gal-dem presents: In The Nook

gal-dem presents: In The Nook at Libreria – a bookshop by Second Home.

gal-dem is taking over Libreria’s new basement project space for the month of October to host an exclusive art exhibition that celebrates four artists in their community.

Curated by Rosa Marouane they have commissioned Jetsun Shenkyong-Ma (he/him) Yangdzom Lama (she/her), Saati J Conran-Mcormack (they/she), Tuesday (he/him) and Fuji2Apple.

Each artist will contribute work across print, illustration and risograph.

This exhibition is free and will be open to the public from Friday 30 September to Sunday 30 October as part of Second Home’s Black History Month Programme.

Opening hours:

Monday closed

Tuesday-Saturday 10am-6pm

Sunday noon-6pm

The Artists

Fuji2Apple – A Rotterdam based illustrator with an abstract and colourful eye. He tries to blend old (1970s ‘80s) with new 2022. He gets inspiration from the history of art and visits museums commonly. He also likes to travel and prefers France. Fuji2apple loves you for who you are.

Jetsun Shenkyong-Ma (xe/him) – A mixed race, half Tibetan & half British-Hungarian, non-binary transman. Xe is a handpoke tattoo artist (@nonboobery) and is also an actor, performer and dancer. In their 3 part series featured in this exhibition, Jetsun explores the beginning of his manhood through his interpretation of 3 major arcana tarot cards – The fool, Strength & The hanged man.

Saati J Conran-McCormack (they/she) – A multi disciplinary artist based in London who’s work focuses on memorialisation, trans experience, self actualisation and loss. Recent exhibitions include In Dedication at The Koppel Project Hive and sound work for Montez Press Radio

Tuesday (he/him) – A Kenyan born artist creating spaces and images that abstract the land and nature into the surreal and the uncertain. These works evoke landscapes that presupposes a mental world beyond where the murk of consciousness can manifest the fundamentally indeterminacy of being and our changing environment

Yangdzom Lama (she/her) – A London-based artist with work consisting of paintings, embroideries, prints and ceramics. ‘I have a fascination with the natural world, and view animals as artworks themselves. Creatures and nature are often incorporated into my works, often in the form of animal-headed people/deities. I am also heavily influenced by Tibetan Buddhist art and symbolism, thanks to my heritage which is Yolmo, a Tibetan ethnicity that has lived and settled in Nepal for generations.

In Yangdzom’s words: “In 2017, I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), which has helped me enormously in embracing myself not only as an artist, but as a human being. I think being on the spectrum is a good thing, and that more autistic and neurodivergent artists should be highlighted in the art world.”

More about ‘In The Nook’ 

This exhibition is gal-dem’s way of celebrating the artists that have worked with them.

Using the scale of this space as the seed for our theme, this exhibition was born under the Libreria floorboards, its primary inspirations being Kinesis Collective’s Shocked Quartz Open Call, Kathryn Yusoff’s A Billion Black Anthropocenes Or None, the formation of mineral structures in cave systems, and Emily Mcbride’s Masters Thesis on the use of Crystalline Rodent Urine in examining the historical climate of Central Australia.

The space itself had not been used for months prior to the exhibition, and in fact was refurbished in time for us to open it to the public through this initiative, not dissimilar to a cave system isolated from the world above only to rejoin it once cracked open through human activity.
The works were initially requested under the condition that they be able to fit within the shelving units of the exhibition, no larger than a5 portrait, or a4 landscape. In developing the exhibition further however, we found that these units of measurement need not limit our scale entirely. Instead the shelves work, much like nooks do, by sheltering the works that need it, and providing structural support to those large enough to stand apart from their security. The risograph printer that existed in the space prior to us uncovering has been an integral part of the exhibition, using its unique textural properties to bring life to the exhibition texts and several of the artists’ own print pieces. 

If you’re interested in reading further into the thoughts behind this exhibition, a Curator’s notebook will be available to examine further at your leisure.