FKA Twigs at Sotheby’s: healing, rawness and Eusexua
FKA Twigs debuts durational artwork at Sotheby’s, London, to coincide with new album launch, Eusexua. Wallpaper’s Hannah Silver was there

‘Over the past few years, I've been on a huge healing journey, and have had to really learn how to use and how to live in my body again. It’s been incredibly humbling and amazing, and I'm lucky enough to have met a lot of people around the world who have such knowledge of the body through somatic healing techniques and structures and movement – abstract ways that we can explore ourselves.’
To coincide with her first single release in four years, ahead of her new album, Eusexua, FKA Twigs is drawing on her years spent studying movement practice to present a durational artwork,The Eleven, performed at Sotheby’s in London over a two-week period. It marks a new direction for the auction house, which is presenting an artwork unlike anything else it has shown in its 280-year history, with the free, unticketed event open to all.
Developed by the artist over many months, The Eleven features a cast of movers who perform physical ‘mantras’ in a tangible expression of connectivity and healing. It is named after the 11 aspects FKA Twigs has cited as crucial for wellbeing, with each one renamed by her in distinctive style: intake (intake), keychain (company), crone (relationship to technology), minestate (self-awareness and personal opinion of oneself), shaping (environment), the art of sol (simplicity), looping (artistic creation), opus (self-expression), truth (the truth and spirituality, eusexua body (movement) and primal revelation (nature).
‘I was speaking with the amazing movers yesterday, and I said the feeling of these movements should be – do you remember when you were a child and flowers were at the height of your pet? Do you remember when our eyes were so small that a flower was bigger than your eye, and what it felt like to gaze into it? That's how I want to feel about my body, and that's how I want to feel about the wonders in my life. So I developed the 11 different pillars in my life that I feel that if I don't mind, they can become out of control.’
The performance is accompanied by an amalgamation of techno and experimental electronic music performed by Matteo Chiarenza-Santini, who has also worked with FKA Twigs on her album. As well as the performance itself, FKA Twigs’ process is on display, in her personal sketchbooks and polaroids, as well as 14 large-scale photographs taken by her partner, photographer and film director Jordan Hemingway.
Timed to debut at the same time as her new music, the performance encompasses the guiding force behind her new album. What is ‘Eusexua’? ‘Eusexua is the thing that makes me feel alive. A moment of pure clarity when everything moves out of the way, everything is completely blank, and your mind is elevated,’ says FKA Twigs, adding that it is the moment directly before inspiration, or orgasm. It is a state through which she has lived as she created the 11 pillars. It extended to the way she dressed, choosing for a year to wear only simple, blue clothes created by friend and collaborator Yaz XL, and developed with designer Camille Liu, allowing her to focus inwards.
The Eleven by FKA Twigs, sketchbook
How did she come up with the name? ‘I was sitting at my kitchen table with my partner, Jordan, and I think it was quite late, and I think we were just gripping onto the word. I think I was trying to describe what I'd experienced in Prague [the energy of the clubs while filming The Crow], and I just kept on saying lots of different variations of the word. And it's funny, because at home, we have lots of pieces of paper with Eusexua spelt in different ways and pronounced in different ways, and it's kind of a jigsaw puzzle of the word. But then when we landed on it, it just felt right. I told somebody at the time that I was working with very closely – I called him up and I said, “I've got it. The album's called Eusexua.” He said to me, “You need to be really careful, because on streaming platforms, it's easier if people know the word, because people can accidentally get to yours and you get more accidental hits that way.” And I was just like, “Wow. Wow. Wow.” And in that moment – I knew that I couldn't work with that person anymore – I was going to have to find the strength and the tenacity of women like Marina [Abramovic] and Madonna and Tracey [Emin] just to keep going and follow through.’
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
The Eleven by FKA Twigs, from 14 - 26 September 2024. Times: 10am-4.30pm weekdays; 1-4.30pm weekends at Sotheby’s, 34–35 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RP
The Eleven will be livestreamed from Sotheby’s galleries for the entire duration of the exhibition. Viewers can watch via fkatwi.gs or sothebys.com/FKATwigs
The Eleven by FKA Twigs, polaroid
Hannah Silver is the Art, Culture, Watches & Jewellery Editor of Wallpaper*. Since joining in 2019, she has overseen offbeat design trends and in-depth profiles, and written extensively across the worlds of culture and luxury. She enjoys meeting artists and designers, viewing exhibitions and conducting interviews on her frequent travels.
-
What’s new in the wearable world of smart glasses, and extended and augmented reality
Are you ready for AR? Meta, Google, Snap and more are gearing up to compete with Apple and deliver frames-based communications devices – complete with AI integration
-
Italian-Japanese fusion’s a joy at east London’s Osteria Angelina
A Victorian warehouse in Spitalfields has been given a slick modern makeover to house a unique Italian-Japanese restaurant
-
Meet the Palestinian artist putting a candy-coloured twist on traditional glassmaking
With her company Ornamental by Lameice, designer Lameice Abu Aker is bringing joy and optimism to a time-honoured craft
-
Get lost in Megan Rooney’s abstract, emotional paintings
The artist finds worlds in yellow and blue at Thaddaeus Ropac London
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week
It was a jam-packed week for the Wallpaper* staff, entailing furniture, tech and music launches and lots of good food – from afternoon tea to omakase
-
London calling! Artists celebrate the city at Saatchi Yates
London has long been an inspiration for both superstar artists and newer talent. Saatchi Yates gathers some of the best
-
Alexandra Metcalf creates an unsettling Victorian world in London
Alexandra Metcalf turns The Perimeter into a alternate world in exhibition, 'Gaaaaaaasp'
-
Sexual health since 1987: archival LGBTQIA+ posters on show at Studio Voltaire
A look back at how grassroots movements emphasised the need for effective sexual health for the LGBTQIA+ community with a host of playful and informative posters, now part of a London exhibition
-
Ten things to see at London Gallery Weekend
As 125 galleries across London take part from 6-8 June 2025, here are ten things not to miss, from David Hockney’s ‘Love’ series to Kayode Ojo’s look at the superficiality of taste
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this week
This week saw the Wallpaper* team jet-setting to Jordan and New York; those of us left in London had to make do with being transported via the power of music at rooftop bars, live sets and hologram performances
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been up to this week
The Wallpaper* team enjoyed good art, food and drink this week, attending various exhibition openings and unearthing some of the best pasta and cocktails that London has to offer