WILD UPLANDS Part of Bradford 2025
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Three abstract sculptures in pastel and bright colours, featuring looping, organic forms and bulb-like shapes, displayed in grassy moorland with stone walls and distant farmland in the background.

Muamba Posy

Vanessa da Silva

Muamba Posy is a series of three sculptures that reflect on the ever-changing cycles of nature on Penistone Hill. Each one invites us to explore the connection between sculpture, the human body and the natural world.

Explore the artwork through this series of photographs, videos and accompanying audio description.

Three tall abstract sculptures in vivid pastel and primary colours, formed from twisting tubes and bulbous shapes, installed on grassy moorland with rolling hills and treetops visible under clear skies.
A person reaches up to touch a tall abstract sculpture made of twisting orange, blue and green forms with bulbous shapes, set in grassy moorland under a clear blue sky.

Muamba Posy are three works that are each about 4.5m high. They draw inspiration from Penistone Hill’s long-distant past – some 300 million years ago, when the area was a tropical paradise. The sculptures evoke the oversized plants and vibrant wildlife that once thrived here. 

Two people sit and lean forward on the lower yellow parts of a tall pastel abstract sculpture with purple, pink and yellow organic shapes, placed in grassy moorland under a partly cloudy sky.

The sculptures are playful and invite you to move among and interact with them. Sit on them and look up, down and around to experience different views of the work. 

Three tall, brightly coloured abstract sculptures featuring loops, spheres, and organic forms, some resembling flowers stand near a gravel path in open moorland under a clear blue sky with scattered clouds.

The shapes and colours take inspiration from plants and creatures that can be found on Penistone Hill today including heather, bilberries, tomentils and damselflies. The metallic colours of the sculptures are a nod to the metal-loving plants that thrive in the area’s mineral-rich soil, an often-overlooked but important part of life on the hill.   

A person reaches up to touch a tall abstract sculpture made of twisting orange, blue and green forms with bulbous shapes, set in grassy moorland under a clear blue sky.
Two people sit and lean forward on the lower yellow parts of a tall pastel abstract sculpture with purple, pink and yellow organic shapes, placed in grassy moorland under a partly cloudy sky.
Three tall, brightly coloured abstract sculptures featuring loops, spheres, and organic forms, some resembling flowers stand near a gravel path in open moorland under a clear blue sky with scattered clouds.

Explore the details

Close-up view of a brightly coloured abstract sculpture featuring looping yellow and orange rods intertwined with glossy, petal-like forms in pink, green, red and blue, set against a clear blue sky.
Tall abstract outdoor sculpture composed of bright blue, yellow and orange looping strands, with glossy bulb and sphere shapes in green, purple and light blue, standing on grassy moorland under a clear blue sky.
Close-up of glossy abstract outdoor sculpture featuring two bulbous, interconnected yellow forms balanced on a pale pink branching stem, set against a clear blue sky.
Large outdoor sculptures with brightly coloured, metallic looking, organic shapes and looping forms, clustered together in a grassy landscape under a clear blue sky.

Experience the sculpture through this video and audio description

Three abstract sculptures in bright pastel colours stand on a grassy hillside, their looping and organic forms resembling playful plant structures, set against a backdrop of distant hills and woodland under an overcast sky.

Find out more about Vanessa da Silva’s inspiration and process for creating Muamba Posy in this video interview

Three colourful, abstract sculptures featuring looping and bulbous forms stand on a grassy landscape under a bright blue sky, their playful shapes resembling oversized botanical structures.

Biography

Vanessa da Silva is a São Paulo-born, London-based artist who works across sculpture, textiles, installation and performance. Drawing inspiration from dance, Brazilian art history and the natural world, Da Silva’s work explores such themes as nationality, identity, migration and displacement.

She has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally, with recent projects at Mostyn Gallery in Llandudno (2025), The Box at Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London (2023), Duarte Sequeira in Seoul (2023) and Yorkshire Sculpture Park (2022). 

 

Visit the Artist's website
the artist (Vanessa Da Silva) sits on a pastel-coloured abstract sculpture featuring twisting yellow, blue, and purple forms, set against clear blue skies and grassy moorland.
“The installation is a gathering place, a place to pause, a space for reflection... I’d like people to leave with a sense of calm and connection, but also joy!”
– Vanessa da Silva

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