Shapeshifter, 2024
textile sculpture, abaca fiber
SLIPPING THE VEIL
Artists: Ben Jamie, Nick Cave, Jack Evans, Piper Bangs, Elena Unger, Edgar Ward, Juliette Losq, Carolein Smit, Diana Orving, Claire Curneen, Maxim Burnett, Kate McDonell, Anne von Freyburg
Curated by Elena Unger and James Freeman
Saint Bartholomew the Great, London, UK
May 27 - June 14, 2025
For over 900 years, Saint Bartholomew the Great has been a centre for liturgy and ritual, a space whose central purpose is bringing visitors into contact with the ineffable. It is said that within St Barts, the boundaries of time and space become that little bit thinner. Slipping the Veil presents an exhibition of artworks that perform the same function: to lift our experience beyond the earthly every day, to slip the veil of banality, and to make contact with experiences that reach beyond ourselves.
Each piece in the exhibition responds to the church’s fragmented history, creating new dialogues that evoke both continuity and transformation. The exhibition draws on the Gothic tradition, returning to a fascination with spaces where the known meets the unknown. In this space, art and architecture are not static but alive with possibility, offering a glimpse beyond time and materiality. Slipping the Veil is an invitation to encounter the sublime, where the ordinary fades and something timeless emerges.
