An Uncommon Thread

Hauser & Wirth, Somerset, 2025

An Uncommon Thread features 10 contemporary artists living and working in the UK. The group exhibition highlights the transformative power of unconventional mediums in evoking personal and collective memories. Each artist demonstrates an unwavering commitment to the integral role materials and techniques play in their creative process; employing unexpected painting surfaces, adapting formal craft traditions and repurposing discarded products into compelling works. Through individual investigations of identity, tradition, nature, fantasy and the environment, the artists invite viewers to engage with the rich stories woven into each work.

The Bourgeois Gallery opens the exhibition with works by Nengi Omuku, Tai Shani and Jack O’Brien, exploring the complexities of human connection, social memory and historical narratives associated with place. Tai Shani weaves a cosmic realm in a new installation that continues to reimagine female otherness as a perfect totality. Shani’s cacophony of color, pattern and organic form immerse the viewer in an act of world-building in which feminism, the sublime and mythology merge.