We are delighted to unveil Paul Maheke’s work ‘The Year I Stopped Making Art’, installed in our front window for the duration of a month. 

Paul Maheke’s short essay ‘The year I stopped making art. Why the art world should assist artists beyond representation; in solidarity.’, published on the 18th of March 2020, is an outcry for solidarity in the art world during the pandemic and beyond. In the essay Maheke channels voices of urgency from precarious figures who practice their art without structural support, ranging from the witch to the single parent to those struggling with mental health issues.

Paul Maheke (1985, Brive-la-Gaillarde, France) is an artist and performer based in London, whose work explores tensions between hyper-visibility and invisibility and between presence and absence. He is interested in the ways in which history, memory and identity are formed and stored in the body as an archive, and develops new and ‘personal’ understandings of the present and the past. 

Paul Maheke’s short essay inspired our upcoming open call project ‘Open Letters’, which we will be launching soon. Messages of urgency and vulnerability will be published through Open Letters, occupying our storefront window in vinyl lettering. Open Letters gives artists room to publicly reflect on current times, despite widespread covid restrictions and the lockdown of art spaces. 

To view Paul Maheke’s work no reservation is needed, as it is visible from the street – pass by whenever you want!