The 2019 Met Gala took inspiration from Susan Sontag’s renowned essay, ‘Notes on Camp’, but what of the less glamorous, closer-to-home forms of Sontagion camp? Here, Rebecca Savage looks at the queer origins of Coronation Street, its campy costumes and flamboyant characters.
A secondhand book found in Paris takes Elodie Rose Barnes on a curious foray into the fantastical Studio Manassé, a portraiture business that specialised in glamorously surreal and, at times, problematic photographs of women.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa has inspired a wave of popular culture references and art historical speculation, but who was the true inspiration behind that smile, and could da Vinci’s famous painting be the trans icon we never knew we needed?
In Maximillian William’s recent exhibition, Embodying Anew, work by Thaddeus Moseley, Magdalene Odundo and Simone Leigh challenges Western appropriation of African aesthetics and celebrates the cultural practices of indigenous Africa.
In the Whitechapel’s latest retrospective, Eileen Agar is revealed as an artist of unique imagination, a free spirit whose repertoire looked to the magic of nature for inspiration, writes our contributor Denise Hansen.
Oscar Wollheim curates a sumptuous suite of five great abstract masters – Bowling, Gilliam, Golding, Hoyland and Sylvester II – in his imaginative and vibrant exhibition, Modal Painting, at Maximillian William.
Bringing together thirteen emerging artists between the ages of 16-25, the Barbican’s latest exhibition, It All Comes Down, explores how young people navigate the world and approach their artistic practise during the pandemic.
After seeing artist Charlotte Salomon’s work in an exhibition before the first lockdown, So Mayer started to reflect on the evolution of Salomon’s innovative, word-strewn paintings. Here, they consider how Salomon’s work conjures and embodies a unique voice, a bold assertion of self that defies curatorial and art historical prejudices.
Reading about the life and friendships of artist Ida Nettleship John has given doctoral student, Eliza Goodpasture, comfort during lockdown and companionship when friends feel far away.
Before the second lockdown Toni Roberts saw Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s show Fly in League with the Night at Tate Britain. Here, she recalls vibrant paintings alive with stories, brilliant studies of people, and human relationships that transcend the canvas’ edges.
In this creative ‘Christmas’ essay, Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou reflects on the power and therapeutic potential of drawing in her own life, the artistic practise of Louise Bourgeois, and Jean Frémon’s new text Nativity (Les Fugitives).
Artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen’s epic Year 3 project brings together more than 3000 class portraits from over 1500 primary schools to commemorate a most formative time in a child’s educational life. The result, says our writer Shamini Sriskandarajah, is at once illuminating and moving.
