PRESENTATION: New Contemporaries 2022

Since 1949, New Contemporaries has presented an annual survey exhibition of emerging and early career artists from UK art schools and alternative peer-to-peer learning programmes. Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibition of emerging and early career artists returns to the South London Gallery for the fifth consecutive year, the 2022 exhibition demonstrates a rich diversity of voices and approaches to making, and includes 47 artists.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: New Contemporaries Archive

New Contemporaries 2022 explores the following themes, reflecting the cultural frameworks that inform each artist’s practice. The themes are: COMMUNICATION AND DISCONNECTION:  bill daggs’ moving image work uses recording techniques such as sampling, disruption, looping and remixing to explore the ways we experience sound and rhythm. Rosalie Wammes’ pair of terracotta sculptures evoke natural forms and man-made instruments like megaphones. These tools for amplification are used to voice desires and translate them into sound. In Catarina Ludovico’s photographs, the artist uses another physical body in an attempt to portray their own. How to communicate through spirituality and the natural world are central themes in Ciara Otuokere’s still life painting which includes a ceramic in the shape of a telephone. PORTRAITURE OF THE SELF AND OTHERS: Jemisha Maadhavji’s painted portrait explores desire, luxury and gender to question ideas of beauty in the twenty-first century. Zearo’s painting and pastel drawings are autobiographical and explore his relationship to the male figure and same-sex desire, as well as how the self is impacted by technology. Velvet Butler Carroll/Rudi Blu uses storytelling to re-write established narratives about female and non-binary bodies, combining ballet and interpretive dance to perform masculinity. Instead of painting portraits of her family members, Abi Ola’s paintings resemble colourful textiles, and depict her family members whose stories she celebrates through pattern and clothing. SPIRITUALITY AND MYSTICISM: Akinsola Lawanson’s moving image work explores the Ifá religion from West Africa and its relationship to divination systems and binary mathematics. Danying Chen uses her childhood memories of Buddhist spirituality to explore images of gods and capture desires that are difficult to express. Charlotte Edey explores ritualistic or ceremonial displays in her embroidered works. She creates portals into other worlds that offer the opportunity to investigate our present. Theresa Weber’s work explores the creation of the self, weaving together many layers of mythological and historical storytelling. EXTERIORS AND ARCHITECTURES: Metiao Qu considers the built environment and cityscapes as symbols of progress to explore what is lost and gained in the processes of urbanisation. Tom Bull is interested in the relationship between the rural and modernity. He uses a wide range of tools and materials borrowed from architecture, model-making, carpentry and forestry. Katie Surridge uses folklore, and stories or skills from the past. Her structure and tools are designed for participatory workshops and skill sharing. Dawn Wilson’s portraits of people and places – at church, on the street and in music venues – are part of her interest in looking at what other people wear, and the architecture of fashion. TIME AND LOSS: Yukako Tanaka blends scientific analysis with personal documentary to investigate time and memory in her moving image work. Josh Clague’s installation reflects on the experience of mourning, the materiality of loss and the poetic moments that linger afterwards. Eva Hopper’s dream-like sculpture explores her own nostalgia for an imagined past that is otherworldly yet familiar. Concern about our ever-changing environment is a key part of Nicole Sheppard’s work. She uses natural dyes and eco-printing to highlight objects in a constant state of flux. RECLAIMING SPACES AND LABOUR: Kneed explore structural violence, hostile bureaucracy, and collective histories embedded within landscapes and institutions. In their collaborative socially engaged practice they attempt to complicate power relations. Deborah Hobson’s portraits depict prominent Black political campaigners she has worked with, well-known Black figures in popular culture, as well as those who have been overlooked or ignored. Beverly Onyangunga’s work explores conflict minerals in the Congo, child labour, civil war, and how these political issues are broadcast by the media. Lou Baker’s site-responsive installation explores the labour of handcraft and its potential to shape-shift and unravel. DOMESTIC SPACES: Andre Williams developed this installation from his drawings of ‘fantastical rooms’. He uses unexpected materials and colour to create illusions of perspective. Mehmil Nadeem’s photographic collages playfully go between her past childhood memories and how they shape the present. Depicting a childhood memory in the privacy of the family bathroom, Ashton Blyth aims to demystify and illuminate the trans experience that contributed to understanding his gender identity. By slightly transforming or twisting a domestic found object, Yun Kim explores ambiguous boundaries between real and surreal, products and art objects. REPURPOSING, RETRO-FUTURISM & DESIGN: Emma Todd’s kimono, made from repurposed tracksuits, questions mixed cultural heritage, indigenous knowledge and the idea of ‘returning to our roots’. Kialy Tihngang reimagines history by creating alternative pasts from obsolete or ‘useless’ technologies. Three stripes repurposed from the Adidas logo are a recurring symbol in Winnie Hall’s paintings. She makes reference to playfulness, humour and pop culture. Francesca Dobbe repurposes hand dryers, grab rails, and car parts including a wing mirror and exhaust, to consider how slowness is built into the everyday in an increasingly fast-paced world. Also complementing the exhibition is the New Contemporaries 2022 Online Platform platform.newcontemporaries.org.uk, an online space for the artists to present their work beyond the physical show. Including artists’ works and biographical material, the platform also offers new, critical voices and fresh perspectives on New Contemporaries and the artists’ practices by early career writers.

Participating Artists: Lou Baker, Ashton Blyth, Adam Boyd, Tom Bull, Velvet Butler Carroll/Rudi Blu, Danying Chen, Josh Clague, Eugenia Cuellar, bill daggs, Francesca Dobbe, Charlotte Edey, Paola Estrella, Winnie Hall, Hamish Halley, Deborah Hobson, Eva Hopper, Steph Huang, Kneed – Ishwari Bhalerao and Leonie Rousham, Gabriel Kidd, Yun Kim, Sarah Lang, Akinsola Lawanson, Lorena Levi, Rudy Loewe, Catarina Ludovico, Jemisha Maadhavji, Leily Moghtader Mojdehi, Mehmil Nadeem, Abi Ola, Beverley Onyangunga, Ciara Otuokere, Meitao Qu, Bishwadhan Rai, Divya Sharma, Nicole Sheppard, Sherie Sitauze, Katie Surridge, Yukako Tanaka, Kialy Tihngang, Emma Todd, Rosalie Wammes, Theresa Weber, Andre Williams, Dawn Wilson, Zearo and Zish

Photo: Eva Hopper, The Hollow Space, 2021, Wooden dolls cradle armature and wool, 20 x 180 x 180 cm, © Eva Hopper, Courtesy the artist and New Contemporaries

Info: New Contemporaries 2022, South London Gallery, 65-67 Peckham Rd, London, United Kingdom, Duration: 9/12/2022-12/3/2023, Days & Hours: Tue & Thu-sun 11:00-18:00, Wed 11:00-21:00, www.southlondongallery.org/