Whitechapel Gallery’s Summer Exhibition

Whitechapel Gallery present their summer exhibition ‘Life is More
Important Than Art’, exploring the relationship between art and everyday life
through digital drawings, sculpture, oil on canvas, photography, installations,
music and film.

The exhibition focuses on London and the East End, with notable pieces
including Janette Parris’ collection of digital drawings from ‘This Is Not A
Memoir’ described by her as a ‘graphic A-Z for East & South London’. The
collection of 8 drawings twins Parris’ graphic novel style with memorable
locations of her youth including the Ilford Palais Nightclub and the old Upton
Park Stadium of her beloved football team, West Ham.

Upstairs, John Smith’s film ‘Citadel’ combines broken fragments of Boris
Johnson’s speeches relating to the coronavirus, with views from his window
looking out at Canary Wharf during lockdown as the financial district continues
to operate “business as usual”. Shifting its focus from the distant skyscrapers
with closer footage of inhabitants locked down in their urban homes, Citadel
contrasts corporate and political power with the day-to-day experience of local
East Londoners.

Co-curated by Janette Parris and Gilane Tawadros, the newly appointed
Director of Whitechapel Gallery, the title of the season takes inspiration from
African-American writer James Baldwin, who proposed that life is more
important than art … and yet that is why art is important. In the midst of a cost-
of-living crisis and in the wake of the pandemic, the exhibition playfully and
tenderly encourages us to consider the role of art, and art institutions, in
everyday life.

Life is More Important Than Art runs from 14 June – 17 September 2023 at The
Whitechapel Gallery.

Hear directly from the artists in the Gallery’s podcast:

Website: whitechapelgallery.org
Twitter: @_TheWhitechapel
Instagram: @whitechapelgallery

Words by Jess Butler