UP Projects is curating and producing a new commission with University College London (UCL) Public Art, which will be a permanent memorial celebrating the life and achievements of Anita Harding (1952 – 1995), the first female professor of Clinical Neurology in the UK at UCL.
Anita Harding’s major discoveries included the first identification of a mitochondrial DNA mutation in human disease, alongside Ian Holt and John Morgan-Hughes. She spearheaded the first neurogenetics research group in the UK at the UCL Institute of Neurology, while she was still a lecturer and was only weeks away from taking up the post of head of the Clinical Neurology department in Queen Square when she died of colon cancer, aged 42 years old.
The new commission will be located at 256 Grays Inn Road as part of UCL’s new purpose-built centre for pre-clinical neuroscience due to open in 2027. The new facility will be home to three partners: the UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, the UK Dementia Research Institute hub and the UCLH National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. Fly-throughs of the building design can be seen here.
Valda Jackson chosen to create the Anita Harding Memorial
Valda Jackson was selected for her proposal from the shortlisted artists by a panel of UCL staff and academics and artists, including Institute Director Professor Mike Hanna; Professor Helene Plun-Favreau; Professor Gabriel Lignani; Head of Public Art, Sam Wilkinson, Head of UCL Public Art; Annie Cattrell, public artist at Grays Inn Road, and Emma Underhill, Founder & Artistic Director, at UP Projects.
Valda Jackson is being commissioned as part of the UCL Public Art Programme for ION-DRI Programme.
Engagement
In July 2025, Valda led an engagement workshop with three of Professor Anita Harding’s former research fellows and students: Professor Mary Reilly, Professor of Neurology, Department of Neuromuscular Diseases, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology; Professor Thomas Warner, Chair of Clinical Neurology & Director of the Reta Lila Weston Institute, UCL, Clinical and Movement Neurosciences; and Professor Nicholas Wood, Professor of Clinical Neurogenetics, UCL Clinical and Movement Neurosciences.
Valda started the workshop with a warm-up creative exercise, inviting participants to sculpt elephant shapes out of clay behind their backs. Guided by thoughtful questions and prompts about Anita’s life and appearance, the workshop created a space for sharing memories and reflections about Anita. Through these conversations, Valda gained valuable insights into Anita’s appearance, character and legacy, helping shape how she will be represented in the upcoming memorial sculpture.
