by Charlotte Hodes
17 January – 9 May 2026
A celebration of women’s labour, creativity, and legacy through powerful imagined portraits in ceramics and paper.
Gallery Oldham is proud to present a major new exhibition by leading contemporary artist Charlotte Hodes, opening on 17 January 2026 and running until 9 May 2026. Titled “Women Portraits: Trades & Professions,” the exhibition brings visibility to the often-overlooked contributions of women to professions historically dominated by men.
Through intricate papercuts and ornate ceramic vases, Charlotte Hodes constructs imagined portraits of women—identified not by their physical features, but by the tools of their trade. From botanists and arborists to doctors and astronomers, the works honour female labour across generations and social classes.
enamel transfer on earthenware. Photography: Peter Abrahams.
This deeply researched and visually arresting exhibition draws inspiration from Northern Roots—a visionary urban farm and eco-park in the heart of Oldham. Set across 160 acres of post-industrial greenspace, Northern Roots promotes community, sustainability, and skills. Championing activities such as beekeeping, gardening, forestry, and botany. These trades form the thematic backbone of Hodes’ work, along with others historically linked to Oldham such as hatting.
The exhibition is shaped as a non-linear “mind map”, disrupting traditional hierarchies and timelines. It draws connections between past and present, fact and imagination, history and hope. It references a range of inspirational women from the Oldham and Manchester regions, including pioneering suffragists such as Dr Olive Clayden (Oldham’s first woman GP), Lydia Becker, Agnes Pochin, and Rosa Leo Grindon, alongside contemporary changemakers like beekeeper Damson Tregaskis and Northern Roots’ Anna Da Silva and Kimo Morrison.
Rather than offering a traditional portrait, Hodes invites audiences to consider broader representations of womanhood—where identity and status are revealed not through facial features, but through stethoscopes, telescopes, and beekeeping smokers. Her work echoes classical portraiture conventions, reimagined for a 21st-century lens.
“This exhibition is a call for optimism,” says Charlotte Hodes. “In the face of societal and economic uncertainty, I want to create work that acknowledges women’s historical struggles and triumphs, while celebrating their ongoing empowerment and visibility.”
Women Portraits: Trades & Professions continues Gallery Oldham’s commitment to platforming contemporary art that speaks to history, community, and social justice.
Find out more about events linked to this exhibition.
