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Michaela Yearwood-Dan: The Sweetest Taboo

Past viewing_room
31 March - 26 April 2022
  • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, The Sweetest Taboo, 31 March - 26 April 2022, Tiwani Contemporary, No.9 Cork Street. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Michaela Yearwood-Dan, The Sweetest Taboo, 31 March - 26 April 2022, Tiwani Contemporary, No.9 Cork Street. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Michaela Yearwood-Dan, The Sweetest Taboo, 31 March - 26 April 2022, Tiwani Contemporary, No.9 Cork Street. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Michaela Yearwood-Dan, The Sweetest Taboo, 31 March - 26 April 2022, Tiwani Contemporary, No.9 Cork Street. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Michaela Yearwood-Dan, The Sweetest Taboo, 31 March - 26 April 2022, Tiwani Contemporary, No.9 Cork Street. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Michaela Yearwood-Dan, The Sweetest Taboo, 31 March - 26 April 2022, Tiwani Contemporary, No.9 Cork Street. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Michaela Yearwood-Dan, The Sweetest Taboo, 31 March - 26 April 2022, Tiwani Contemporary, No.9 Cork Street. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Michaela Yearwood-Dan, The Sweetest Taboo, 31 March - 26 April 2022, Tiwani Contemporary, No.9 Cork Street. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Michaela Yearwood-Dan, The Sweetest Taboo, 31 March - 26 April 2022, Tiwani Contemporary, No.9 Cork Street. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary.

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    NO.9 CORK STREET

    Gallery 3

    9 Cork St

    London W1S 3LL

     

    Opening times: 

    Mon - Sat: 10am to 6pm

     
  • Tiwani Contemporary is pleased to present The Sweetest Taboo, our second solo exhibition with Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Recently the artist has been thinking about the priorities for affirming spaces of self and collective actualisation, specifically BIPOC and queer space(s), community needs and desires, that include her own. 

     

    Projected and inscribed upon the large-scale paintings, extracts of Yearwood-Dan’s experiences, influences, personal thoughts and questions commingle with abstracted and botanical gestures and marks that border, lead towards and give way to speculative clearings; spaces and gaps that have the capacity to be filled with utopic imaginings. The works remain vested in holding and debating the real-life politics and cultural demands of femme, black and queer individuals in the world coming together as communities, manifesting and nurturing critical, safe and joyous environments. 

     

    Drawing solely from her own experiences, throughout this body of work, the artist continues to explore the multifaceted nature of love through a theoretical and uncomplicated lense, whilst holding space for elements of humour and nostalgic glances. 

     

    The Sweetest Taboo is a semi-immersive experience that migrates from the canvases into the space of the gallery, creating a topographic installation of ceramic sculptures and furniture that encourages visitors to contemplate, project and spur plans to dream potential spaces into existence.

     

    DOWNLOAD - DESIRING ORCHIDS, Aliya Say's essay for the exhibition

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    About The Artist

     

    Michaela Yearwood-Dan’s work reflects on subjectivity and individual identity as forms of self-determination. Whilst her work may be underpinned by an expansive and multivalent repertoire of cultural signifiers borrowing freely from blackness, healing rituals, flora, texting, acrylic-nails, gold-hoops, carnival culture, these reference points enable her to present and privilege the variance of her own individual experience. As such, her work refuses to be framed by narrow expectations of racial or gendered notions of collective identity and history. She defamiliarizes many of those reference points in her work resisting the clichés and strictures of representation.

    Michaela Yearwood-Dan lives and works in London. Recent exhibitions include The Sweetest Taboo, Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK (solo - 2022); Laced, New Art Exchange, Nottingham, UK (group - 2021); Summer exhibition, Royal Academy, London, UK (group- 2021); Be Gentle With Me, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York (solo - 2021); Ancient Deities, Arusha Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK (group - 2020); Clay TM, TJ Boulting, London, UK (group - 2020); The Green Fuse, Frestonian Gallery, London, UK (group -2020); No Time Like the Present, Public Gallery, London, UK, (group - 2020); Begin Again, Guts Gallery, London, UK, (group - 2020); After Euphoria, Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK (solo - 2019) and One English Pound, Sarabande, The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation (solo - 2019).

     

  • WORKS IN THE EXHIBITION
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Too late to stop now, 2022
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      Too late to stop now, 2022
      Oil, ink, pastels and glass beads on canvas
      170 x 120 cm
      66 7/8 x 47 1/4 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Easier to Bare , 2022
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      Easier to Bare , 2022
      Oil, ink and pastels on canvas
      160 x 140 cm
      63 x 55 1/8 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Let it be known , 2022
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      Let it be known , 2022
      Oil, ink, pastels and glass beads on canvas
      200 x 150 cm
      78 3/4 x 59 1/8 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, A Million miles away , 2022
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      A Million miles away , 2022
      Oil and pastels on canvas
      170 x 120 cm
      66 7/8 x 47 1/4 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Despite all odds, 2022
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      Despite all odds, 2022
      Oil, ink, pastels and glass beads on canvas
      160 x 140 cm
      63 x 55 1/8 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, A Dream is just a kiss, 2022
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      A Dream is just a kiss, 2022
      Oil, pastel and glass beads on canvas
      200 x 150 cm
      78 3/4 x 59 1/8 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, It'll be ok , 2021
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      It'll be ok , 2021
      Earthenware clay and underglaze
      30 x 30 cm
      11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Hold on, 2021
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      Hold on, 2021
      Earthenware clay and underglaze
      30 x 30 cm
      11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, All I am is everything and nothing at all, 2022
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      All I am is everything and nothing at all, 2022
      Oil, pastels, ink and beads on canvas
      200 x 450 cm
      78 3/4 x 177 1/8 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, A wish for you, 2021
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      A wish for you, 2021
      Oil and gold leaf on canvas
      150 x 100 cm
      59 3/50 x 39 37/100 in
    • Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Never let me go, 2021
      Artworks

      Michaela Yearwood-Dan

      Never let me go, 2021
      Glaze on grogged earthenware clay
      26 x 37 x 24 cm
      10 1/4 x 14 5/8 x 9 1/2 in
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