JW Anderson Partnership
Collaboration Partner 2021 - 2022
The Association of Women in the Arts (AWITA) in partnership with JW Anderson are delighted to announce a rolling programme of exhibitions and interventions of female artists curated by AWITA members in the JW Anderson modular gallery space in their flagship Soho store. The first installation launched on Thursday 28th April 2022 at the JW Anderson store in celebration of all the artists and curators involved. The seven installations will be on display in the store over the next 6 months.
The selection panel of Jonathan Anderson; Caroline Douglas, Director of the Contemporary Art Society; Valeria Napoleone, art patron and collector; Bethan Laura Wood, multi-disciplinary artist; and Péjú Oshin, curator of Tate’s Young People’s Programme, chose work that supports the historic link between art and fashion. They looked for work that responded both to the vernacular architecture and spirit of Soho as well as its history of counterculture, queer love, nightlife, and the collision of high and low culture.
The act of making is explored across all the artists' practice. A very physical and conscious application of techniques and materiality typically associated with female craft, alongside explorations in the ‘making’ and formation of identity culture, queer spaces, aesthetics and our implicit or explicit engagement in the construction of brands. JW Anderson has a long history of embracing and promoting diversity and queer culture with an intelligent approach to non-binary fashion. Many of the artists playfully co-opt the branding and design processes ubiquitous to fashion, art, and sexuality.
Jonathan Anderson started collecting art over a decade ago and now has around 300 works with a particular focus on ceramics and media, traditionally associated with female labour. The collaboration with AWITA is an extension of his philosophy "that no matter if you’re going into a store to shop or not, it is about the experience.” Responding directly to the modular gallery space created by award winning architects 6A, this collaboration Co-Founder Sigrid Kirk says, is "less about sponsoring or borrowing but more about collaboration and communicating.”
The installations selected for the programme are below. Click on the names to find out more about each proposal.
Maya Sanbar by Virginia Damtsa, ViriginaVisualArts
Susie Green by Harriet Cooper, Jerwood Arts
