Gasworks has been a pivotal part of the arts in Britain for over 20 years, providing artist residencies, studio spaces, exhibition platforms, and outreach projects. It’s reassuring to know that the London institution is now on an even more secure footing with the opening of its newly-transformed headquarters in Vauxhall.
Photo, Ioana Marinescu
The next generation of young homegrown and international artists, following in the footsteps of award-winning alumni such as Yinka Shonibare MBE, can develop their talents at the premises designed by British architects HAT Projects; Gasworks bought up its freehold to enable the forward-thinking redevelopment.
Gasworks is also a hub of the Triangle Network — a community of over 30 arts organisations based mainly in Africa, Asia and South America. To reflect Gasworks’ interest in these international regions and its focus on emerging talent, the honour of ushering in the new era has fallen to South African artist Kemang Wa Lehulere. Sincerely yours is inspired by the country’s renowned intellectual, writer and politician Sol Plaatje and his travels in England in the early 20th Century. Through chalk on blackboard drawings, and “living sculptures” crafted from soil and grass, Wa Lehulere’s works examine historical race relations, education, and the past’s continuing influence on present day South Africa. Sincerely yours runs until 8 November.
Visitors can also drop by the open studios currently occupied by artists-in-residence Grace Weinrib (Chile), Desire Machine Collective (India), Andrea Canepa (Peru) and Rubén Grilo (Spain).
Kemang Wa Lehulere at Gasworks
Kemang Wa Lehulere, Sincerely yours, 2015, installation view.
Commissioned by Gasworks. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Andy Keate.
Photography, Ioana Marinescu
Kemang Wa Lehulere at Gasworks
Kemang Wa Lehulere, Forget me not, 2015. Commissioned by Gasworks.
Courtesy the artist. Photo: Andy Keate.
Kemang Wa Lehulere at Gasworks
Kemang Wa Lehulere, My apologies to time, again 2, 2015.
Commissioned by Gasworks. Courtesy the artist.
Photo: Andy Keate.
Photo, Ioana Marinescu
Kemang Wa Lehulere at Gasworks
Kemang Wa Lehulere, Do not go far, they say, again 3, 2015.
Commissioned by Gasworks. Courtesy the artist. Photo: Andy Keate.
Kemang Wa Lehulere at Gasworks
Kemang Wa Lehulere, Do not go far, they say, again, 2015.
Commissioned by Gasworks. Courtesy the artist.
Photo: Andy Keate.
Kemang Wa Lehulere at Gasworks
Kemang Wa Lehulere, Sincerely yours, 2015.
Commissioned by Gasworks. Courtesy the artist.
Photo: Andy Keate.
