Arts SU is proud to announce the 2022 selection for Xhibit, our annual open call exhibition!

Pau Aguilo Hernandez | Elaoise Benson | Cherie Chun | Yarden Fudim | Rhyan Jordan Holder | Hollis Hui | Emmanuelle Iroakazi | Amelia Johnson | Jomile Kazlauskaite | Janice Kei | Nisa Khan | Matilda Madaj-Solberg | Rosie Mather | Arabella Muir | Kenichiro Nakajima | Nusra Nijimbere | Meera Rofaeil | Elliott Roy | Emma Elvins Nogueira Dos Santos | Tong Shi | Marina Tasca | Ciana Taylor | Abigail Weston | Ayshe-Mira Yashin

This year marks Xhibit’s 25^th year, ensuring the legacy of the opportunity as the longest running open call exhibition for University of the Arts, London students. Selected by industry professionals, this year’s panel included Jamie Clifton, Editor in Chief at Vice Media, Carine Harmand, Curator for International Art at Tate and Trustee at Mimosa House, and Armani Sutherland, Arts SU’s Activities Sabbatical Officer, who was elected by the student body and represents the student voice. Shortlisting 195 applications down to 24 artists over a period of a day's digital selection, the work represents the diverse range of skill, creativity, and political intention at UAL.

This year will see the continuation of our relationship with The Koppel Projects, an arts charity, gallery, and creative hub based in central London, with the exhibition being hosted at their New Bond Street location. Thus ensuring that the show remains external to UAL and within a Zone 1 location. Equally, we are pleased to continue our relationship with Cass Art- the UK's leading art supplier, an organisation committed to encouraging creativity by providing world class art materials through a generous materials bursary. Vice, our media partner, will be utilising their aesthetic and editorial reach by platforming one selected artist as part of their annual Xhibit vision award.

The work this year continues the show’s commitment to represent a broad reach of disciplines from Foundation, BA and MA Fine Art practice, Media Communication, Textile Design, Fashion Print, Performance Design and Practice, Illustration, Interior Design, and Fashion Photography. Students are represented from all but one college and at all levels from Foundation through to Masters. The subject matter of the work remains a fascinating representation of the landscape of political ideology facing students and creative people today. Presciently Covid and the role of isolation is a focus for several works, with Textile Designer Abigail Weston utilising weaving to depict the alleyways she encountered on her daily Covid-secure walks, whilst Interior Design alumni Tong Shi creates a garment to encourage intimacy between people - an ingenious way of harnessing fashion to bring people together. Equally, BA Media Culture student Janice Kei uses photography to depict a person experiencing the effects of loneliness, a crumpled double bed representing both possible autonomy and loss.

Cultural heritage is a strong theme in this year's show- with works from Nisa Khan brightly depicting the South Asian performance Mujra; its commodification at the hands of colonialism and subsequent shift in its respectability and placing within society. Textile Designer Nusra Nijimbere referentially unpacks her Burundi heritage by exploring the role of traditional African textiles as marks of cultures stoically re-connecting with their history beyond colonialism. Media Communications student Emmanuelle Iroakazi hints at the damage of colonialism through her digital illustration depicting ancestral trauma, and how to reconcile this within your family when this experience is within touching distance - a moment represented by the cold white hands and people dominating the otherwise colourful space. To counteract this emotional labour, Fine Art student Rhyan Jordan Holder uses line to celebrate the joy of coming from a minority - the complexity of that cultural existence but also the strength in that cultural production, ideology and imagery.

Works by MA Fashion Photography student Jomile Kazlauskaite and Art Foundation student Ayshe-Mira Yashin both depict feminist ideologies, the former an arresting image underscoring the harm of fat shaming and the struggle many face when forming a positive relationship with their frame. The latter Yashin uses her period blood as a mark making technique to depict a spiritual space of positive menstrual representation in the face of period shaming and menstrual bias. The climate crisis remains on the agenda for UAL students with work from Performance Design and Practice student Ken Nakajima representing a plasticised jelly fish style creature suspended mid-air, hinting at the damage of the substance on the environment whilst reminding the audience of the pleasure of organic form. Utilising form is also a point of reference for BA Fashion student Cherie Chun who collaboratively designed a new textile made from agar and water. It continues a conversation around the damage of cotton production and the irresponsibility of fast fashion.

I have sadly not had the chance to mention all practices within this incredible show, an outing which in and of itself will be student-curated, continuing our commitment to ensure that all facets of the show remain student-led. Look out for our digital exhibition catalogue which will highlight all selected practices to be published in the coming months. We also aim to have our yearly Xhibit-inspired Professional Development programme: a day-long symposium of talks and debates responding directly to creative career requests made by Xhibit selected artists and curated by our student Arts Programmer Nicole Austin. More information on this will be published via the Arts SU website and social media channels. We look forward to welcoming you to the show when it opens in June.

If you have any questions about the show, the curatorial opportunity or our complimentary Xhibit Professional Development programme open to all UAL students to attend then please contact Sophie Risner, Arts SU Arts Programmer on s.risner@su.arts.ac.uk

Xhibit homepage

Exhibition details:

Xhibit 2022

The Koppel Project 125 New Bond Street London, W1S 1DY

Private View: Wednesday 8^th of June, 2022 (6 – 8:30pm)

Exhibition running dates: 09 – 20/06/2022 (opening hours: 10:00 - 17:00 daily)