Making and Unmaking

From Bauhaus jewellery and West African textiles to contemporary portraiture and sculpture, this unique volume explores the rituals of making that underpin an artist’s work.

Accompanying an exhibition curated by the ground-breaking fashion designer Duro Olowu at Camden Arts Centre, London (19 June–18 September 2016), it offers the opportunity to re-evaluate works from the 1920s to present. Olowu selects material by over 50 artists, including rarely seen works by Anni Albers, Wangechi Mutu, Alice Neel, Chris Ofili and Irving Penn as well as newer paintings by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

By setting up unexpected dialogues between historic and contemporary artists working in a myriad of media – textile, painting, sculpture, photography and collage – Olowu reveals a shared preoccupation with themes of gender, race, beauty, sexuality and the body.

The volume includes an in-depth conversation between Olowu and Glenn Ligon, and texts by Jennifer Higgie and Shanay Jhaveri, which together highlight the intricate layers of history and place that influence the making of art.