Grenfell artist features in Cambridge Kettle's Yard gallery

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Khadija Saye
Image caption,

Photographer Khadija Saye's work will feature in the new look Kettle's Yard

The work of an artist who died in the Grenfell Tower fire will feature in an exhibition to mark the reopening of a Cambridge gallery.

Photographer Khadija Saye, 24, accepted an invitation to be part of the Kettle's Yard show days before her death in June 2017.

The new gallery will reopen on 10 February after a refit lasting two years - and costing £5m.

Director Andrew Nairne described it as a "beacon for the next generation".

Image source, Estate of Khadija Saye
Image caption,

Peitaw (above) by Khadija Saye is one of four works by the artist featured in the exhibition

Among the 38 artists whose work features in the first exhibition are four photographs by Khadija Saye, whose career was just beginning when she died on 14 June in the fire at Grenfell Tower in London.

She lived on the 20th floor of the tower block with her mother, who also died in the blaze, and just months before her death secured her debut exhibition at the 57th Venice Biennale, external.

The photographer had told the BBC she planned to take her mother to Venice to see her work on show later that summer.

Her work was based on Gambian spiritual practices and British art gallery Tate Britain has displayed one of her works after learning of her death.

Image source, AFP
Image caption,

Kettle's Yard gallery in Cambridge has been completely overhauled

Image source, Fobert Architects/Hufton+Crow
Image caption,

Inside the new-look Kettle's Yard

The Kettle's Yard gallery was set up in 1957 by Jim Ede, a former Tate curator and a collector of 20th Century art, who bought and remodelled the original row of cottages.

He and his wife Helen donated the property to the University of Cambridge in 1966.

Image source, Fobert Architects/Hufton+Crow
Image caption,

Works from Henry Moore (left) and Barbara Hepworth are on show at the gallery

The gallery includes "remarkable" works by Ben and Winifred Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth, Henry Moore and Joan Miro.

Gallery director Mr Nairne said he hoped the new gallery, "with its remarkable collection and vibrant connections, can be a beacon for the next generation".

Image source, Kettle's Yard
Image caption,

Former Tate curator Jim Ede opened the gallery in 1957

A campaign in 2011 to raise money for the refurbishment attracted donations from leading artists including Maggi Hambling and Damien Hirst.

Funding was also secured from Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

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