Contemporary Art Gallery London Archives

May 3 2026

Summer Exhibitions at South London Gallery

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South London Gallery has just opened their summer exhibitions. One is presenting large scale artworks featuring mythical creatures by Brazilian artist, Paulo Nimer Pjota in the Main Gallery. The other one is located at the Fire Station galleries and exploring our relationship to the environment through touch, spirituality and healing by British Nigerian artist, Ranti Bam.

Paulo Nimer Pjota: Encantados

Paulo Nimer Pjota- Encantados - South London Gallery

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Brazilian ‘hip-hop’ painter, Paulo Nimer Pjota started his career with graffiti at the age of just 13. He moved to São Paulo at the age of 17 to attend art collage. This is where he had his first exhibition that combined large paintings of crystals, anatomical paintings and crabs combined with graffiti art.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

His exhibition at South London Gallery is titled Encantados which means ‘enchanted’ in English and is featuring 11 new paintings on canvas hanging against graffiti-like wall drawings.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Pjota’s artworks are heavily inspired by mythical creatures, fantastical scenes, as well as ancient civilisations and Brazilian folklore and even children’s literature.

Pjota says in a recent interview with The Guardian: “Mythology has always been interesting to me. Stories I heard in my parents’ house, in the media, these things form a big part of our life from a very young age. Becoming a father myself, I started reading a lot of fables to my son and I was looking back on the drawings I used to make when I was a kid. Crazy animals, anthropomorphised nature.”

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The Sun, the Moon and the stars are recurring motifs in Pjota’s paintings, along with beasts, animals and flowers.

Pjota’s artworks function as a storybook when exhibited together. However, unlike a usual story book which has a clear narrative that unfolds, Pjota’s works leave the viewer to create their own narrative.

Ranti Bam: Sacred Groves

Photo: Urban Adventurer

British Nigerian artist, Ranti Bam, works with sculpture, film, performance and photography.

Sacred Groves explores our relationship to the environment through touch, spirituality and healing.

Ranti Bam’s exhibition brings together Ifas and Abstract vessels. The word ‘ifa’ in Yoruba means both ‘spiritual system’ and ‘holding something close’.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The exhibition is featuring clay vessels that Bam created by embracing vet clay against her body to form the shape of the vessels. In this way, the clay collapses, cracks and folds as the raw material spiritually connects her with the earth.

To help visitors immerse more into Bam’s artistic world, tranquil soundscape of nature is playing while the smell of wet soil and clay fills each room.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

The vessels receive a metallic glaze that reflects the body.

Monumental, glazed sculptures are also on display at the exhibition. These sculptures are Bam’s largest artworks yet.

Make sure, you spend some time at the video room, empty your mind and enjoy the tranquil scenery of a river and its surrounding.

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Abstract vessels are created through slab building where pieces wrap around each other. Once together, Bam pierces the pieces by hand revealing the glaze inside the body of the vessel.

The act of rolling, puncturing, painting, glazing and firing the clay combines all the elements: earth, air, water and fire.

Ranti Bam will unveil her permanent public artwork this June for the European Capital of Culture and was invited to the 61^st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia by Koyo Kouoh.

Exhibition Related Events

Photo: Urban Adventurer

South London Gallery is hosting a number of exhibition related events throughout the summer. Teacher workshop, family space and curator tours are all available for free and without booking.

Click here to explore the events.

Practical Info

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Address

South London Gallery Main Gallery | 65 Peckham Rd, London SE5 8UH

(Paulo Nimer Pjota: Encantados exhibition)

South London Gallery Fire Station | 82 Peckham Rd, London SE15 5LQ

(Ranti Bam: Sacred Groves exhibition)

The two galleries are just a 2-minute walk from one another.

Opening Times

1^st May – 23^rd August 2026

Mon & Tue: CLOSED

Wed: 12pm – 9pm

Thu – Sun: 12pm – 6pm

Tickets

FREE | NO booking required

Ready for your next adventure? Another free large scale exhibition opened at the White Cube. Katharina Grosse: I Set Out, I Walked Fast is full of colours pouring out of their frames to cover the architecture: the walls, the columns and even the floor.

February 1 2026

Emerging Talents: New Contemporaries at South London Gallery

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Leading organisation, New Contemporaries provides support for emerging artists across the UK through mentorship, exhibitions and residences. This year 26 artists from across the UK have been selected to exhibit their artworks at the South London Galley between 30^th January – 12^th April.

@urbanadventurerldn

[MORE INFO IN BIO] Free contemporary art exhibition at @South London Gallery — N E W C O N T E M P O R A R I E S — 26 artists from across the UK have been selected to exhibit their artworks at the South London Galley between The artists represent the most diverse artistic practices across the UK, including photography, moving image, painting, sculpture and more. 📍South London Gallery | 65 Peckham Rd, London SE5 8UH (Closest station Peckham Rye) 📆 30th Jan – 12th April 2026 🎟️ FREE, no booking required #contemporaryart #southlondongallery #artexhibition

♬ Suave – The Pianist & D’Michel leb

The Most Promising Emerging Artists in the UK

‘Set’, 2025, Oil on canvas – Isobel Shore

Photo: Urban Adventurer

“Artists renew society. They are everywhere – in every part of the UK, in every circumstance – but they can’t do it alone. Our job is to make sure their voices are heard and supported. We’re leading the way for artists, and we won’t stop advocating for them.” – Kiera Blakey, Director, New Contemporaries.

New Contemporaries was founded in 1949 by artis to support emerging and early career artists, many of whom later shaped the landscape of contemporary art. David Hockney, Mona Hatoum, Tacia Dean and Chris Ofili are all alumni at New Contemporaries.

New Contemporaries has been supporting early career talents for over 75 years and each year they select the most promising artists making sure they represent the most diverse artistic practices across the UK, including photography, moving image, painting, sculpture and more.

‘Goodbye Evergreen’, 2025, polychromos pencil drawing – Aaron Alexander Smyth

Photo: Urban Adventurer

In 2026, the selected artists have the opportunity to exhibit their artworks at both locations of South London Gallery (the Main Gallery and the Fire Station Galleries) as well as at MIMA, Middlesbrough throughout the first half of the year.

Here’s the list of the 26 selected artists:

Viviana Almas, Kat Anderson, Hadas Auerbach, Timon Benson, Lakshya Bhargava, William Braithwaite, River Yuhao Cao, Ali Cook, Shaun Doyle, Ally Fallon, Samantha Fellows, Alia Gargum, Oliver Getley, Makiko Harris, Manuel Alejandro Hernandez Rivera, Deborah Lerner, Gregor Petrikovič, Will Pham, Isobel Shore, Maya Silverberg, Aaron Alexander Smyth, Christopher Steenson, Varvara Uhlik, Eliza Wagener, Benjamin Waters, and Yimin Xiang.

‘Slide’, 2025, mild steel. Container: plywood, tarpaulin, water, black dye – Varvara Uhlik

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Varvara Uhlik is a Ukrainian artist whose artworks examines generational trauma and cultural memory, while Chinese contemporary artist, Yimin Xiang focuses on digital printmaking.

Ali Cook is a photographer who loves to portray local animals and birds and also enjoys painting wildlife.

‘Sentinel’, 2025, Powder coated and incalux brass plated, steel, aluminium and brass – Makiko Harris

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Makiko Harris is an interdisciplinary artist exploring feminism and identity through painting, sculpture, moving image and sound. “My work explores connection, family, the body, the erotic and performative, and I am inspired by my own life, the people in it, my connection with them.” – Makiko Harris. (https://www.newcontemporaries.org.uk/2025/makiko-harris)

Christopher Steenson is a Northern Irish artist with psychology background. He uses sound, video, digital media, analogue photography and writing to create art that “locate audiences within a ‘dreamtime’ – a space between the pasts, presents and futures and negotiated on the continuum.” (https://christophersteenson.com/about)

A series of related events will be hosted by South London Gallery during the exhibition. Click here to find out the events.

Practical Info

Untitled, (Encounter/Tormentor), 2025, Oil and ink on canvas – Eliza Wagener

Photo: Urban Adventurer

Address

South London Gallery | 65 Peckham Rd, London SE5 8UH

(Closest station Peckham Rye)

Opening Times

30^th Jan – 12^th April 2026

Mon & Tue: CLOSED

Wed: 12pm – 9pm

Thurs – Sun: 12pm – 6pm

Tickets

The exhibition is FREE to visit | NO booking required

Ready for your next adventure? Permanent Jane Austen experience is opening in London early this year. You can dress up like your favourite Jane Austen character, learn how to write with a quill and learn more about the extraordinary life of the famous author.