JULIANA KASUMU

Whitechapel Gallery

London Open 2022

"There are big themes tackled here too. Henry/Bragg’s photos of vampires and alien abductions are funny, heart wrenching images of living with cancer, Juliana Kasumu’s installation is a paean to the community and rituals of Afro hair salons, Abbas Zahedi displays a painting by his father, whose UK visa was revoked when Abbas was just a kid. This is art about perseverance, survival and injustice."  - Timeout

What makes London’s art scene so vibrant? What are the concerns of the next generation of artists? What insight does their work offer in challenging times?

This triennial exhibition showcases a cross-section of the most dynamic artistic talent from across the capital. Established in 1932, this much-celebrated open submission show features 46 London-based artists working across painting, sculpture, moving image, installation and performance.

Since the last London Open in 2018, the city has experienced the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, demonstrations demanding racial and climate justice, and widespread questioning of institutions and their structures.

The London Open 2022 traces the ways in which artists have witnessed and responded to these events with resilience and heart. In times of hardship and crisis, and when exhibitions were cancelled and moved online, these artists experimented with new sites of production and means of dissemination, from the kitchen table to the back garden.

The exhibition is loosely structured as a journey from the personal to the social, moving from individual to collective concerns, the cathartic to the poetic, the political and the environmental. - thelondonopen.org