24/2/25
Mickalene Thomas: All About Love
Hayward Gallery, London
11 February – 5 May 2025
I love it when I walk into a gallery and my first response to an exhibition is a surge of joy and a smile. It is a relatively rare occurrence, but the Hayward has managed it with its current exhibition, Mickalene Thomas: All About Love. The artist, who describes her gaze as that “of a Black woman unapologetically loving other Black women”,1 exudes this “unapologetic loving” in her large-scale, full-colour portraits of lovers and friends, herself and her mother, part-painted, part-screen-printed, part-collaged, part-diamante rhinestones. The outcome is a room full of dazzling ladies, in shimmering dresses, wearing glittering costume jewellery, with fluttering eyelashes and gleaming eyes. A room full of sparkle. A room full of joy. You cannot help but love them, too.
Read my full review here