Exhibition

Xanthe Somers & Yacout Hamdouch: Poetic Threads | Spotlight James Barnor

2 Jul-15 Aug 2026
PV 1 Jul 2026, 6-8.30pm

October Gallery

London WC1N 3AL

Overview

October Gallery presents, Poetic Threads, which pairs stimulating new works by Zimbabwean ceramicist, Xanthe Somers, with colourful paintings by Moroccan artist Yacout Hamdouch, who is exhibiting at the gallery for the first time. In our second gallery space, a Spotlight on selected photographic works by internationally renowned photographer, James Barnor, complements this vital and energetic exhibition.

The exhibition will be opened at 7.15 pm by Dr. Christine Checinska, Senior Curator in Africa and Diaspora: Textiles and Fashion, Victoria & Albert Museum.

Xanthe Somers presents Carer, Cleaner, Mother, Maker, a series exploring women’s labour, colonial histories and eco-racist practices in the Global South. Combining pottery, basketry and textiles, Somers develops a distinctive visual language inspired by Zimbabwean weaving traditions. Her hand-coiled ceramic forms are punctured, distorted and painted, referencing grass basketry, blankets and domestic textiles associated with care and labour. Through these works, she highlights the often-overlooked stories carried within women’s craft traditions while using weaving as a metaphor for social cohesion and its fragility.

Yacout Hamdouch exhibits works from her series Poetic Landscapes and Fertile Rainbows, exploring memory, emotion and human connection through layered compositions of colour and form. Organic shapes subtly referencing the female body move between abstraction and landscape, evoking fleeting experiences and emotional states.

The exhibition is further enriched by photographs by James Barnor, whose six-decade career documented newly independent Ghana and 1960s London. His celebrated images capture African identity, culture and diaspora histories, and continue to inspire generations of photographers today.

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