Leah Gordon

Leah Gordon (born Ellesmere Port, UK) is an artist, curator, and writer. Her work explores the intersectional histories of the Caribbean plantation system, the Enclosure Acts, and the creation of the British working-class. Gordon’s work amplifies ‘histories from below’ and recognizes the role of carnival, folk traditions, and grassroots religion in both performing and sustaining radical histories. Gordon’s film and photographic work has been exhibited internationally including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; the Dak’art Biennale, Dakar; and the National Portrait Gallery, UK. She is the co-director of the Ghetto Biennale in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; was co-curator of Kafou: Haiti, History & Art at Nottingham Contemporary, UK; and PÒTOPRENS: The Urban Artists of Port-au-Prince at Pioneer Works, NYC. Her book KANAVAL was published in 2021 and in 2022, her award-winning feature documentary Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti was screened in cinemas and on BBC 4’s Arena. In 2022, Gordon exhibited in and curated at documenta 15, Kassel, at MOCA North Miami, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin. In 2023, Gordon’s works were acquired by the Kadist Collection and the Royal Museums Greenwich, and in 2024 she had works in group shows at Museum Van Loon in Amsterdam, UMOCA, Salt Lake City and Musée du quai Branly, Paris. In 2025 she exhibited her new work, Monument to the Vanquished Peasant, at the Herbert Museum as part of the Coventry Biennial, and published Common People. In 2026 she curated and exhibited in Spectres of History at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and published her photography book, Freemasonry in the Haitian Imaginary.