June'26 Exhibitions 🎨
'Art is longing. You never arrive, but you keep going in the hope that you will.'
We have entered the sixth month of the year, and summer is allegedly on the way. What a year it has been so far. I have been reflecting a lot on identity and how it is shaped by our environments and the places we call home. Growing up in Festac laid the foundations for my love of art and creativity. It was a place where culture, music, fashion and imagination seemed woven into everyday life. When I moved to London, I carried that part of myself with me, making a conscious effort to nurture it rather than leave it behind.
Looking across this month’s exhibitions, I realised many of the artists are wrestling with similar questions. Through painting, sculpture, textiles and installation, they explore how memory, history, faith, family and cultural inheritance continue to shape who we become. Together, these exhibitions suggest that life is often less concerned with where we come from than with what we choose to do with what we inherit.
Like always, embrace the art of dilly-dallying. Grab a pastry and your favourite drink, put on a good outfit, and spend some time with works that challenge, inspire and remind us of the stories we carry with us.
SOLOMON IREIN WANGBOJE
I am always excited to learn more about the artists who helped shape Nigeria’s artistic landscape. This fourth instalment of TAFETA’s series on 20th-century African art feels like an important opportunity to spend time with Solomon Irein Wangboje’s work. Often described as Nigeria’s first Professor of Fine Arts, he played a major role in defining what modern art looked like in Nigeria through both his artistic practice and teaching. His influence can still be felt across generations of artists today. I am particularly looking forward to seeing his mastery of printmaking and how his commitment to developing a distinctly Nigerian artistic identity is reflected in the works on display. Beyond celebrating an exceptional artist, this exhibition offers a chance to engage with an important chapter in Nigeria’s cultural history.
Details
Showing from the 04th June till 27th June 2026
83 Charlotte Street, London W1T 4PR
MODUPEOLA FADUGBA ~ THE CHEMISTRY OF WATER
Artists who have the ability to blur the boundaries between art, science and cultural history are some of my favourites, which is why I can’t wait to see Modupeola Fadugba’s ‘The Chemistry of Water’ at the Royal Watercolour Society. She treats water not simply as a subject, but as a way of thinking about movement, memory and transformation, drawing on her background in chemical engineering to explore how materials behave and interact. This exhibition brings together many of the themes that have made her practice so compelling, from the Ojude Oba festival to her use of beads and bronze leaf, as well as her ongoing Synchronised Swimmers series. I am looking forward to experiencing how she weaves together Nigerian cultural traditions, material experimentation, and questions of education, community and change to create a show that feels as intellectually rich as it is visually captivating.
Details
Showing from the 05th June till 27th June 2026
3 – 5 Whitcomb Street, London WC2H 7HA
FREYA TEWELDE - GEOMETRY OF ELSEWHERE
It’s no secret at this point that I have a deep love for abstraction when it comes to painting, especially when it is rooted in personal history and lived experience. For that reason, Freya Tewelde’s ‘Geometry of Elsewhere’ at Gallery 1957 is definitely one I won’t be missing. Featuring new works that use colour, gesture and layered mark-making to explore ideas of memory, belonging and the experience of existing between different places and identities, the exhibition feels particularly timely. I am always intrigued by how artists in the diaspora transform complex emotions into visual language that is both intuitive and energetic, so I can’t wait to see how Tewelde’s Eritrean heritage and experiences of in-betweenness emerge through these works. This exhibition feels like an invitation to slow down and engage with painting that embraces feeling, ambiguity and becoming rather than certainty.
Details
Showing from the 05th June till 25th July 2026
1 Hyde Park Gate, London SW7 5EW
YINKA ILORI ~ JOY THROUGH RESISTANCE. HE WHO LAUGHS LAST, LAUGHS BEST
Art has always been a source of joy for me. No matter what I am facing in life, being in a gallery and taking in the beauty of artworks always gives me the boost to keep going. I can’t think of many artists whose work embodies that feeling more than Yinka Ilori’s. He uses colour, storytelling and design to create work that feels both joyful and deeply rooted in culture. Drawing on his British Nigerian heritage, communal gatherings, music and cultural symbolism, Ilori creates work that speaks to the power of community, connection and transforming hardship into something uplifting. This exhibition feels like the perfect opportunity to experience the full breadth of his multidisciplinary practice through paintings, prints, sculpture and an immersive sound installation. It is also an opportunity to spend time with the optimism that has become such a defining part of his work.
Details
Showing from the 05th June till 11th July 2026
43 Pall Mall, St. James's, SW1Y 5JG
ANINA MAJOR ~ TENDER SEEDLINGS
What first struck me about Anina Major’s work is her use of plaiting, a traditional weaving technique taught to her by her late grandmother, translating it into ceramic form as a way of carrying inherited knowledge across materials and generations. Her first solo exhibition at Larkin Durey, ‘Tender Seedlings’, continues to build on these ideas. She draws on her experiences of living away from her birthplace in The Bahamas to explore how identity is shaped through movement, memory and transformation rather than being tied to a single place. I am always interested in how artists engage with questions of diaspora and belonging. This exhibition offers a thoughtful reflection on both in a way that feels deeply personal to Major - yet universally relatable to anyone who has ever had to navigate questions of home, inheritance and belonging.
Details
Showing from the 05th June till 03th July 2026
13 Mason’s Yard, London SW1Y 6BU
CANDACE HILL-MONTGOMERY ~ A BARE WOMAN MUTTERS NOTHING…
Nothing enthuses me more than an exhibition that allows me to discover an artist whose practice spans multiple decades and disciplines. I am really looking forward to seeing Candace Hill-Montgomery’s ‘A Bare Woman Mutters Nothing…’ at Hollybush Gardens. Bringing together works from 1971 to the present day, the exhibition showcases an artist who moves fluidly between mediums. We can experience painting, textiles, weaving, photography and assemblage. Hill-Montgomery uses each medium to explore personal memory, political history and everyday life. Her use of inherited craft traditions, found materials and autobiographical references in the works adds a level of both intimacy and expansiveness. This exhibition promises a rich journey through a practice that is as visually inventive as it is thoughtful, offering new connections between personal experience, collective memory and cultural history.
Details
Showing from the 05th June till 18th July 2026
1–2 Warner Yard, London EC1R 5EY
JORDAN ZAYAS KELLY ~ PLUPERFECT
I first came across Jordan Zayas Kelly’s work at her MA degree show at the Royal College of Art, and I was fascinated by how she uses materials to uncover hidden histories and challenge the stories we are told. Her new exhibition, ‘Pluperfect’ at Project LOOP, feels like a natural continuation of those ideas. At the centre of the exhibition is ‘Pocket Book[s]’, a series of sculptural works made from salvaged denim that explores labour, memory, resistance and the enduring contributions of Afro-diasporic communities. Transforming the gallery into a space for reading, learning and collective reflection, the exhibition invites visitors to engage directly with texts by Black artists, writers and thinkers. Using materials loaded with historical significance and a practice rooted in research and storytelling, Kelly offers a thoughtful exploration of whose histories are remembered, whose labour is acknowledged, and how art can function as both archive and act of resistance.
Details
Showing from the 21st May till 18th July 2026
16 Orsman Road, N1 5QJ
EME OMEH ~ FRACTURED INHERITANCE
‘Fractured Inheritance’ is Eme Omeh’s second exhibition with Hope 93. Much like his first exhibition, he again explores questions of identity, belief and cultural memory. Through richly layered paintings that weave together autobiography, mythology, spirituality and fiction, he uses them as a way to interrogate the systems that shape how we understand ourselves and the world around us. Through recurring images of classrooms, technology, spiritual symbols and fragmented figures, Omeh engages with Igbo traditions, ancestral knowledge, and the lasting impact of colonial education and religion, while embracing the contradictions that exist between them. I am particularly interested in how he questions the beliefs we have been taught to accept, making this exhibition a thought-provoking meditation on inheritance, selfhood and the search for meaning.
Details
Showing from the 11th June till 23rd July 2026
54 Eastcastle Street, London, W1W 8EF
SARAH MUWANGA ~ TETHERED: WHERE THE LINE HOLDS
I truly enjoy discovering an artist and watching them grow in their practice. I first encountered Sarah Muwanga’s work in a group show. I was instantly drawn to how she uses figurative painting to capture quiet moments that reveal something deeper about how we move through the world. I am looking forward to seeing the continuation of this in her new exhibition, ‘Tethered: Where the Line Holds’. Through richly layered paintings, she explores the interior lives of Black women, creating works that speak to rest, belonging and the quiet strength of simply being yourself. Her paintings feel both tender and powerful, offering a space to reflect on the beauty, complexity and humanity of everyday life, and I can’t wait to spend time with these intimate scenes.
Details
Showing from the 26th June till 11th July 2026
32 Connaught Street, Connaught Village, London, W2 2AF
STILL SHOWING
Similar to last month, some featured shows from previous months are still being shown. If you have seen them already, why not go again?
Hurvin Anderson
Ends on the 23rd August 2026
Showing at Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1P 4RG
Donald Locke ~ Resistant Forms
Ends on the 30th August 2026
Showing at Camden Art Centre, Arkwright Road, London NW3 6DG
Sokari Douglas Camp ~ Fashion & Fortune
Ends on the 27th June 2026
Showing at October Gallery, 24 Old Gloucester Street, Bloomsbury, WC1N 3AL
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I hope you get a chance to check them out.
Peace and love 🙏🏾🖤
FJ