South Asian Heritage Month is in full bloom. In London, a new exhibition is blending community, creativity and South Asian talent. Art collective CommonGround&’s inaugural exhibition, which it dubs a Summer Show, spans art, photography, film, textiles and graphic art and will be on view until 1 August at Peckham’s Copeland Gallery in Copeland Park.
‘Showing and expressing work and practices of South Asian creatives feels important right now for this generation, who are ready to self-actualise, step into their own space and be seen and heard,’ says London-based CommonGround& founder Mehala Ford, who was born in Sri Lanka. For her, CommonGround& ‘represents the place from where we all originate and also what we all have in common among our creative interests and work’.
Muvindu Binoy, Self-Portrait
The collective’s first show is an opportunity for established and emerging artists to showcase experimental work. Artists were selected by a South Asian creatives group set up by Spandana Gopal of production design studio Tiipoi, and ceramicist Lubna Chowdhary, who also selected three artists from Saskia Fernando Gallery in Sri Lanka. Despite the show’s distinctive approach, it has no set theme, allowing the artists freedom to play with ideas, explains Ford.
Artists featured in the exhibition include Muvindu Binoy, Abdul Halik Azeez, Ranura Edirisinghe, Liaqat Rasul and Vivek Vadoliya. Photographer Taran Wilkhu will also showcase a series of prints, alongside copies of An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture (2019), a book he collaborated on with authors Rosa Bertoli and Sujata Burman, published by Hoxton Mini Press.
Top and above: spread featuring Coal Drops Yard by Heatherwick Studio, and image of the Hoover Building by Wallis Gilbert & Partners (1933), renovated by Interrobang (2018), from An Opinionated Guide to London Architecture, by Rosa Bertoli and Sujata Burman.
Though Covid-19 continues to present challenges, it has led to Cultural Recovery Funding for Copeland Park, a twist of fate that enabled the exhibition to come to life. Ford is putting the boost to good use by drawing attention to creativity from the South Asian diaspora in the UK and beyond: ‘I hope that people get a snapshot of the creative output, energy and attitude created by our artists and enjoy an experience which reflects the work and mood of the current generation.’
Looking ahead to the future of CommonGround&, the team aim to hold the Summer Show annually. Eventually, they hope the event can morph into a festival, incorporating an even more diverse range of creative disciplines – from fashion, music and live performance to food.
Liaqat Rasul, Togetherness
Muvindu Binoy, Skating Socrates, 2021
Ranura Edirisinghe, Batik print
Nina Smale
INFORMATION
The CommonGround& Summer Show will run until 1 August at Copeland Gallery, London, commongroundand.com
ADDRESS
Copeland Gallery
Unit 9I, Copeland Park
133 Copeland Rd, London SE15
-
Chrome tableware to make your dining setup shineOnce a hallmark of industrial and midcentury design, chrome is shining once again. The latest expression? Metallic dinner-, drink- and serveware that embody sophistication
-
Serenity radiates through this Mexican home, set between two ravinesOn the cusp of a lakeside town, Mexican home Casa el Espino is a single-storey residence by Soler Orozco Arquitectos (SOA)
-
The Orient Express' new look platforms the finest French artisansMaxime d’Angeac, Artistic Director of the Orient Express, is overseeing the newly revived train service’s return to the rails as a rolling homage to Art Deco and modern craftsmanship
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFrom sumo wrestling to Singaporean fare, medieval manuscripts to magnetic exhibitions, the Wallpaper* team have traversed the length and breadth of culture in the capital this week
-
Viewers are cast as voyeurs in Tai Shani’s crimson-hued London exhibitionBritish artist Tai Shani creates mystical other worlds through sculpture, performance and film. Step inside at Gathering
-
Who are the nine standout artists that shaped Frieze London 2025?Amid the hectic Frieze London schedule, many artists were showcasing extraordinary work this year. Here are our favourites
-
Doc’n Roll Festival returns with a new season of underground music filmsNow in its twelfth year, the grassroots festival continues to platform subcultural stories and independent filmmakers outside the mainstream
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors' picks of the weekThe London office of Wallpaper* had a very important visitor this week. Elsewhere, the team traverse a week at Frieze
-
Chantal Joffe paints the truth of memory and motherhood in a new London showA profound chronicler of the intimacies of the female experience, Chantal Joffe explores the elemental truth of family dynamics for a new exhibition at Victoria Miro
-
Leo Costelloe turns the kitchen into a site of fantasy and uneaseFor Frieze week, Costelloe transforms everyday domesticity into something intimate, surreal and faintly haunted at The Shop at Sadie Coles
-
Can surrealism be erotic? Yes if women can reclaim their power, says a London exhibition‘Unveiled Desires: Fetish & The Erotic in Surrealism, 1924–Today’ at London’s Richard Saltoun gallery examines the role of desire in the avant-garde movement
