The new exhibition by fashion designer Grace Wales Bonner is opening on 19 of January at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery and will explore the themes of mysticism, rituals and magical resonances throughout black cultural and aesthetic practices. We are pleased to have supported Grace's Wales Bonner collaboration with three Jamaican artists Popcaan, Kei Miller and MJ Harper for this exhibition.

‘Spirituality and mysticism are means to imagine other spaces, other worlds. I am interested in this connection between the human and the spiritual, the material and the intangible’ Grace Wales Bonner

This is the first Serpentine exhibition created by a fashion designer in a new series of annual short duration projects which bring collective and interdisciplinary practice into the gallery spaces. Born in London to an English mother and Jamaican father, Wales Bonner is a cultural polymath, who sees fashion as a means of communicating broad and interwoven notions of identity and self-expression. Recognised as one of the most innovative designers of her generation, Wales Bonner’s design process involves a rich cross-pollination of sources, often collaborating with artists, writers and performers.

Visitors to the exhibition will encounter an assemblage of shrines by Liz Johnson Artur, Kapwani Kiwanga, Eric N. Mack, Paul Mpagi Sepuya and Grace Wales Bonner. The musician Laraaji will lead a series of meditation workshops during the exhibition’s opening days that will become a lasting shrine of sound within the space, whilst Rashid Johnson’s installations using carpets will create a sense of grounding throughout the Gallery. Interested in the improvisation, intentionality and repurposing of shrines from the Black Atlantic, Wales Bonner will draw upon their relational nature, as material portals into multiple worlds and frames of experience. Referencing the images and rhythms of rituals and ceremonies from all over the world, she collapses time and space by bringing them into dialogue to create her own unique constellation.

This exhibition focuses on Wales Bonner’s rigorous research across multiple geographies and temporalities, culminating in the presentation of her forthcoming Autumn/Winter 2019 collection, Mumbo Jumbo. Conjuring and exploring various characters, their dress, and the worlds and spaces they inhabit, the collection considers the artist as shaman, a West African spiritual healer, and a gathering of Howard University intellectuals.

Visiting information

Free admission
19 Jan – 16 Feb 2019
Tue - Sun 10:00am-6:00pm, Mon closed

Serpentine Sackler Gallery
West Carriage Drive, LondonW2 2AR