our alumni

Helen Clarke

TREETWALKER, THE PASSANTE, AND THE POLITICS OF WOMEN WALKING: PICKING UP THE FRAGMENTS

Helen Clarke profile

Helen Clarke

My Practice as Research Ph.D. comprises three works accompanied by a critical reflection: Echoes from a Berlin Childhood (Sheffield: Gordian Projects, 2016), Articles Lost (London: MA BIBLIOTHÈQUE, 2017), and a set of ten posters titled Voices from the Archive (2018), presented as a broadsheet newspaper. The works explore the politics of women’s bodies in the public space of the street. Lone and collective urban walking is considered as a political act. I present the city as autobiography, exploring this through the figure of the flâneuse in literature and visual art from the nineteenth century to contemporary walking practices, emerging with the passante as the figure whose pace is more in step with mine. 

I am a lecturer in the School of Design at the University of Leeds. I am one of two Exhibition Curators for the school gallery Space@Design, and I am Placement Tutor for BA Fashion Marketing. I supervise Undergraduate and Taught Postgraduate dissertations.  

 I am currently planning a co-production project with students in the School of Design to create a Code of Practice for Inclusive Learning and Teaching, devised during my three year role (2021-2024) as School Academic Lead for Inclusive Pedagogies.  

Research degrees

Research student support

Study for a research degree at Leeds Beckett and you'll join a thriving academic community in an inspiring and supportive environment.

other links
Clock tower at Leeds Town Hall
Image of a male student sat down