It’s been an eventful few weeks in the art scene, marked by the 20th anniversary of Frieze London. As winter tightens its grip, we’ve witnessed an array of outstanding exhibitions running alongside the renowned art fair. For those eager to immerse themselves in creative brilliance, here are five exhibitions in London to see in November 2023 that will undoubtedly warm the artistic soul during your winter gallery rounds.
First on our list of five exhibitions in London to see in November 2023 is Tate Britain’s Women in Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990. This groundbreaking exhibition is a major survey spotlighting the work of over 100 women artists from the UK. It explores the critical role these artists played in shaping British culture through their innovative networks and radical, rebellious methods, all set against a backdrop of substantial social, economic, and political upheaval.
Continuing with our theme of five exhibitions in London to see in November, we find Nadine Ijewere’s “Anthesis” at HUXLEY-PARLOUR. Ijewere’s first solo UK exhibition marks another first on our tour, presenting a unique and influential approach to fashion photography through a radical blend of genres.
Our next destination features Elena Garrigolas’s debut at Saatchi Yates, adding to our selection of five exhibitions in London to see in November. Garrigolas introduces 17 new pieces that intermingle the everyday with the surreal, reflecting her inspirations from dreamscapes, internet culture, and personal experiences, and morphing them into stark and challenging self-portraits.
Moving on, we encounter Grace Lee‘s “Fitting Room.” This exhibition at London challenges notions of identity, disguise, and the complexities of ‘fitting in,’ offering a profound commentary on narrative and fantasy as tools for navigating the perplexities of contemporary life.
Rounding off our guide to five exhibitions in London to see in November 2023 is Erin Holly’s “A Trans Arrangement of The Painted Space” at JD Malat Gallery. Coinciding with Trans Awareness Week, Holly’s exhibition presents a new series of oil paintings exploring the nuanced dialogue between interior spaces and identity politics, reflecting on the artist’s personal journey and the embodiment of identity.
This curated list of exhibitions in London to see provides a pathway through the city’s vibrant art scene, promising to engage and provoke thought as the year draws to a close.
Five Exhibitions In London To See In November 2023
Women In Revolt!
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990 is the first exhibition of its kind—a major survey featuring the work of over 100 women artists in the UK. It delves into how these women formed networks and employed radical ideas and rebellious methods to make an invaluable contribution to British culture. Their creative practices became a means of forging women’s liberation amid a backdrop of significant social, economic, and political change.
Women in Revolt! brings together a wide variety of mediums including painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, film and photography. It explores and reflects on issues and events such as: the British Women’s Liberation movement, the fight for legal changes impacting women, maternal and domestic experiences, Punk and independent music, Greenham Common and the peace movement, the visibility of Black and South Asian Women Artists, Section 28 and the AIDs pandemic.
Women In Revolt! Art and Activism in the UK 1970-1990
8 November 2023 – 7 April 2024
Tate Britain
Millbank
London SW1P 4RG
Nadine Ijewere: Anthesis
Anthesis is the first solo UK exhibition of photographer Nadine Ijewere. Ijewere is known for her innovative and disruptive approach to fashion photography. The exhibition traces the radical fusion of genres across the artist’s work.
The photographs inhabit the intersection of traditional fashion imagery with street photography and studio portraiture, while poetically weaving in her own biographically inflected practice. Her work is characterised by how it borrows from, and breaks with, the photographic canon. Ijewere’s work responds to the historically narrow representation of beauty in Western popular culture, and seeks to create a more expansive and multifaceted definition. Through her photographs, Ijewere provides an alternative model of visibility.
Nadine Ijewere: Anthesis
27 October – 25 November 2023
HUXLEY-PARLOUR
3-5 Swallow Street
London W1B 4DE
ELENA GARRIGOLAS at SAATCHI YATES
Saatchi Yates will present a debut solo exhibition by Spanish artist Elena Garrigolas. The presentation will include 17 new works depicting an eclectic array of visceral and bewildering imagery. Taking inspiration from dreamscapes, internet culture, and personal experience, Garrigolas twists banal scenes into outlandish and confronting
self-portraits.
Growing up in a religious family and attending Catholic school, Garrigolas was encouraged to suppress her feelings and ignore the physical embodiment of her being. In retaliation to this upbringing, Garrigolas’ practice confronts traumatic experiences and personal vulnerabilities.
Elena Garrigola at Saatchi Yates
1 November – 22 December 2023
Saatchi Yates
14 Bury Street
St James’s
London SW1Y 6AL
Grace Lee: Fitting Room
Fitting Room is the first solo exhibition by London-based artist Grace Lee. The title of the exhibition refers to the themes Lee explores including disguise, the construction or concealment of identity, truth and ‘fitting in.’ The exhibition is testament to Lee’s singular exploration of narrative, fantasy and how we utilise both to navigate contemporary existence.
The mediated image, the object seen second-hand, is key to Lee’s approach to image making. Lee’s imagery is gleaned from current image economies, or what the artist terms ‘orphaned’ images. Infographics, shutterstock pictures and google image archives coalesce in Lee’s work to create irreverent and enigmatic paintings. For this exhibition, Lee’s subject matter is seemingly disparate – board games, cult TV, clipart, constellations – and yet, together the works explore central themes of misunderstandings, parody and the manipulation of the truth.
Grace Lee: Fitting Room
25 October – 25 November 2023
HUXLEY-PARLOUR
45 Maddox Street
London W1S 2PE
Erin Holly: A Trans Arrangement of The Painted Space
Embodied, scored, and arranged. These are the words British artist Erin Holly uses to describe the deeply personal artistic process behind her highly anticipated debut London exhibition, A Trans Arrangement of The Painted Space.
On view in Mayfair’s JD Malat Gallery from 16 November until 9 December, the exhibition unveils Holly’s new series of oil paintings depicting colourful and semi-fictional fabrications of interior spaces. Coinciding with Trans Awareness Week (13 – 19 November), the exhibition offers a critical exploration of interior environments, their connection with the politics of space and inclusion, contemporary social categorisations, and most pertinently, Holly’s journey with her identity and understanding of embodiment.
Erin Holly: A Trans Arrangement of The Painted Space
16 November – 9 December 2023
JD Malat Gallery
30 Davies St
Mayfair
London, W1K 4NB
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