULP 

In 2024, I developed a series of notation systems through close study of bird movement on and around Hilbre, focusing on seven cormorants that regularly travel between sandbanks, the mainland, and the islands. This research became the foundation for GULP, a drawing-performance work that uses bespoke, designed drawing tools to translate observed movement into embodied, live mark-making. 

GULP is currently being developed into a larger work to be performed and filmed by drone in 2027, alongside a programme of participatory workshops. These workshops will support embodied movement as a way of sharing ecological knowledge, strengthening public understanding of Hilbre as a nature reserve, and fostering engagement with practices of care for the wider archipelago.