Today sees the opening of J.W.Anderson’s highly anticipated exhibition at the neobrutalist Hepworth Wakefield gallery. Featuring fashion, art, photography and design, Disobedient Bodies: J.W.Anderson Curates the Hepworth Wakefield showcases works from different creative fields on an equal platform, allowing them to be appreciated autonomously.
All relating to the body, these works include Hepworths, Henry Moores and Helmut Lang; Comme des Garçons felt creations are displayed adjacent to an enormous Naum Gabo bust, British ceramics opposite a 1950s Christian Dior cocktail dress, and an Issey Miyake lantern dress is suspended from the ceiling next to some similarly sculptural Japanese lanterns. All mixed together, the objects are in conversation with one another.
The exhibition also features a photo series by Jonathan Anderson’s longtime collaborator and Dazed contributor Jamie Hawkesworth, which features 123 pupils from local schools wearing both the designer’s creations and other garments featured. These images, as well as more from the exhibition, are documented in the show’s accompanying book, previewed exclusively here. The publication was created by London-based design studio OK-RM and their publishing imprint InOtherWords, whose designers Oliver Knight and Rory McGrath worked in collaboration with Anderson and the Hepworth Wakefield’s chief curator Andrew Bonacina.
“Jonathan and Andrew visited the studio and we shared ideas and references, always reflecting on the spacial concepts raised in the exhibition design; that there would be a scenario where objects extend, share and continue conversations,” the pair comment. “Naturally this defined an approach for the book; to find a quality similar to this through the form of the book. After that we were free to explore ways in which to fulfill this ambition.”
Disobedient Bodies: J.W.Anderson Curates the Hepworth Wakefield, designed by OK-RM and published by InOtherWords is available for pre-order through InOtherWords. The exhibition is on show at the Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield until June 18th.
