10 Exhibitions and Shows to see this June.

Get your fix of Londons' art scene this month.

This month we have a serious amount of ground to cover, ranging from icons Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland collaborating on an exhibition to CBE Yinka Shonibare hosting his first solo exhibition in 20 years. There’s a lot to see in London, so in no particular order here is our round-up for the best ones to hit up.

Kembra Pfahler presents her ‘Manual of Action’ in London this month. The performance artist and frontwoman for punk group The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, leads us through her manifesto on life, through a series of workshops.

The series will be on screen at Piccadilly Circus (yes, the ginormous screen outside the tube station) and available to watch online daily at 8:24. Workshops include her takes on: Classism, Gothletics and Volcanoes, all whilst dressed in full body paint and Rick Owens gear.

Check the link for the classes here.

‘Unravel: The Power and Politics of Textiles in Art’ displays 50 artists across generations highlighting the importance of textile-based art forms and how the medium has evolved over the last 60 years. The work featured includes some of the most radical work within gender stereotypes and subversive feminist work. Moving through themes of Subversive Stitch, Fabric of Everyday Life, Borderlands, Bearing Witness, Wound and Repair and Ancestral Threads concluding with an exploration of dominant power and the enduring spirit.

Check the link here for further details.

‘The Time is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure’ curated by Ekow Eshun combines works from 22 African diasporic artists working within the UK and US. The National Portrait Gallery's exhibition considers identity and representation through double consciousness [sociologist W.E.B Du Bois’ theory]. Exploring the differences between how the artists are seen and how they see themselves, how responses are created by the absence of the black figure in archives and addressing the representations of black gatherings.

Check the link here for further details.

Royal Court Theatre, Until 29 June 2024

Playwright Margaret Perry and Director Katie Mitchell adapt Maggie Nelson's seminal 2009 Bluets novel. The story itself centres on depression, desire, pleasure, pain and an obsession with the colour blue whilst navigating a horrific breakup.

Actors include Emma D’Arcy (from House of the Dragon), Kayla Meikle (Ear for Eye) and Ben Whishaw (from James Bond, This is Going to Hurt, and the iconic Paddington).

Check the link here for further details.

If just observing isn't your style, ‘Yoko Ono’s Music of the Mind’ is probably more up your street. The Tate traces her practice and development by exploring her most famous pieces including: The Cut and her British Board Of Film Censors (BBFC) banned Film No.4. Visitors are encouraged to create active encounters with her work with the ‘Wish Trees for London’, where visitors can contribute personal wishes for peace. 

Check the link here for further details.

The National Portrait Gallery presents ‘Portraits to Dream In’. Featuring photographers, Francesca Woodman and Julia Margaret Cameron, who are two of the most influential women in the history of photography. Split by a century, Woodman worked in the 1970s in the US and Italy whilst Cameron worked in Sri Lanka and the UK in the 1860s. Both women working in portraiture link through notions of beauty, symbolism and transformation. The exhibition itself showcases more than 160 rare prints.

Check the link here for further details.

Christiane Peschek's ‘The Girls Club’ navigates bodies in transition particularly the generic beauty of the female face. In the age of social media sites promising you an ever-smooth wrinkle-free face, Peschek's works are self-portraits printed onto silk as a window into the artist's exploration of identity and its fluidity in the digital age.

Check the link here for further details.

Fragile Beauty.
V&A, Until 5 January 2025

Exploring strength and vulnerability, this 300-print exhibition holds parts of Sir Elton John's collection in collaboration with Gucci. These era-defining images explore contemporary photography, themes of fashion, activism and everything in between.

Check the link here for further details.

Icons Beryl Cook and Tom of Finland converge to create a double-billed exhibition exploring political commentary and playfulness. Including archival materials and fresh perspectives on gender and sexuality.

Both juggernauts in liberation movements, their artistic contribution celebrates pleasure without shame.

Check the link here for further details.

Suspended States, Yinka Shonibare CBE.
Serpentine, Until September 1

After 20 years without a solo exhibition, Yinka Shonibare makes a grand return to the Serpentine for his newest exhibition ‘Suspended States’. Exploring Western symbols, hostility towards foreigners and the rise of nationalism. Covering themes of power, refugees and colonial legacies.

Check the link here for further details.